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Keigley Campaign: Pisgah. The Camping Mecca.
When we first came up with our Keigley Campaign two years ago (What? Two years?) we wanted to simply find woods and to sleep there. The end. We all decided to focus on South Carolina state parks the first year. It seemed logical. It was definable. It made sense. It’s the direction we chose to run. Early on we struggled with the campsites not being exactly what we had in mind. We love Lake Jocassee but are always a little disappointed to share its beauty with so many strangers sleeping in plastic coverings so near to our own. But we did it. One full year. One new South Carolina campsite…
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six flags over georgia.
Summer reading programs abound. In fact, I often lose track of them. Suddenly it’s September and I realize that I missed out on the chance to get three free books from Barnes & Noble. Six Flags offers a year-long reading program that we took advantage of last school year. For reading the required number of books, each child receives a free ticket (and one teacher ticket too!) to the Six Flags amusement park of your choice. We chose Georgia. And yesterday. Thanks to my kind friends Hannah and LIndsey, Otto and PIper were well cared for all day so that they did not have to wait in long line and…
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can the grocery store be a field trip?
When you are raising young children, every time you leave your house – it’s an adventure. They’re so curious about all the details of life. The trips that may be mundane to us are still full of wonder to them. I’m always seeing advertisements and links to websites for homeschooling and classes and projects and activities. I keep a notebook near the computer where I jot down leads and eventually research them to see if they’ll fit our family. The most recent one I sat at our old desk and typed into my search engine of choice was fieldtripfactory.com. It’s a website designed to connect educators with local businesses that…
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Hiking. Times a Lot of Littles.
Having our weekly nature walks has really helped to foster an already natural desire the kids and I have to be outside and to explore. (Although I’m super appreciative of being able to prepare a post from my cell phone as we still have no internet connection, I really miss being able to link back to older posts for reference and having access to the photos saved on our computer.) Anyway – this is a post about nature studies and hikes. This summer manymany other moms and I have been gathering once each month for a joint giant hike with our manymany offspring. It’s been marvelous. Or at least I…
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these days
These are the types of days that you can’t manufacture. The days that I want to store up and stack up until they fall over. Teetering and towering on the edge. These are the days that quality time just doesn’t register and it all comes down to quantity time. It’s an abundance of time, plain and simple, that allowed these four heads to sit around and make up something to do. It was TV off, no chores assigned, afternoon free time that created this moment. I can’t fake that and I can’t conjure it up. And I don’t want to miss it. It’s so perfect and lovely in its innocence…
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photo dump. true and false.
We are home. The Suburban has been unloaded. Two loads of laundry have been washed. I’m going to unload a plethora of photos on you. And relay a few true/false statements for you as well. Get comfy, here we go. Hiking is a fantastic whole-family-inclusive activity. True. The predicted rain ruined our first day of outdoor adventure. False. Hiking with a guide allows you to learn details you would not otherwise know. True. There is a tree called the black birch whose branches taste like spearmint and can serve as a natural mouth freshener. True. Our N.O.C. guide, Charles, taught us this. True. Charles made a friend of Piper the moment…
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Adventure: Day Two
Day two. It’s like this. Internet service is sketchy in the mountains. We are traveling with six children who are off their normal routine of eating and sleeping. One of them is not yet even two years old. I can only type this post from my iPhone. And we do not always have service. As previously mentioned. And I do not yet know how to add a photo to a post through the iPhone. King Solomon is that good. I am not. So. Forgive this abbreviated post. Please check out the many photos I have been sending through Twitter. (When it is available.). And trust that when I return home…
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Adventure: Day One
A Keigley trip always looks a little like chaos. Mostly organized chaos, but chaos nonetheless. And since I am blogging on the road, a new adventure for me, this post may sound a little like chaos. Organized chaos, maybe, but chaos nonetheless. (What I am actually trying to say is – this post might be a bit like Virginia Woolf’s writing. Scattered.) Today we made it to Gatlinburg. We let the kids ride go-carts even before we bothered to eat lunch. On every family trip we always ask the question beforehand, “What’s the one thing you most want to do on this trip? If we were in the car driving…
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Want to take an adventure with our family? (Virtually. Of course.)
Spring break is next week. Well, spring break according to Riley’s school schedule. And since we like Riley and want to include her in our adventures, we declare next week to be our entire family’s spring break as well. Gas prices are, um, frighteningly high. Especially when you drive a gas machine like our Suburban. So we are staying closer to home this year. Just through the mountains a bit to our neighboring state of Tennessee. Gatlinburg, to be precise. Sure, it’s a little touristy with their never-ending pancake houses and fudge factories on every corner. Their mini golf up a hill and their family dinner shows that seem to…
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There And Back Again: Or The Post In Which I Ramble On and Include Far Too Many Links
Last week me and this guy got on a jet plane. And flew to Chicago. By ourselves. (And like 150 other passengers, but I think you knew what I meant.) We were almost late for the flight because two of the three long term parking lots at the Charlotte airport were closed. But we raced into the terminal, shucked off our shoes, unloaded our overstuffed carry-ons and cleared through that x-ray business. Except when we didn’t. Kevin was watching the x-ray view of the bags pop up on the computer screen and he nudged me, “Hey – look at that bag. Somebody brought in a knife.” “What? Who would do…
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about fragility, bravery, a girl and a horse.
I want to tell you a story about perhaps the most frightening parenting moment of my life and the bravest kid I know. We went to a horse farm for a field trip last week. The farm was tidy and organized and smelled of hay and dirt and horse manure and sky and life and my childhood. The kids admired the miniature horses, the black ram and the albino horse that is not allowed to soak up the sunshine for fear of his skin burning. We had been at the farm for maybe fifteen minutes. The instructor asked us to stand in the breezeway while she prepared our handsome steed,…
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don’t buy juice this month.
We have those weeks at our house. Like everyone else I assume. Weeks where the grocery budget has been spent and we end up eating tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches (at an estimated cost of less than 80 cents per family member) or tuna casserole (a throwback from the quick, easy, low cost dishes of my childhood). I cut coupons and am currently trying my hand at the whole CVS game. And I’m not doing it because I like spending several hours huddled over newspaper ads or searching websites for great deals. I’m cutting coupons and planning low cost meals for the same reason everyone else is doing it.…
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let the school year commence
Today. It’s the first day of the 2010-2011 school year here at our home. And this year the School of Keigley has a record number of students. Three. A second grader. A first grader. And a kindergarten student. (Not to mention that we also manage and maintain a very elite preschool and a rather crème de la crème nursery as well. So sorry – all vacancies are filled.) Ahh – the new school year. The books we cannot gather locally are ordered from our school’s personal suppliers- a.k.a. Barnes & Noble and Amazon. The classroom has been tidied. (Read: the kitchen counters are cleared and the sunroom table is free…
