Oh the places we have gone...

The road to this blog is paved with the best of intentions. I always intend on writing while we're on the road, but I always forget, am too tired, mean to teach a kid to do it, or forget. Mostly, I forget. We get so involved with what we're doing that I always say, "I'll get to it later.", and then...yep...I don't.

Our last post was May 20, 2015, and we've driven, flown, and sailed many miles since then! When combined, our mileage totals are close to 20,000; and since we specialize in road trips, especially those of the EPIC kind, more than half of these miles were on asphalt!! (or a variation of) Let's see. In the last two years we have traveled by car to Arizona, California, West Virginia, and more locally (to Texas, anyway) to San Antonio and Galveston. We've flown to Vegas and Boston, and we've also gone on our first cruise which took us to Key West, Nassau, and Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. Dag Nabbit! Now I want to start planning a trip!!

Oh to be a nomad, roaming from place to place. I'd love to be on the road, seeing everything this AMAZING country has to offer. Surely there's a job out there for me. One that would pay me to travel the country, letting my employer know that they should be happy that I'm having such an amazing time doing what I love. That's out there, right?? RIGHT??

One thing that is saving me this summer is that so many of my friends are taking amazing trips. If I can't be traveling, I LOVE IT WHEN MY FRIENDS ARE!! It makes me happy when people get their kids out to see new places and do new things! Right now I have friends in California, Florida, Mexico, all over! It's exciting to see their pictures and hear about all of the fantastic places they've traveled. It always inspires me to start planning the next (EPIC) Hansen family road trip!

Speaking of that...where SHOULD the Hansens on Asphalt travel to next? Let me know some of your favorite places to go!

Dad's been under a lot of pressure at work...

I saw this picture a couple of days ago and it made me giggle. I mean...that's a lot of pressure.

It got me thinking about being a police officer, and how much pressure my husband, and the thousands of men and women in law enforcement must deal with on a daily basis. I know that every second of the job isn't stressful. My husband enjoys his job immensely, and I do, too. It's part of the "asphalt" we travel on. We've been on this particular trip together for over 17 years now, and he was on the journey long before I came along. I'm proud of him and the job that he does for our department, and I'm proud of our department and all that they do in our community. 

 The more I looked at that cute little cartoon, the more I envisioned it with a police hat, badge, and radio. I mean, the pressure that law enforcement has been under lately has been huge. Monumental, even. I see our country's leaders doing very little to help our men and women out, and everything they can do to make their jobs harder. I see people on facebook every day bashing police officers left and right, and while I tend to let it roll off my back most of the time, sometimes it's hard. And, please, don't get me started on our media. I mean, who cares who they hurt in their process of reporting "the news". The officer has a family, friends, and a life outside of law enforcement? So what? If it bleeds, it leads.

 I watch my husband go to work every day, strapping on his vest and his duty belt, and pray to Jesus that at the end of the day he's safe and sound where he belongs...here with me and his three kids. The vast majority of police officers are selfless people. They leave their families daily to go out and serve and protect a public that seems to not care much about what happens to them, that ridicules their every move, and then complains when they don't come running to their rescue in the allotted 26 seconds after they dial 911. These LEOs miss holidays, birthdays, and nights and weekends with their families so that they can go protect the very public that judges their every move because of their badge.

I feel like our town is very blessed. We have a local government that supports our officers, and our citizens seem to be very thankful for them as well. Our guys and gals do a great job getting out in to the community and getting to know the people around town. But, I see my friends with husbands in other departments though that aren't as fortunate,  I see the men and women on the news that have lost their ability to work because of the media and ignorance of the general public, and I see the officers that have paid the ultimate price of serving the people with their lives. It just breaks my heart. Parts of our country are so shattered and sad. I'm amazed at strength that our LEOs have, and their ability to still go on doing this thankless job even with the pressure they are under. I am so very thankful for them though, and I always will be. 

I asked a friend of mine if he could re-work the picture for me. I know that all jobs come with their own type of pressures, but when I see this cute little cartoon with a police theme, I think it speaks volumes. If you're out and about, and you see an officer, please take a second and say thank you. It means so much to them to know that people really do care. 

So, I quit homeschooling today...

Rarely do I ever get to the point of such frustration that I want to throw in the towel. Rarely. Today is a rare occasion. I actually decided that I was going to stop homeschooling. I'd had enough. I was done. Finished. After explaining the same thing 9 times to the very child that I'm doing this for the most, and after 9 times of her telling me that she understood the directions but wouldn't work on her assignment, I simply quit. I had a meltdown moment, and quit. Tapped out. Raised a white flag. Threw my hands up. Walked away from. Bowed out of. Quit. The words, "I quit", actually came out of my mouth. I believe it went like this..."That's it. I quit! I'm done. Figure it out yourself. Public school, here we come. I'M QUITTING." And then I stormed down the stairs.

Wow...nice tantrum you threw there right in front of your kids.

I sat in my room and had a nice cry for about three minutes, and then I came back upstairs. You could have heard a pin drop. I think to myself, "Wow...that tantrum really worked! Alright! I got this! I'm not quitting! EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!!!"

Wrong.

I'd been hoodwinked.

The instructions for the most simple of tasks had gone in one ear and out the other. No work had been done. I started to get frustrated again, only in a softer voice, and then she says, "Well, I didn't understand." 

Light-bulb

She didn't understand. She told me she understood 9 times. But she really didn't. And that's ok. It's more than ok, because anywhere else, she wouldn't get a 10th time to try and understand. Maybe not even a 4th or 5th. Things would just move on because they had to move on. Here, in our home, she can take the time that she needs. Sometimes, as the person who is one of her biggest advocates and the one that loves her most in this world, it's hard to remember that. Just because she can remember an entire movie, front to back, and answer every trivia question about that move ever asked, doesn't mean that she gets putting long words in alphabetical order. Oh precious girl. If you'd just tell mommy that you don't get it, mommy wouldn't think you're trying to get out of your studies. But, sometimes, she doesn't understand how to communicate that either. And that, too, is ok. 

I don't expect them to "walk up all those stairs" every day and things always be pinterest perfect for any of us. We are all still fairly new to this whole homeschool thing even though it's our second year. We didn't start out doing it from the beginning, and we certainly aren't going to be perfect. I guess that's the beauty of it though. Trial and error. We can try as many times as we need to until our errors are minimum, and if that means spending a little more time on something, then so be it. 

I want all three girls to enjoy this experience and they can't do that if I'm frustrated constantly with what they are or aren't doing. I expect them to complete their work, but I need to remember that we're not homeschooling so we can model ourselves after public schools. We are doing this so they will get one on one time with their teacher, so they don't have to be rushed and feel inadequate if they don't understand something, and so I can enjoy them for as long as possible, by picking up and doing what we want, when we want. 

In closing, I'd like to state that I only quit for a few minutes. Never will I ever quit doing what I feel like we're supposed to be doing for our girls. It's not always going to be easy, as today proved, but the vast majority of the time, I love it and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Story Cube Story 1: Our Trip To West Virginia

We got these cool little story cube sets for Christmas. They're called "Rory's Story Cubes", and they're designed to inspire your stories. We need that. As creative as we might be, when it comes right down to it, when we're in school we have a hard time coming up with things. Our stories were of the small paragraph persuasion and, well, frankly were rather boring. These little do-dads helped us out! We've gone from "drab to fab"...at least in our book we have. Below are the cubes that we used to help tell our story, in order from start to finish.

Our Trip To West Virginia 

by: The Hansen Girls

We decided to road trip to WV. We watched as Mommy told Daddy how the car should be packed and how he was probably doing it the wrong way for her taste. Daddy asked Mommy, "Did you pack the car sick medicine?" To which Mommy replied, "Duh." After we were all packed and on the road, Daddy said, "Did we forget something? I think we forgot something!!" It wasn't something! It was someone! Kevin! We forgot Kevin!! I mean Sydney! We forgot Sydney!! Then, out of nowhere, Batman appeared. "Not to worry! I'll get her and her trusty sidekick, Toto, and bring them to you!"

Just then, Daddy looked in the mirror and saw the flashing lights of the Sheriff's car. Once we pulled over, the Sheriff walked up and said, "Hey...you're a cop, right?" I need you to help me catch that bandit that's crossing the highway with  that bag of money!" Daddy said, "That's not a bag of money! He's running off with the Christmas presents from the orphanage! You don't mess with kids at Christmas!" The Sheriff and Daddy both yelled "STOP" at the same time. The bandit yelled back, "Collaborate and listen!"That's when they found out that the bandit had a rare condition that wouldn't let him continue with what he was doing until he'd spoken all of the words to "Ice, Ice, Baby." It was at that time that Daddy and the Sheriff were able to catch the bandit. 

As we merged back on to the road, Graci looked out her window and yelled, "There's Batman, Sydney, and Toto!! Just in time!!" After everyone was settled, we decided we'd take a detour to Stone Mountain because Daddy had never been. After hours of driving, we arrived and decided to get a good nights sleep. The next morning, we headed for Stone Mountain. Just imagine our surprise when we saw Robert E Lee, chiseled in to the side of the mountain riding an elephant instead of a horse?! "What's going on here? Why is he on an elephant?" Mommy said, "Well they must have done some remodeling since we were here the last time. Why don't we take the tram to the top of the mountain? I hear they have a dinosaur skeleton up there!" While we were walking to the register to pay for our tickets to the top, we realized that the only money we had was monopoly money that Audrey had in her pocket. It was at that moment that Graci had had enough. She got mad and yelled, "OK!!! EVERYONE BACK TO THE CAR!!!!" In stunned silence we all walked back to the car and got back on the road. 

As we passed in to Tennessee from Georgia, we decided to stop at the welcome center. Here, we were met by a local band of gypsies who quickly tried to pick-pocket us. The joke was on them though as all the money they got was the monopoly money that Audrey had in her pockets. After the gypsy episode, Audrey got hungry. Sydney decided to pick her an apple off of one of the trees there. Just as she reached up, the tree smacked her! Sydney looked at mommy and said, "I don't think we're in Tennessee anymore!" We turned around to leave and the tree threw two apples at Audrey hoping to hit her. She fooled that mean old tree by pulling out her baseball bat and hitting one back at him, and then with lightning speed, she pulled out her glove, caught the other apple, and at it in one bite!

We got out of there as quick as we could, but once on the road, Daddy looked down and realized that we were almost out of fuel. It's a good thing the car runs on diamonds! Graci was able to give her daddy back the necklace that he'd gotten for helping catch the bandit the previous day. He pulled out his tomahawk and chopped the huge diamond in to pieces small enough to fit in to the tank. That gave us enough fuel to make it to Wild, Wonderful West Virginia! 

By the time 4 o'clock rolled around, we realized we were super hungry. Audrey suggested going to YES Buffet! Luckily they had one in Tennessee at the exact place we were stopped. We walked up to the doors where we realized they were closed for the Chinese New Year. Suddenly, we were lucky again! The hotel we were staying at had free room service and a fantastic menu of chicken and french fries!! After we gorged ourselves, we turned the TV on and caught the end of Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind. 

After another good nights sleep, we got up, got ready and walked to our car...or where our car should have been. Our car had been stolen!! It's a good thing that stage coach was parked outside our hotel! We got in, the driver cracked his whip, and we were gone with the wind! 

It was night time when we reached Harrisville. It wasn't until then that we realized the coach was being pulled by reindeer! Before we knew it, we were up in the air! Santa looked back at us and said, "Here are your chutes! This is where you jump!"

To be continued...or not. :-)

I love a good road trip...don't you?

Well, we are rolling east on I-20 on our way to Florida! Right now we're passing through the Kilgore/Longview area, and I must say, I could live out here in the trees. I'm pretty sure I say that everywhere I go in Texas, but I just love it out here. The treees are starting to change color and it's just beautiful.

We've been in the car a couple of hours now and I feel so relaxed. Some people loathe long road trips and I'd be perfectly happy on a perpetual road trip. There's something about seeing where you're going that I can't get enough of! There's not a lot better than content kids in the back of the car, good music on the radio, and a long stretch of road out in front of us! 

We are about 9 hours from our destination for the evening, and along the way Hansen has picked out a place called The Shed for us to eat at this evening. It's a BBQ joint in Vancleave, Mississippi, that he saw on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. I think it goes with out saying that he enjoys planning our trips around that show. If there's a DDD place within 20 miles of our route, and it looks appealing in the least bit, we're stopping at it. 

As an aside...I'm amazed at how quickly time passes. The older I get, the quicker it flies by. I feel like we just started planning this trip, but we started planning it February. Now the trip is here and it'll be over before we know it! I fully intend on being too tired at the end of every night, my feet to hurt like crazy, and to cram as much fun in to the next 8 days as we can! If you've never taken a Disney trip, you need to. Kids or no kids, young or old. It doesn't matter. It's the most magical place on earth! 

Most excellent!

That's how I would describe our first day...Most Excellent!

The day started out with making muffins and having coffee. Once I was awake, I got the girls up and they started their day. Graci asked if they could wear uniforms the first day, so she picked out their clothes and got all of them dressed. (yes, I thought it would be funny to have uniform shirts and children's place had them on sale.) She's such a great big and little sister. (middle child). After breakfast, we trudged upstairs and I only heard Sydney mumble quietly about "walking up all those nasty stairs." The kid is not a fan of the stairs when it is time for school, BUT she seems to not have a problem when it's her idea to go up and down them when she needs or wants something. "Yes mommy! It would be lovely of me to go help Graci bring up the snacks!" or "Um, I forgot Toto (her stuffed dog), may I please go downstairs and get him?" If it's her idea, she's all for it. 

Here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure. Ahhhhh, Pictures. Another thing my oldest really doesn't like to do. She suffered through it though and I ended up with this...not too bad. :-)

Sixth Grade...how is that even possible? I mean seriously? Wasn't it just yesterday that she came in to this world with a bang? My little 1lb, 12oz, baby girl is now TWELVE and in the SIXTH GRADE! 

Up next...My little G-Lou. (that's her street name lol)

She's just about the sweetest kid in the world. And funny...boy is she funny. I have it on good authority that she gets that from her mother. She's also the best big-little sister that Sydney could ask for. She helps her out so much. She is a gem! 

And finally...our little Rosie Toes.

This kid is a character. She marches to her own drum, and when I say marches, I mean stomps, swings, and talks. She is never quiet. She can segway in to another topic of conversation like nobody I've ever known. The child would be great during a filibuster...but, she has such a big heart, and one of the sweetest kids when you get to know her. 

Graci and Sydney doing some fraction work.

And...all three of my babies together. 

When we got back in the "classroom" yesterday, it just felt peaceful. I knew that we were right where we were supposed to be. Not that I had any doubt, but that feeling you get when you know you're doing what you're supposed to be doing is a great feeling. I know in my heart that this is what I'm supposed to be doing right now, and that's something, considering I said that it was something I'd NEVER do. Never say never. (which is funny, because I used "Never" to say Don't Ever say Never) I thought at one time in my life that homeschooling my kids would be just about the worst thing that I could ever do TO them, when in reality, it's not something you do TO them, but FOR them. I love these little monkeys, and there's nothing that I wouldn't do FOR them. :-) 

The first day of school...is in two weeks.

This time last year I was watching everyone post their first day of school pictures on Facebook and feeling a little sad. We were no longer going to be in public school, therefore missing all of the 'fun' first day of school things. First pic, first pic in the car, first pic in front of the school, first pic of the little one crying when someone walked too close to her, first pic with the teachers, first pic of the first drink of the day for mom...(ok, that was a joke)...you get the picture. A lot of firsts.

Today, looking back at our first year of homeschooling, and looking at everyone's first day pictures again, I am not sad in the least little bit. We had a lot of firsts of our own. Our own first day pics, our first field trip, our first doctors appointment with out worrying about what time I take the kids out of school, first science experiment, first pajama day, first time making real butter, first time my oldest sat and read SEVENTY-ONE PAGES OF A BOOK, and so many more firsts. 

Starting the 8th of September, we will start our new year and a have an entire year to have a whole new set of firsts. I'm looking forward to this year. I feel like I have a much better handle on what should be going on in "school" now. It's not all about sitting at a desk and pushing through a curriculum in a certain amount of time. It's about having the freedom to get out and see how things are made, how they work, and how they're used. It's about piling you and your friends and kids in the car and setting out for the museum, only to find yourself on an adventure that ends in a picnic at the airport watching the planes land and getting to listen to the air traffic controllers. But most of all, I think it's about us keeping our kids "kids" for as long as we can. We don't want to shield them from the world, but we want to keep their hearts and minds as innocent as we can for as long as we can. For now, homeschooling is the way for us! For us it is about getting as many new firsts with them as we can, while we can!