rainbow

Mani Monday

I was inspired by one of my Erstwilder Care Bears brooches to create a rainbow mani for St. Patrick’s Day! I went with Sally Hansen Miracle Gel “Can’t Beet Royalty,” “Eternally Grapefruit,” “Sunbrella,” “Me, My Elf and I,” and “Tidal Wave.” I’m not going to lie, the orange isn’t quite what I wanted, but it is what I had. I also feel bad about leaving out purple, my favorite color, but alas, I only have five fingers on each hand. To make up for that disappointment, I used “Sunken Treasure” to add a little gold glitter on top of each color, because you always look for a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

Markels Making Magical Memories–Day Fifteen

Bowling Green, KY to Belleville, IL; 279.6 miles. KY, IN, IL

We got started early on our way home, and I’m not going to lie…after over 800 miles of driving the day before, under 300 didn’t seem too bad! We even had a rainbow pointing the way home:

We stopped to stretch our legs at Smothers Park in Owensboro, KY. Since we were out so early, we didn’t need to worry about running into anyone, which was good, because I was feeling kind of like Typhoid Mary. It was kind of nice to end our trip the way we began, with a war memorial:

And there were some really cool fountains:

We picked up some donuts from the Donut Bank on the way home:

After driving 3,134.20 miles through 12 states and one district, not to mention taking 197,076 steps (close to 90 miles, I think!), through the streets of Washington D.C., Mount Vernon, Myrtle Beach, Disney World, and Kennedy Space Center, we finally made it home with the souvenir no one wanted…COVID-19. In spite of that, it was a great trip, and we made a lifetime’s worth of memories!

If you’re still interested in our vacation, stay tuned for a more in-depth look at some of the places we visited!

2021-22 School Year–Week Two

I was right…this week was weird, too! Turkey and Bunny started college, and getting used to their comings and goings is going to take some work. It’s definitely quieter in the house while they’re gone, which is also weird!

Despite the weirdness, we had a productive week. Ladybug had another geometry test and her first biology test (she was thrilled). We also got out the microscope for the first time, which was fun. She read about Islam in her study of comparative religions. She also continued her independent study of astronomy. We discussed the unification of ancient Egypt under Narmer. We added a little fun to grammar with the use of Mad Libs. We continued to read Little Women, and made two recipes from The Little Women Cookbook: Cheese and jam turnovers (or “muffs” if you’ve read the book), and Amy’s frothy French drinking chocolate.

Chickadee finished the first section of her Bible storybook on the beginning of the world through Noah. She had her first math test. She reviewed pronouns in grammar, and also began memorizing her first poem of the year, “The Land of Nod.” We wrapped up the first chapter in her science text…next week, she’ll start learning about specific aquatic creatures. Our study of geography took us to Mexico and Brazil. I’m trying to add in some hands-on activities in the way of crafts and cooking for that class, so we made Mexican tissue paper flowers and brigadeiro, a type of Brazilian truffles or bon bons.

And tonight we even got to see a rainbow, which fit perfectly with Chickadee’s story about Noah and the flood today!

Maybe next week, things will finally feel a little less weird, now that everyone has had a chance to get used to how different things are around here this year!

Road Trip Wrap-Up in the Time of COVID-19

Our travels this summer might not yet be back to what they were in pre-COVID times, but we did actually go somewhere this year! Since we weren’t quite as busy as we have been on previous vacations, I’m just going to take a look at the whole trip instead of going day-by-day.

On Monday, we left for a short trip to Bowling Green, KY. Any visit to Bowling Green includes a meal from Zaxby’s. Fortunately, we have always done carryout, so that wasn’t even any different from our usual dinner.

On Tuesday morning, we drove into Nashville to visit Cheekwood Estate and Gardens and see the Nature Pop! Lego exhibition by Sean Kenney. Both the sculptures and the estate were breathtaking!

We also drove down to the Cumberland riverfront to get a look at the Nashville skyline.

We were going to get lunch at Hattie B’s, one of the locations in Nashville known for hot chicken, but the line was unbelievably long, so we went to Chaney’s Dairy Barn and had ice cream for lunch instead!

Our day ended with a beautiful double rainbow!

On Wednesday, Bunny and I went with her grandparents to tour Western Kentucky University, where she is planning on attending after she finishes at community college:

And on Thursday, we visited the Aviation Heritage Park in Bowling Green, where we saw not only an authorized replica of Marine One, but also an aircraft flown by every astronaut who walked on the moon!

We also had an early birthday celebration for Bunny that night:

We were up early on Friday morning to head home, but we did stop for donuts at the Donut Bank on the way:

It was a little challenging coming up with fun things to do outside in the summer heat, (I wanted to go to a Bowling Green Hot Rods game, but between the temperatures and the fact that I’m still a little hesitant to be in a big crowd, even outdoors, made me table that for the time being), but we found something to do every day, and it was so nice to get away for a bit!

Stopped in Their Tracks

I shared these pictures on Twitter last night, but I thought they were worth sharing again. I apologize in advance for the quality of the photos…all I had on me was my (apparently antiquated) iPhone 4.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the sky quite like this. It was grey all day yesterday. Completely dreary, with a light mist on and off all day long. Truly a blah day. But, just around sunset, the sun decided to try to come out. We were in the Target parking lot at the time, and we were amazed by how golden the sky became. Like, hurts your eyes golden. And then I turned around to get my phone, and saw a full rainbow behind me. And not just a rainbow, but, if I looked really hard, a double rainbow!

It was at that point that I realized that everyone in the parking lot had stopped in their tracks, and was either looking at the sunset, or the rainbow, or was spinning in circles like me to see both. And they continued to stare as the gold sunset mellowed out a bit, and turned out to be one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen!

It was a truly surreal moment. The way the whole parking lot seemed to be glowing, the people stopping, and reaching for phones to capture the moment, the shouts of children as they noticed the rainbow…I’m glad we needed to stop at Target so we were present for such a beautiful display of God’s artwork!

The Jesse Tree–Day Three

In today’s reading, we learned about Noah and the flood (Genesis 6:11-22; 9:8-17). We talked about the sad state the world was in, and how God saved faithful Noah and his family, (along with the animals), from the flood. We also discussed the covenant God made with Noah after the flood, and how the rainbow will always be a symbol of that covenant.