When Lincoln, Lillie, and Mary Margaret were younger and I was in the early years of homeschooling, we took lots of field trips. We went to museums, the fire station, art classes, and zoo classes, and would frequently meet at the park with other homeschool families. As the kids got older we spent more time at home -- things like Latin and algebra took more time and the field trips and extracurricular activities gave way to tedious and time-consuming subjects. The result of this was that Jack Henry has been shortchanged just a bit. He hasn't been able to go on as many field trips and outings as the older kids.
But perhaps this past week made up for it. Brandon had
meetings in Amelia Island, Florida, so Jack Henry, Oliver, and I tagged along a took a week-long field trip to Florida. Lillie had her concurrent-enrollment classes that she couldn't miss and both girls had Nutcracker rehearsals that they couldn't miss so they had to stay behind.
It was a great week. It was lots of fun to get away and spend time with the "little boys." This was both Jack Henry and Oliver's first time on an airplane so Jack Henry was pretty excited about that. We had asked Jack Henry what his favorite part of the trip was and (of course) he said going to the beach. But just about everything about the trip was fun.
 |
| First airplane ride |
 |
| This was Oliver's second time at the beach, but the first time he could walk and play in the sand. |
 |
| Brandon's conference was at the Ritz-Carlton in Amelia Island. This was the view from our room. |
 |
| Here is the pool right below our room. |
 |
| One thing about going to the beach in November is that it isn't crowded at all. |
Oliver couldn't believe his good fortune -- so much room to run free, and puddles to play in:
 |
| Building sand castles |
 |
| Every night when we got to our room the bed was turned down and there were chocolates on the bed. It was a nice change of pace from putting away laundry in the evenings. |
