Sunday, 29 November 2009
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school is tough.
Gazing at Long Island. Well, at the smog that covered it.
Visiting the Sub Museum and the Nautilus (first nuclear sub, turned into part of the museum) Jamin is leaning on the rib of one of the early subs.
Inside the Nautilus.
We found an awesome place to walk. Cracks me up that there really aren't hiking trails around here as I would think of hiking trails, you know, where you go up and down. These just go accross :) This one goes around a point into the sound. Very lovely and just right of a chalenging walk for the kids.
Here are my kids showing the neighbor kids the apple seeds they planted. It has been nice to have next door neighbors with kids who are good play mates.
Arun, Devin's leg, Andi, Robbie, Brynna and Kiley
Arun has had a sad biking history. She got her bike last year for her birthday and we didn't live anywhere she could ride easily. She got to ride at the park a couple of times, but it was winter as well. Then when it got warm enough, the bike went into storage for the whole summer :( Now we have it out and Arun is slowly but surely getting her bike legs. She is so careful (read slow) and doesn't mind taking her time about every part of learning.
Devin on the other hand, gets his chance on the bike and does the whole fast and furious. He will be great once he learns to steer while he pedals. He needs his own bike, maybe Christmas...
I finally found some furniture on Craigslist. Not too spendy, a set so we could pick it up together, no pets or smoking and not poofy. The big couch has worn out springs, but nothing a board can't cure.
Ah, more submarines. This on is an active sub. Coming up the Thames. I think she must have been out on a test run because nobody seemed super thrilled to see her come home.
pretty crazy. I think it is the USS Pitsburgh. The Tugs escort the subs up the river and help them manuver into port.
This is Fort Trumbull, modeled by Brynna.
And again, from the Pier, modeled by Arun
From the gun bay, Devin, Brynna and Jamin
From the pier, looking up at New London.
This is from the Groton side of the river. New London, and to the left, out of the picture is Trumbull, where we were. This is Fort Griswold.
Monument at Fort Griswold, telling the story of Benedict Arnold and his traitorous attack on New London and Groton. It is crazy seeing these kinds of historical locations. New London was quickly sacked and burned, Fort Griswold in Groton held out longer, but was massacred in the end.
Sunset over the Thames
There are some glimpses of our leisure times. We have been doing lots of bookwork kinds of school as well, but that isn't quite as interesting and I have no pictures. Arun is doing really well with her reading. She turns in very neat papers (read as she takes forever on her papers to make sure every letter is perfect) and is starting to catch on to math concepts. Counting by 2s and 10s, adding, place value. Devin finally is grasping blending letters to make words. He has been able to break words down to spelling, but it has taken a while for him to understand how to put letters together. He is getting it! He eats up numbers, and adds faster than Arun does. Brynna knows her letters and sounds no problem and is learning shapes. She has her colors no problem, and all the kids know most colors in spanish as well. Arun remembers spanish well from one lesson to the next, the other two not so much. Jamin has started doing art lessons with Arun and Dev.
Jamin had to stand duty on Thanksgiving day, so we had our feast a day late. I thought I would mind much more than I did. I had plenty of time to make pies and relax on T-day, so the next day was more relaxed and went quite nicely. Four guys from the base came over for the day and we had a lovely time. Jamin was super helpful and encouraged the other guys to be so as well, so I didn't even feel the slave all day!
Arun has a cold today, so she, Brynna and I stayed home from church. Sunny and lovely outside today, so we might just have to go exploring again later :)
