Captain

 Rebekah and I finally got the nerve to rent a boat on our own.  No Captain. Just us. In preparation, we took a refresher course in Ireland, which went well (except a small run in with a rock...)  So we headed back to Croatia.

The kids decided to sleep outside, and built a tent.  It did not last, but was a good idea.  It was hot inside the boat!

We did a bit of sight seeing, exploring old towns and castles. 

 But this trip was about the sailing. Not so many pictures.

 We even made our way up a river to visit a famous national park.

 While exploring the park, Weston's sandel broke. Luckily there was a working blacksmith on site (it was a historic tourist attraction).   Despite being told it could not be done - we found a way. I wonder how many blacksmiths have worked on rubber sandels?

 However, this park is famous for more then an old fake blacksmith. People come here to see the huge waterfall.

 Weston took some time to read a newspaper out in the water.

 Our biggest fear was docking the boat. We tired to find places with no one around. Better safe then sorry.

 This meant the selection of restaurants wasn't great.  But we always found something to eat.  This place had some great fresh fish!

 Rebekah was a natural, especially at parking - which she didn't do until the last day!

She even filled up the boat by herself (another first).  We barely used any fuel in 7 days!  It really is the little things.  

Norway

Work recently took us to Norway.  The land of Rebekah's ancestors (some of them anyway). So we made it a family affair. 

My conference was on the west coast in the town of Stavanger.  While not the most picturesque Norwegian towns (a former sardine canning mecca, that has since turned into the hub of North Sea oil exploration), it bills itself as the gateway to the Fjords.

While most of my time was taken up with work, we did find a few hours to explore the area.  This included a boat ride up the Fjords. They were as charming and awe inspiring as promised, hemmed in by little green villages and steep cliffs. 

The water was dark, smooth and glossy.  I am pretty sure it was also quite cold.

Weston decided he wanted to work on his photography skills and spent most of the trip taking pictures with the camera hanging around his neck.  I am sure he got a few good ones.

The boat stopped by a waterfall to get some cold fresh water.

Then we drove underneath Preacher Pulpit (or Pulpit Rock), some 2000 feet straight up from the boat.

It was shrouded in mist, but still looked very high and mysterious. This giant, flat outcropping is the major tourist attraction in the region. So we decided to come back the next say and climb it.

The hike was around 5 miles, up a very steep trail. The kids were not especially looking forward to the hike. 

We started out with lots of complaints (like normal), but they slowly faded away as the kilometers increased.  Strange, but welcome. 

I couldn't get over the train.  Who in the world placed giant granite boulders several miles up a 2000 foot mountain?  Vikings?  Giants?

In any case, it was appreciated. If you tired to stray from the trail, you found yourself in a muddy quagmire, or looking straight down a precipitous fall.

We even made it high enough to find snow. Weston ate some. It did not look clean.

Finally we made it to the top, and to Preachers Pulpit. It was an amazing sight.  We tried to imagine the giant glacier, and immense pressure involved in creating this valley. Weston was a bit nervous about any of us going to the edge.

Probably a wise move. There are no ropes, no fences, no gates, just raw nature. Hard to image the first person (recorded) to ever fall to their death happened in 2013.

And the best part.... no whining or complaining on the way back down!

Home School 5th Grade 2014-2015

We are home schooling the children this year. We've named our school Jackson Academy and even had our friend draw up a logo. Shaynie and Douglas are doing very well and we've enjoyed the adventure with only a few breakdowns. It has had it's moments. We all have to work hard. I say we, not only to give the kids the accountability of motivating themselves and keeping their complaints to a minimum; and also because I could not do it without Bret. Bret is Mr. History and Mr. Field Trip and Mr. Principal. He has made all the difference.

The decision to home school came after great deliberation. Bret is still traveling a great deal and keeping the kids home has allowed us to study the Ancient world and then VISIT the ancient world. We were also heavily influenced by Douglas' dyslexia and his need for additional support that our school didn't offer. I'm encouraged by the progress he has made. The days are long and often arduous but when I step back and realize how well he is reading and writing now I'm so thankful we've put in the effort and the time.

In addition to Douglas' work with the Wilson Reading system, we study Math, Grammar, Writing, Logic, Keyboarding, Cursive, Science, Religion, Ancient civilizations and myths, Spelling, Art and Latin. We have a tutor who teaches creative writing, another who comes once a week to tutor Douglas in the Wilson System (as I'm a novice), Swimming lessons, Kung Fu, Horseback riding, sailing lessons and Piano. We also watch CNN Student News every day and those 10 minutes have been fabulous to keep us informed as to happenings back in the US and the world in general. It took us a faily long time to get into the schedule and routine but I feel we are in the groove now and the kids want to stay in home school next year as well.

"Nice, Creepy picture of Mom," Shaynie says. Some days this is the best I can do... Teacher\Clown\Motivational Speaker\Slave Driver\Mother. 

Happy Birthday to my fabulous mom, Nancy Jane Flynn Thurston. I had such fun putting together this slide show of some favorite photos. I love you Mom!

London - History and Harry

Our flight home required a stop in London. We took the opportunity to check a few more items off our to do list.

We spent the first day at the British Museum. It was the perfect way to end the ancient history lessons we have been working on this year.

This included lessons and tours of the Rosetta stone...

ancient Egyptian mummies (and yes - that is Weston with a folding chair in the front row.  Those things were life savers!) ...

Romans...

Assyrians, and Babylonians (including artefacts from the same temples recently destroyed forever by ISIS)

And of course the Greeks.

The kids (and Chase) did a great job of sitting, walking and listening. It was rewarding to see them make connections and realisations as they put together the many civilizations, peoples, and facts we have been studying.

We finished the day with a meal at 'My old Dutch' for the sake of tradition and very large pancakes!

The next day, we drove North to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studios.  These wizard books are very popular in our house at the moment (with the kids and Rebekah).

It was fascinating to walk through all the sets, examine the many props and wardrobe items.

The art of film making is really quite amazing, creative and time consuming.

The kids were in heaven, and I was a bit lost.

Everyone rushed off to see and read about things on their own. I was left alone, without a audio tour guide or clue what I was looking at.

I tried to take some pictures of things that looked cool, or that might be interesting to the kids. I think I failed.

The Museum just opened up the 'Hogwarts Express' section of the tour a week before. It was a hit with the kids, and quite impressive.

They even got to take a short ride in their own private coach (with the help of movie magic).

Some sets seemed very boring, but I suppose they were important to the movie.

Like this common row house, or the old run down tutor home.

To me, the Creature Shop and art/design section were the most interesting. It is amazing what these people can do.  I can see why the films have million dollar budgets. What an undertaking.

They seemed to spare no expense or effort, and went into such detail, even on things that no one else would ever see.

One of the highlights was the unbelievable large scale model of Hogwarts. It was truly magical. Shayne decided it was the perfect background to use for her series of youtube movies. Good luck with that.

Of course, we had to exit trough the gift shop.  Rest assured the Harry Potter franchise is still making money. Not a lot of discounts just yet.

We had to use the 'Expelliarmus' spell to get the credit card out of Rebekah's hand.  Luckily the kids are well versed in these things!