My 52 lists project: List 6

List 6: List the ways you love to have fun

I have missed the 52 lists blogging that I used to do. The gal that hosted it is no longer doing it, but I really wanted to get back into it. Last December, I was wandering through Target doing some Christmas shopping and saw a book version on the bookshelf. It reminded me how much I loved making the lists! I made it a point to get one of those books soon. I added it to my wishlist on Amazon, hoping it might show up on Christmas day. It didn't, but that's okay because I decided to use some Christmas cash from Mike's grandmother to purchase it on my own! So, I bought the original 52 lists project, but there are others such as this Happiness version (which is the one I saw at the store originally).

Now I want to share my lists again on the blog!

I am starting a bit late, but I want to start where I am because trying to go back and do the past 5 weeks previous would be too much at once. So, here we are. List 6. The ways I love to have fun:

•  Bowling
• Playing games
• Watch a movie
• Go on a hike
• Go on a boat
• Play sports (some)
• Cooking (for fun)
• Go to festivals
• Go to a party
• Color or art
• Do a puzzle
• Visiting the beach
• Swimming
• Girls night
• Exploring nature
• Decorating for a holiday
• Playing in the snow
• Going to a concert
• Mom's night (visiting with other moms)
• Disneyland
• Legoland
• Mini golf
• Building Legos
• Crafts
• Creating new things
• Music (listening, creating, learning)
• Puzzle books
• Reading
• Taking pictures/photography
• Learning
• Celebrating (holidays, birthdays, people, places)

This was a really easy list. Now if only I could do more of these things I love more often! Maybe I'd be having more fun in life!

A day at the Oregon Coast

With the day off for all of us, we decided to embark on a family adventure to the Oregon Coast. More specifically the Oregon Coast Aquarium, and some tide pools. Our first stop on our adventure was brunch at In-N-Out. We did brunch because it's just too insanely busy any other time of the day. This is a new location for In-N-Out this far north in Oregon, so it's a hot spot. People are coming from all over the Portland area and beyond I'm sure. When it first opened I heard people were waiting 5 hours in lines. So, we discovered it's best to hit it first thing in the morning when it first opens. We actually got a seat this time. Well, two seats actually. We couldn't all fit in a booth for 4, so we had to take 2. All the bigger seating areas were taken already. And, yes, we weren't the only ones there. The lobby was already full by the time we arrived at about 9:45. Crazy! It's a fun place to eat though. Pretty tasty too.

After eating brunch, we headed to the coast. It's about a 2-hour drive from there, so we were happy to get out and stretch our legs in the beautiful sunshine at Seal Rock to look at the tidepools. The sky was so blue. It was still chilly, but the sun really helped warm us up.

This is what I am assuming is seal rock. A giant rock that is to the right of Alex in the picture above. The picture below is a shot looking up from the bottom of it.

 We spotted some really neat sea life. I found this sea star.

After the tidepools, we made our way to the Aquarium. Our membership will be expiring next month, so we're trying to get the most out of it before it does. Of course, the older kids were rather grumbly with the "been there, done that" attitude, but we made them do it anyway. This kid though, he was super excited about it all still. He maybe grumbled once that the beginning.

This eel was pretty big!

This is a bird! It was swimming down below the water super fast, and looked all shiny because of the air bubbles on its feathers.

Another of the birds. A Tufted Puffin. The birds were fun to watch today.

Sharks are awesome!

So are seahorses. I really enjoy watching creatures of all kinds. I'm so thankful for places like the Aquarium where we can go and observe and learn new things about the creatures in this world. 

If you are in the US I hope you had a nice President's Day, or Washington's Birthday, or whatever you call it! For all my other friends, I hope your Monday was good!

My Homeschool Mother's Journal: Valentine's week

Life this week...

The weeks are flying by faster than I can blink. I don't even know why. It's not like we're doing anything amazing each week. Just much of the same repeated week after week. So much to do and so little time to do it all.

Homeschool this week...

We started learning about the state of Maine. There are so many interesting things to learn when it comes to Geography. And, of course, I just want to go visit each place we learn about. I pulled out the book and map from our Which Way USA collection and he got really excited about finding facts and interesting places on the map. I just love these maps, and highly recommend them for elementary age learning. They feature a lot of important details about each state. We have about half the collection from when we had a subscription. A great subscription by the way!

Helpful homeschool tips and advice to share...

Take some time to reflect on your week. Especially if you feel like you haven't accomplished anything. You'll find you accomplished more than you think!

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

On Monday we went to the zoo with some friends...

Last Sunday was national pizza day so we decided to have a special treat of pizza out at Mod pizza. One of our new favorite places to get pizza out. So Tasty!

Today was a birthday celebration at the Oregon State Capitol for Oregon's 161st birthday of becoming a state. It was a fun and educational experience. There were cool exhibits and things to do.

My favorite thing this week was...

I discovered a new study music listen on YouTube. This hip hop one is cute and nice to listen to. It really helps my kids focus, and me too! I just turn it on during our school day when we want something to play in the background, but don't want disruptive music. The cat wagging the tail in the window is cute too.

Things I'm working on...

Getting all the pictures off my phone. I have over 2,000 photos, and it's taking up too much space. My phone is constantly telling me it's almost out of storage. That's a lot of photos, I know. On the other hand, I am not taking nearly as many pictures as I used to. I just haven't been in a picture-taking mood lately. I also don't have review items to take tons of pictures of either.

Something I accomplished...

I got Valentine's day decorations up about 2 days before Valentine's day! I almost didn't do anything. But, as I was clearing photos from last year, and going through pictures on the computer I realized I had nothing pictured from last Valentine's day. Which means I didn't do anything. Which is surprising for me. I like to decorate and celebrate. My desire has just gotten less and less each year, so I wasn't about to let another year get by. I decorated the mantle, and at least put up some hearts on the door. It wasn't much, but it was something.

What we're reading...

We listened to Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen on audio CD. It's the continuation of Hatchet if Brian hadn't been rescued like he was at the end of Hatchet. What would have happened to him if he had to continue surviving past summer and into a hard winter? It was a great story to listen to. I enjoyed it too as I had never heard it before.

I am reading a book for my homeschool mom's bookclub called Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. I'm just under halfway through, and it needs to be finished by Wednesday. I might actually be able to finish this one. I haven't been able to finish one completely yet in time for book club.

Reading Before We Were Yours during Parkour by a heater. That room is cold!

Questions/thoughts I have...

How do I get more time? Or more accomplished in the time I already have?

I'm grateful for...

All these great homeschool friends and mamas from our local homeschool group.

Valentine's day card exchange--WAHF