Wowsa.

Good Morning, guys! Can you believe it's October 1st!?!? I can't. It's still August (although I must say, the weather this August is just lovely *grin*)

We had a great day yesterday. We made it to Spanish on time, then got a temporary base pass for me (not nearly as bad as I thought it would be- I think the guy behind the counter took one look at me with three small children in tow, explaining everything in the office to them on their various levels and realized my life is the tangible equivalent of filling out every form in triplicate, without the benefit of carbon paper, and decided that I probably actually really just lost the darned thing in the melee). Then we had lunch with Zorak and headed to the park for Park Day.

The kids had a blast and we stayed for quite a while. It was so nice to visit with the moms in our group. One lady and I were discussing some of the recent not-so-bright articles that have been written about homeschoolers, in particular the concept that homeschooled children are only around other children of like mindset and cultural beliefs, and we had a really good laugh over that one. (This group is about as non-homogenized as it comes!) The weather was pretty nice as long as the breeze kept up or the clouds obscured the sun. The kids all managed to migrate from the play area to the creek. (Kids will do that- you can spend tens of thousands of dollars on playground equipment, but if there's water and Mama says it's ok, they're in the water!)

We drove about on the way home, trying to find a house that's for sale. Never found it. Found one that I thought *might* be it (and I was quite relieved that it's *not* it). John and Jacob fell asleep, so rather than going to the market we came home, had a snack and then worked in the back yard.

We pulled weeds at first.

Then we watched the critters we'd unearthed pulling weeds.

That morphed into trying to identify the different critters, and we spent a wonderful hour and a half just bug watching.

Today we'll work on the front porch. We have to get all the stuff pulled away from the house so it can be power-washed tomorrow. Yippee!! It's very green right now, and it's not supposed to be green, it's yellow. But everything here grows mold if it's not mobile. We were going to wash it ourselves next weekend, but the property mgmt. folks said it's the owner's job. Wow, very cool!

And it's Friday! The time is just flying by. I can't explain it, and I think it has to do with more than just having the boys (although they have sped up my perception-clock tremendously!) Zorak brought up a good point last night: his schedule seems to generate the sensation that each week doesn't take very long. He works a full week, then works a four-day week. We have long weekends every other weekend, and that makes the weeks feel so short, even though he still puts in 80 hours a pay period. We really enjoy the long weekends, and suddenly we look up- *poof* A year has gone by! Hooo, weird.

At any rate, it's a late-morning blog, but it's all good. We're off to read from the Thornton Burgess book we checked out and then to enjoy the beautiful morning while we work on the yard. Have a wonderful Friday!

Dy