Envelope Factory Tour

 Our homeschool group friends organized a field trip to the envelope factory which is owned and operated by Frank Mozeika, one of the leaders in our church.  I wasn't sure if the kids would enjoy it, but we gave it a shot.  What a surprise!  It was a total hit!

Our older kids were super excited to see envelopes that were being printed for the t.v. show Mythbusters.  The younger ones were delightfully disgusted by the glue that is put on envelopes so that they can be licked shut.  The glue was FULL of dead flies and other bugs.  I was amazed by the amount of letters produced in so many different shapes and sizes.

Four and Fabulous!

 Karyie had a My Little Pony themed birthday party for her 4th birthday.  She has grown and changed so much this year!  Even though she is still a little fireball of energy and the most likely to be the culprit if something is missing, she has really matured a lot.  She no longer flushes things down the toilet, which is a huge success.  She is recognizing her name when she sees it written.  But still, her impulse control isn't so great.  Hence, the obvious spot on her cake where a little four year old finger sampled the icing before the party began.

Lighten Up!

 BEFORE

AFTER

Gloria and I both dyed our hair the same shade of blonde... well, we used the same shade of dye. But mine came out a bit lighter than hers. And because I'm more camera shy, I only posted the before and after pics of Glo. Shortly after we took the time to dye ALL THIS HAIR, she decided to cut it all off. So, now she has chin length dirty blonde hair. It looks really cute, though.

Foreign Language

Sometimes I think my kids are speaking a foreign language to me... oh wait, they are.  We are learning to speak Korean together.  Danya, Gloria and I are all working our way together through Integrated Korean Beginning 1, which is a nifty little textbook designed for college classes, but written simply enough that almost any student could follow it.  I'm trying to stay about a chapter ahead of them.  We're also using the Talk to Me in Korean website's audio grammar lessons and videos.  Jordan is listening to those, too.  The other kids are mostly learning Korean words and phrases because we are using them when talking to them.

They can now understand me when I say things like, "come here, go away, please give me ____, sit down, yes, no, don't do it, don't go, follow me, I don't know" and probably a few others I'm forgetting right now.  Danya and Gloria are getting good practice translating when I say something more complicated in Korean and they have to translate it into English for their younger siblings.  Things like "Come to the kitchen to eat lunch" for example.  Just recently, I made them take a "test" of sorts.  We each had to tell an entire story in Korean.  I chose Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  Danya did Snow White.  Gloria is still struggling with The Three Little Pigs.  I think she should have chosen a story that has more words we already know in it.  Seriously, how often will we really need to use the words "wolf" or "straw" in a sentence when speaking to a Korean person?  In the photo here they each wrote on their hands either the word "coffee" or "tea" in Korean as part of a challenge on TTMIK's Facebook page.

I'm also studying with a more advanced book called Korean Grammar in Use which makes my brain hurt, but teaches me huge chunks of information very quickly.  You may wonder why we are studying this language so hard when there are not that many Koreans in Colorado.  I'm planning to take Danya there, just the two of us, for a week next Spring.  Daniel says, if we like it, I can go every year and bring a different kid each year if they have studied enough to become basically fluent.  We're even toying with the idea of sending some of the kids to college there because it's incredibly safe there (compared to other countries) and the tuition is very low (like $2,000 per semester or less). The kids and I are really getting into the culture, watching lots of Korean dramas and singing along to their KPOP songs.  Just for fun, here's a video of the older girls singing in Korean!

Spelunking!

 Near the end of our vacation we took a "scenic detour" of sorts.  We stopped by Alabaster Caverns in Freedom, Oklahoma to do a little spelunking (cave exploring).  Since we didn't have proper gear, we just took a peek into the entrance of Owl Cave.  Getting there was half the challenge.  The trail starts out all sweet and idyllic before quickly becoming a sneaker width semi discernible path beside a massive drop off.  The bottom was so far down I thought I'd discovered Oklahoma's one and only mountain.

Daniel had taken a different route to get there, so I was on my own with the kids, holding onto Karyie (who is notorious for falling down) and Kevin, who is terrified of bugs and was begging me to let him wait in the van (in 103 degree heat).

 We all survived the climb to the entrance of Owl Cave, and then I spent the next 10 minutes keeping the kids from descending into the mouth of the cave alone.  It was steep, rocky, and there was no clear way down into the abyss.  Daniel finally showed up and helped them one by one as they slid and crawled into the cave's maw. 

The kids really liked it and wanted to go exploring, but we had to say no.  We'll have to come back when they are older and make sure we have helmets, flashlights and good shoes.