The end of the adventures of city life....

LET FREEDOM RING!!! (Happy Indepence Day!) The kids and I are leaving Miami. (insert whistleing, cheering and tears of joy!) Tomorrow will be our last day here. We are picking up my mom at the airport Wednessday morning and she is heading up to Virginia with us to Polyface Farm (Joel Salatin's farm) for their field day. We are going to visit a few other places along the way and then she is going to fly back from Atlanta, where the kids and I will head for Colorado to visit a friend of mine from college and then we'll be on our way home!
Michael will not be coming with us, but will be home to visit often until the job is done. Can't wait to see all our friends and family!

A Day with the Amish

Pulling up to the Amish farm it appears as any other beautiful farm, with a distinct "farm smell" and all.

The house looks like another charming farm house.

There is a large barn full of horses and cows and even a mother dog with a new litter of puppies nursing.

A large chicken house that contains over 3,000 laying hens.

A pond in the pasture beyond the garden area. Mother horses and baby colts frolicking nearby.

Very picturesque.

The difference is the people. (Here they are butchering chickens for those who were buying...)

Their kitchen is HUGE! This family has 13 children. So the kitchen/eating area must be able to accommodate 15 for meals... and many many more when company comes or they host a meal for the youth or house church service. They have no electricity but you can't hardely tell. Much of it is ran off of gas. There is no TV, no radio, no kitchen aid mixer or toaster...

This is set up in their front yard...

Christian playing with their baby kitten...

Beautiful.

Elle is getting a buggy ride. The oldest son (20 years old) trains horses, he was working with this one. We also went on a large wagon that they use for hauling hay. The horses are MASSIVE and so beautiful! They took us on a ride through the field, around to the grandparents field and to the Amish school and back. It was such a beautiful ride.

The girls cooled their feet in the water from the Artisian well that they have set up to pump out and stream down through their yard. There is a cup there for the kids (or anyone else for that matter) to drink from it at any time, and it is so refreshing for cleaning your hands or dipping your feet in as you needed.

And here are the boys cooling off in the big tub that was originally bought to raise fish in, but the Amish boys have made it their own! It is filled from that same Artisian well.

The day with this Amish family was life changing. They were such an incredible family. All that you see here (and I didn't take many photo's because the Amish do not like having their faces in photo's) is ran JUST by this family. They do not have hired hands, no employees. Really try and grasp this.... a family of 15... with the oldest child being 23 and the youngest just turned a year old a week ago.... they milk 50 cows (each of which they know by name- they are trained to go to their specific stall when they come in from the pasture. They are just called and they come in and go to their stall.) They clean around 500 DOZEN eggs A DAY! They take care of over 30 horses, 3000  laying chickens, 50 meat chickens, 50 cows, make their meals from scratch, train dozens of horses, and care for all of the young kids, on top of regular daily life stuff, selling all those eggs, tending a HUGE garden.....etc...etc... WOW! And all of this while the sun is shineing... they can't work in the dark. =) It is truly an incredible example of what can be done with a family that works together. (not to mention the lack of a TV or computer! ha!)

Even with all of this, the thing that really effected me the most was the dad, Harry is his name. He is the happiest man I have ever seen. I mean actually, really, truly happy- overflowing with pure joy. I didn't exchange many words with him, but I saw his face, and I saw him smile. It is hard to find a man with real joy these days. Even through their smiles, their jokes and their laugher if one looks close enough, they'll see the weight they carry, the burdens of their job, struggles within their family, poor choices coming back to haunt them, financial responsibilities, pressures of temptations etc... But not this man...this man was free. He was weightless and solid at the same time. The kids too. I spent a good deal of time with the oldest daughters (they helped at the "camp" for the first couple days). They were so geniune, so joyful and I really can't think of a better word than "free". They weren't nieve, quiet and "robotic" like some may think of Amish women. They had excellent sense of humors, were smart, but not above learning a new way of doing something, they were kind and EXTREMELY hard workers. The oldest son, who was just 20 years old had the confidence and sureity of a "successful" man twice his age, and yet the humility and kindness of a girl half his age. He too had that same freedom about him as the father did. They all did. Let me tell you, you really can not believe the depths of it unless you see it- and look.

 They are FREE. It was without question that if something tragic were to happen in their lives they would be unchanged in their joy and peace. They have a solidness about them I have never experianced. Their eyes hold what "freedom" looks like. They do not carry the burdens of this world, only the joy of hard work and real love for others. I want that same freedom, now more than ever... I can no longer convince myself that it doesn't exist. It does. I saw it, undeniably so, with my own eyes.

Homestead Camp

The kids and I drove up to Wisconson again this last week. They were SO good in the car- even without the DVD player (I forgot the right cord!). It was very different this time since all the snow was gone. When I was packing, Elle came out in her big puffy pink snow pants... She thought we were going to play in the snow! =)

Here's Elle, Molly and Megan. They played dolls, drew pictures, played with the baby kitten, rode bikes and chased Bubbles- the rabbit- all weekend. The girls took us out to catch fire flies the first night we were there. I have never seen them before and was just amazed at how beautiful they are. They are truly every bit amazing as they are talked up to be! It reminds me of the phospherescents (spelling!?) in the sound in August (when the water glows when disturbed). It is so beautiful.

Happy baby and mama Ashley.

Mikey pulling Elle in the little wagon cart.

The Amish girls made this bread. IT IS INCREDIBLE!!! I got the recipe and will post it when I give it a shot for myself. I need to figure out how to properly cut it down, since the recipe is for 5 loafs! (they have a big family)

Christian's favorite toy...

Erin and "Smiley" (when he smiles it totally looks like a cartoon smile!) tending to the soup over the fire.

crank wheat grinder hooked up to a bike.

Kids being kids...

The Amish girls making the dough for homemade noodles.

Noodle dough drying- I failed to get a photo of the cutting of the noodles. But they were delicious.

We made A LOT of homemade soap! I will be sharing this recipe too once I try it for myself back home. It really is a lot of work, so I can see why the idea is to make a lot of it when you make it to make the effort worth it.

Here's the prep work for the large pot of soup.

Picken chicken off the bone...

Soup over the fire.

YUM!! We added dumpling balls at the end of the cook time and it was delicious. We canned what was left and brought some back with us.

My next post will cover the day at the Amish farm (amazing). It was such a nice weekend. I wish I could have taken more photo's- especially now, looking through at how much I missed... It was just tough to tote a camera around- keep it safe from all the roudy kids- and watch my own roudy kids at the same time. But, the boys had a BLAST being boys- catching frogs, snakes and even a turtle, canoeing in the flooded part of the field, throwing knives (at a target) and playing in their tree fort. It was a wonderful weekend of learning and enjoying my kids loving nature.

Seaquarium

We went to the Seaquarium here in Miami for Father's Day last week. It was a bit of a let down for the price ($114!!! And Christian was even free!)... but the kids really liked it and it was fun to see the trainers swim with them.

That is the ACTUAL size of a humpback whale tail!

I wish I could have taken more photo's of this show, but my hands were full with the little ones.

I missed the "great" shot, but it was hilarious! This peacock was trying to mate with the turtle! It was too funny...

This was truly the greatest part of it all. Just as we were leaving there was this blown up water slide thing... It was SO hot out and even more muggy so the water was so nice...

Concert to support my sister in law

Tomorrow, June 19th at 3pm at United Churches- located at 110 11th Ave SE, Olympia, my sister in law, Elizabeth Shoemaker, (15 years old) is playing a concert to share her love of playing the violin and gain support for a trip to Vienna this summer. She has worked so hard preparing for this concert and would love to see so many people come and enjoy her music. All are welcome and anyone would be amazed at how well she plays, especially for her age. She is very talented. I hope anyone reading this in the area can make it. She has started a blog for people to follow this adventure of hers. It is http://www.elizabethgoestovienna.blogspot.com/.

Christian's swimming lessons

Christian had swim lessons this week. He just turned 21 months old. We spent 15 minutes a day with an instructor and then did practice each day on our own for another 15 minutes or so. These video's were taken by the instructor on our 5th day. Alot of people expressed interest as to how it all worked, so I'll try and give some detail on it... (This is in no way a "how to" that I am suggesting anyone to use to try out for themselves without a professional instructor.

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To start with, a parent who can't handle their kid crying is out of the question. Most likely the kid is going to cry, cry, cry. Christian was even calling out for Elle (his 4 year old sister) to help him during his lesson. So much of what happens has to do with the backbone of the parent teaching the kid. You HAVE to win, NO matter what. The child HAS to know that they HAVE to do what you are telling them to and that it is of no concern to you what-so-ever if they don't want to. She is adiment that there is no "lovies" given, no talking AT ALL to the child during the lesson. You can say "Mama loves that" when they come up from the water and that is IT. No holding, no comforting, no "good job" nothing. You are basically acting as a wall- you assist them in no way to climb up and out of the water. (That is what the shirt is for- for them to grab on to and climb up.)

I AM NOT ABLE TO GET THE VIDEO'S TO WORK AT THIS TIME..  =(  THEY WORK ON MY "EDIT POST" PAGE.... BUT NOT HERE... ANY IDEAS ANYONE? SEND ME A MESSAGE, OR A COMMENT, THANKS!

Here is a swim from the steps to me. The 1-2-3 teaches them to hold their breath because at "3" they are going under whether they want to or not and it is far more plesent for them if their breath is held.

This one Elle and Christian are racing. Elle had never swam without her arms before. Leaigh (the instructor) is really big on kids learning to swim with their face in the water. "The last thing a kid does before they drown is take a breath. They need to learn to be strong swimmers without air, get to the side and make their way to the stairs." Learning to come up for breath comes with learning the free style stroke, which is in level 3 (we just completed level 1)

I have seen the impact of this method with the girls Elle plays with and who reccomended this instructor. The youngest (2 years old) swims and plays in the pool with the big girls (ages 5 and 7) so well, you don't even realize that she isn't coming up for air! She can swim the whole length of the pool (about 15 feet)holding her breath, she can dive down and get things from the bottom (5-6 feet deep) and jump off and dive, you have to really pay attention to realize that the only times she is breathing is when she makes her way to the side of the pool. She is so happy and SUCH a strong swimmer. If they learn to come up for a breath too soon, they'll use it as a crutch and not be forced to learn to get to the side for air. I am seeing this with Elle and now in order for her to play in the pool, she is going to have to swim accross with her head in the water and "bunny ears" 15X so she can be a strong swimmer. The other thing the gal said was for me to never let Elle hold on to me in the water. If she needs a break- she needs to make her way to a wall and then take a break.

Everything is very detailed and specific and intentional. The way we even enter the pool area, sit in certain chairs, the stances, the grips, the verbage, EVERYTHING. It sets a routine that the kid can expect and so as soon as they get over the "fighting it" and "testing it" stage they are comfortable because they know what's coming and they know no matter what they are NOT in charge, I AM.

Of course every time we learned a new skill, or trying something new, there was a bit more fussing and uncertainty.. but the theme is to really stick with it, no matter what.

Here I am acting as the wall, I can't move, I can't help him- he'll make it. I can see his eyes wide open, he knows I am there and is figureing out how to get to me. I will say that Christian is an extremely strong swimmer. He was kicking like a champ from day one. There was another little girl there that went before us (who rarely cried at all!) that on those first couple days she seemed to just float there. She didn't kick or anything. She held her breath forever and occationally her grandpa would have to (at the instruction of the teacher, and after a LONG time) take a step to her. But it was specific and slow and in a way that wouldn't allow her to know he had moved. He was absolutely not allowed to grab her and pick her up. Once that happens it's all over- she would expect that from him always and not learn to get to him and up him. The last 2 days she was an incredible swimmer, kicking hard, so happy, proud of herself.

The child has to always be invited into the pool. There was a very specific way of getting the child into the pool. The goal was for the child to learn that they don't just go in the pool when they want, but when envited. We did a series of movements from the step, to facing the wall and learning to turn from the wall, to sitting on the wall and coming in from a sitting position- all with a LOT of repetitions- and then always "monkeying" their way out. (Hands shuffeling along the wall to get themselves to the steps). Once out, everyone can clap and cheer as the child goes and sits in their specific chair and the mom (or whoever) is to leave immediately to the shed to get dry and changed. The instructor gives a lollypop and the idea is for the kid to quit fussing and learn that mama's not going to coddle you, this is serious business.

For most kids they fuss and cry the first 3 days and then are over it and happy the last two. The one little girl hardely cried at all, even on day one. Christian cried all 4 days with her, but was happy on our practice on our own on the 3rd day. And even regardless of how much he fussed during the lessons, he was SO proud of himself when he was done. Especially day 3, he was cheering for himself and had this smile of real pride on his face. Today (the 5th day) part way through he finally "gave over" and he was SO happy! Especially when Elle was in next to him. He really loves his big sister.

This is definately not for the faint hearted parent. You have to be stone and emotionless (which is how we try to discipline as well). This instructor does not take just anyone as a client. She asked me a number of questions first. She doesn't want to be in a situation, or put a child in a situation where the parent is questioning her ("aren't I too far away") or not listening and grabbing up the kid and ruining all that is being taught and putting their child in danger of counting on someone to be there- who won't be if they fall into the pool when no one is watching. Down here the danger is so real with all of the back yard pools, swim parks and community pools.  HUNDREDS of babies and toddlers drown each year- just in this small area. Tragic.

So much of what we learned is really for a pool format, but I did ask a lot about open water- as back in Washington our time in water is more often a lake or the sound and I got some great transfer tips on that as well. Level 2 addresses a lot of those senario's as well. (like going out in the water and making your way around to the shore down the way). We are going to do level 2 in a couple weeks.

A New Quilt for Christian

Christian's Quilt is done! Elle learned how to iron and ran the foot pedal on this one. It was a fun project to do down here in Miami and a really good lesson in learning to "stop" and "go" on my command! She took running the foot pedal very seriously and did such a good job staying focused and listening. Oddly enough it's a flannel quilt like Elle's, it'll be perfect when we go home! (Flannel is always good to buy in the summer... often on sale.) This is my favorite type of quilt to do as I am not a perfectionist and not even close to perfect in my sewing (or any other area for that matter). I cut the batting into rectangles (I used a book that looked about the size I was looking for and made my templete from traceing that) and then cut the fabic into random shapes/sizes, lined them out on the batting peice (Elle helped with this too) folded the frayed edges under and ironed them to make them stay and then stitched them onto the batting. Then when all the squares were done, I sewed them together in rows (This quilt is 6 rows accross, 7 down) and then sewed the rows together. I used the bottom sheet from the set I used for Elle's quilt. (Useing sheets for material is way cheaper than buying by the yard for backing) I cut off the elastic part and the diagonal stiching at the corners and it was perfect!

They'll be cozy kids this winter!

The "tomboy's" daughter loves pink!

I was a tomboy when I was young. I still am not real "girlie". We are down here in Miami and my poor kids don't see anyone but me. We have no "princess" movies, don't watch TV and here is my little Elle totally obsessed with pink! HA! I just think it is so funny how people are totally born their own little selves. Anyway, we are preparing for a few LONG road trips in the next 6 weeks. (Wisconson again, Virginia and back home!) So I wanted to make a cushion for Elle's carseat. The old thin pad was thrown away on a previous road trip when it was soiled beyond repair (you don't want to know). So in talking with Elle about making her a new one, she asked for it to be pink. So we went to JoAnn Fabric and Elle picked out some fabric.

Here is the before...

Here's the after. She LOVES it!

SOO much more comfortable now! A nice thick 2" pad on the bottom. I made the fabric like a pillow case so it can be taken off and washed easily. Cost about $13 (the foam was 50% off) and it's like a new carseat to Elle. She is so excited about it.

Pipe Cleaner people.. cheap dolls

This was so fun for Elle. We worked on making them togeher- took maybe 5-10 minutes and she played with them for an hour after, and still plays with them 3 days later. Cost maybe 20 cents...