Here, there, a little bit of everywhere.

One of the great blessings of homeschooling, is the ability to go where ever, when ever, which for the Strickler family has been the motto the past 3 months.  Balin has been busy marketing all over the United States and Canada, from Austin Texas, Tucson, San Diego, Denver, Salt Lake City and up to the frigid north in Toronto.  The kids and I haven't been able to go to all the places he's been, nor would we want to honestly, but we've hitch hiked on a few of his trips and had a great time.

The last adventure was to Brian Head, Utah.  Where you ask?  It's 4 hours south of SLC, 3 hours from Vegas and 7 hours from Prescott.  It's near Bryce and Zion National Parks.  I have to say that southern Utah has got something special going on - it's spectacularly beautiful.  And conservative, as the sign below welcomed us into town.

Since Balin and Dana DeVito needed to head to Salt Lake for a conference, we invited the DeVito family to go skiing with us.  Their children LOVED it and took to skiing like they were wearing new shoes.  The first day we put all the kids in lessons thinking they'd learn a few things.  Well, that didn't go over so well with the Strickler kids, but the DeVitos learned enough to not only make it down the hill, but go into the terrain park and hit the jumps.

Sam and Casey ready to hit the slopes. 

Randy and Christie Hamman - two of our dear friends from Prescott.

 I also invited the Hammans along for the weekend as Randy loves to ski.  They went to Breckenridge after Thanksgiving to do a little skiing and when Randy told me it was a little sad and lonely to ski by himself (Christie's a fair weather skier), I knew that he needed to come and play with us.  The first day on the slopes Randy and I left dear Anna on the bunny slope and headed to steeper and much icier terrain.  Balin was working and Dana was loving on his wife on the bunny slopes so Randy and I made a day of it.

I made a deal with the Hammans and the DeVitos: I'll pay for lodging if you all bring food for all the meals and drink.  I think I got the better part of the deal.  Honestly.  Randy and I headed back to the condo about 2 for lunch and, well, I didn't make it back on the slopes.  Anna had much wraps and Christie brought Margueritas - so I called it a good day of skiing and went and took a post lunch nap.

Faith and Perrin getting ready to race down the hill.

Sam got some sweet "Go Pro" footage.

Christie and Anna.

Balin and Perrin.  Perrin sure loves her daddy lately.  She wants to ride the lift with him, go down the hill with him.  Sit next to him at dinner.  She's currently wearing one of his shirts as her night gown.  A girl and her daddy.

 The next day we all set out to ski together - which lasted for the first run.  Perrin and Mrs. Hamman were paired together as Christie thought she might be able to keep up with Perrin.  She was wrong.  After the first run Perrin says to Christie, "Mrs. Hamman, you've got to go faster.  C'mon, let's go."  By the end of the day Faith and Perrin were challenging Christie to race - Christie's response at the end of the run, "those two little twits don't even turn.  I get style points for turning, turning counts for something."  Tuck and go was the motto for the girl racers.

Meanwhile Mr. Hamman found his skiing buddy in Sam.  Sam was ready to hit any blue run Mr. Hamman threw at him saying he'd meet him at the lift.  Those two boys were happy as could be doing run after run after run.  Sam then met up with Casey after lunch and the two hit the terrain park and worked on their jumps.  They were pretty cute and by the end of the day, pretty tired.

Every night ended with a delicious dinner from Christie and some choice wine followed by college basketball. (or going to bed by 8:30…skiing tires one out.)

Sunday we loaded the cars up and headed back to P-town. It was a great weekend with friends that hopefully we'll be able to repeat next season.

Homeschooling has thus been a 3-4 day endeavor as it's hard to study while zooming down the slopes. When we are home we have really gotten into a nice rhythm of daily routines.  The weather, until this weekend, has been spectacularly warm and so we've gotten the chance to get outside and play a bit.  Last week the kids and I went riding down to the lake and the bird observation area.  It was so great to sit in the forest and listen to the birds.  It was just one of the many times I've said to myself, "I'm so glad I'm homeschooling."  It's been such a blessing in so many ways.  I tell myself often, it's not forever so enjoy it.

 In between school, excursions and adventures, we've had a couple of projects on the home front.  We changed out the vanity and lighting in our master bath.  What initially seemed like a fairly simple and inexpensive job took a little longer and cost a wee bit more than expected, but the outcome is quite nice.

Saturday we depart for another adventure with my dear friend Sandra Reyes and her son Nicolas. (They went to Switzerland and the Butterflies with us)  Unfortunately Balin is not coming, but something tells me we'll get by without him.  Updates coming soon.