Fun Things Coming Up in the Next Couple Months

Some children have a really difficult time with change. I'm an adult, so I should be used to it by now, right? I wish! This year I keep feeling a bit sad because summer is almost over. Of course it's okay to feel sad, but I think it'd be good to take some time to look at the positive things coming up to hopefully help me stop feeling so glum (by the way, isn't the word "glum" a fun word?).

The next couple months will be busy for our family, and that in itself is both discouraging and encouraging to me. I am a homebody, and thinking about going places (except for places in nature!) makes my anxiety go up a tad. Making a list should help because planning things out helps me feel better, and these things should all be fun. And not to focus only on myself, I think my kids will like to see this list, too. ;) So here is a list of our family's top ten things to look forward to doing within the next two months (and maybe you might find something your family might be interested in doing as well)! We are looking forward to the following:

At the top of the wooden rollercoaster.

1. Going to the Puyallup Fair in Puyallup, WA.  It's a big fair, one of the top ten largest fairs in the United States, and around here it's called "The Fair."  We look forward to it every year, and going to the fair is our big splurge for the year. We buy a Dizzy Pass for each of us (the Dizzy Pass lets you go on unlimited rides), and we visit the animals and as many exhibits as we can.  We also eat scones, and the kids like snow cones and cotton candy! This year the fair is running from September 10-26.

We love to go see the sweet little piggies.

Last year we saw Weird Al's 3-D Brain Exhibit and got to touch a real brain afterward. Ewww, right? LOL

Giant wheel at night

2. Celebrating the beginning of autumn, which starts this year on Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010. We love going on a nature walk at the beginning of each new season. We take pictures of our family and of nature, and the children collect things like leaves, acorns, etc. This year we're going to do a craft with the things that collected on the nature walk.

autumn nature walk in 2007

3.  Starting to attend homeschool co-op (at a homeschool co-op parents help out while their children attend classes taught by other homeschooling parents; any of the parents can volunteer to teach a class at co-op).  Later this month we will start going to homeschool co-op again for the year, once a week about three times a month.  This will be our third year. A friend suggested it to me, and, being unschoolers, I did *NOT* expect to enjoy it, but we really do enjoy it, so we have kept going.

Each of our children take two classes of their choosing, and I help out in my younger children's classes.  My oldest child is taking a literature class and a writing class.  My next youngest is taking a history class and a nature photo-journaling class.  My next youngest is taking a book club-type class, where the students will each read the same book and discuss it together, and a math class (that is supposed to be fun, with games and such).  My youngest is taking a (fun!) geography class and the same math class as his sister is taking (he is so good with numbers!).


4. Celebrating our family's annual apple day.  It might sound kind of funny, but one year during apple season I decided to buy a bunch of different types of apples so we could try each type and compare them.  And now each year around the same time, when the apples go on sale and there are a bunch of different types at the store that normally aren't all there (that happens toward the end of September here), we celebrate apple day.  We make the table look pretty and light candles (we have some candle holders with apples on them), I set out sliced apples on plates, and we have a fun time sampling them!


5. Going to an apple festival at a farm and picking out a pumpkin from their pumpkin patch to bring home to carve.  I'm not sure where we'll go this year, but last year we went to Lattin's Country Cider Mill and Farm in Olympia, WA, and had a fun time.  We got to feed goats, go on a tractor drawn wagon ride, and buy yummy apples for a good price.

Pumpkin patch at Lattin's Farm

6. Going to visit Mount St. Helens, an active volcano in southwester Washington which had a huge eruption back in May 18, 1980.  I am so excited about this! I haven't been there for, oh, I guess over 20 years, and it will be great to see how it's changed. We are going on a hike there, and also going to visit the 7 Wonders Museum. It should be really interesting and spark some good conversation!

7.  Going to Northwest Trek. Northwest Trek is a wildlife park near Eatonville, WA.  One of the neatest things there is the tram tour that travels through a 435-acre free-range area where you can see many animals such as Roosevelt elk, bison, big horn sheep, and moose.

Roosevelt Elk at Northwest Trek
(picture taken out of tram window)

Pirate birthday cake

8. Celebrating my youngest child's birthday.  It's hard to believe, but he's going to be six years old!!  I'm not sure of all we are going to do to celebrate it, but I do know that he wants a pirate cake like he had last year.

Jaxith the pumpkin
(his name means "kind-hearted")

9. Carving a pumpkin.  Though we don't actually celebrate Halloween, carving a pumpkin is a fun autumn/harvest-time activity that we enjoy.  We used to avoid it because of a personal conviction to avoid Halloween (it's just a personal thing. . . I don't at all mind if others celebrate :-)), but then a few years ago I thought to myself, well, there is nothing inherently wrong with carving pumpkins, and it's a fun thing to do, so why not?  And so we've been doing it ever since!  Our children each draw how they'd like our pumpkin to look, and then we put the ideas together to come up with the final result. Then we use the pumpkin pieces that we cut out to make chocolate chip pumpkin bread, and we roast the pumpkin seeds.  Yum!!

Doesn't look so good, but tastes good!

10. Celebrating Reformation Day. On October 31st, our family celebrates Reformation Day.  Our church has an informational and fun activity that we attend if we are able, and our family has a special time together at home eating German food (or at least our variation of it since we are vegetarian!) and watching the movie Luther.

I haven't mastered making a nice presentation of the food yet ;), but it tastes good!  We usually have cabbage muffins, warm potato salad, onion pie (onion pie is *so* good), sauerkraut, and polish sausages (vegetarian versions of everything!).

Well, those are the top ten things we're looking forward to doing within the next two months!  I'll try and keep you updated as to how it all goes.  :-)

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