Business Trip With Daddy

We returned Sunday night from a week on the road with Marty. He had business meetings in Illinois. Not much to do in that part of Illinois but the kids and I found things to do and enjoyed our time there. Brinley developed an ear infection but a call to Dr. Mac took care of that in no time.

As we headed back down south toward home we saw a sign that mentioned Metropolis....home of the Giant Superman Statue. How could we pass that up?
We got off of the interstate and found our way to Metropolis. We were pleasantly surprised to find that they were having a street fair. Brice and Bailey Shay got some ice cream, Brinley got a frozen lemonade and Marty had a funnel cake. It was all yummy....I tasted all three!

On the way back home we stayed in Tennessess. We visited The American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge. I had never been there but Marty went when he was a little boy. He knew Brice (our science guy) would love it. Turns out we ALL loved it!

They have a Van de Graaff generator. Brice, Marty and Bailey Shay went up on the stage to experience it. It was hilarious seeing Bailey Shay's hair stand up on end!

The museum's Exhibits Manager Judd Brown did a great demonstration and told us about all kinds of new things we will be hearing about soon in the world of science. We also learned about life in "The Secret City". It was all very interesting. If you have a child who loves science and you are in the Oak Ridge area of Tennessee you should definitely check it out! They have a You Tube channel where you can see some of the exhibits. I got a lot of great ideas for our upcoming school year during our visit to this museum.

We stayed in Pigeon Forge for a couple of days. While there we visited Cirque de Chine. The show was great! The lady we spoke to asked us to remind everyone about the
Chinese Children Reunion they will be having on July 11. She said the show will be the same one we saw except there will be 5 motorcyclist instead of 4 in the cage. There is different contact info on the pamphlets we were given than what is on the website. The email address we were given is reunion@cirquedechine.com and the contact name is Elaine Chen. 1-800-826-2933 ext. 223. Everyone was so nice to Brinley and Bailey Shay and the girls just loved it all! We are thinking about going back for the reunion. We were told that there are over 300 people signed up so far.

Brice went skydiving in Pigeon Forge. He loved it but we all thought he got short changed on the time he actually spent flying.

We also visited WonderWorks. In fact, we spent several hours here. We went early then left to do other things and came back that night. We didn't leave WonderWorks until well after 11pm. So much to do and see. It was great!

We did some gem mining (the one in Boone was much better than this one) and visited one of the little amusement parks.

Marty took Brinley and Bailey Shay on the go-karts. Bailey came back to me grinning from ear to ear and announced, "I did NOT know little kids could do THAT!". She was so excited!

We stopped off in Cherokee, NC so that the kids could play in the mountain stream our last day. They had so much fun! The water was COLD but they loved it! (Marty did too!)

He's always looking for things. He wants to learn about everything. He is so aware of what is going on around him in nature.

~*~No, she didn't fall in!~*~

Leaving our last hotel.

We also stopped at The Dillsboro Smokehouse for dinner on our way home. We've eaten there many times before and always try to stop there when we are in the area.

I thought this video of Bailey was so sweet. She has such a tiny, sweet voice....unless she is mad. We were almost home and she was singing with one of their DVDs that they love.


"It's me, it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.......".

A quick update

We started homeschooling in February and it is going pretty good. Still trying to figure out how everything works but we are getting there. Brice loves it and he is trying so hard to do a good job. The science we started out with just did not interest him at all. For all of you who know Brice, you know that he is a science lovin' kinda guy. My friend Rachelle recommended Apologia Science and he LOVES it! I am so glad! We are studying Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. Bats, bugs, birds, etc.

The history we were using wasn't interesting to either of us so we have found another one that we are going to try. We've just started Mystery of History 1 so let's hope this one can keep his interest. I think he's going to like this one a lot more than Story of the World 4.

I started out doing Five In A Row with Brinley and Bailey and they really love it but it takes a lot of work on my part so until we get Brice settled into what works for him we have gone back to just doing some basic ABC's and working on cutting skills with Bailey and some more advanced things with Brinley. They both love homeschool so far. Brinley says she doesn't want to go back to school. I love having them here with me.

Bailey's tantrums seem to ebb and flow like the tides. Some days we only have one or two. Other days we have an unending string of tantrums and fits. Things do seem to be getting better for her. Last week she was crying and she sobbed, "Mama, I have a family in China and I don't REMEMBER them. I don't KNOW them! I can't find them, Mama!" It was so sad to hear these words in her tiny little voice. She was clinging to me and just sobbing her little heart out. She often tells me, "I love you, Mama. I stay with you and Daddy always." She was so tiny when she was found. No more than a few days old and yet she knows that she was abandoned and that she has a "China mama". I do get frustrated with her tantrums but I also look at her and I can't help but just feel so protective of her. She is so sweet, she will do anything for anyone. She loves all of us. She gladly sits on our laps, hugs us, gives us kisses, great eye contact....but she has something that is truly just eating away at her happiness. It makes me so sad. I watch her sleeping and I wonder exactly what is going on in that little head and heart.