A Field Trip to Hodges Dairy Farm

Today Joshua, Sarah and I took a field trip to a local farm.


There were other families from our church who went as well.



Mr. Hodges took us on a hay ride through his fields.


We bounced in an inflated bouncy house.



Mr. Hodges is the son of a son of a farmer. Their farm in Charlotte has been around for almost 200 years. They started out as a cotton farm, then later became a dairy farm. Now, he says, they raise horses, cattle, and grow pumpkins, hay, sourgum and vegetables. He shared his heart about how farming is going away. Without farms, he said, you'd all be hungry, naked, and have no where to live!


The horse behind Mr. Hodges is called "choco" which is short for chocolate. Josh thought he was named after us!

Sarah was glad to have her good friend, Madeline, to share this experience with.

After our tour, we got to choose pumpkins from this cart. I think we all had a great time!

Josiah's 16th birthday

We wished Josiah a happy birthday on October 21st this week! He's 16! It's hard to believe all those years have passed by so quickly. We celebrated with his favorite ice cream cake made by Hannah and dinner out at a mexican restaurant. We're proud to be his parents--he's a good kid.

Renaissance Festival Field Trip

We've been studying the Middle Ages in history, so we took time this year for a field trip to the Renaissance Festival in town.

As we approached, Joshua was greeted by a man who asked his name. When he didn't respond, he said "Poor lad, you have no name, so I shall call you Sir Ralph and we shall be friends!"



Josiah quickly connected with some of his friends from co-op: Justin (with a staff) and Colin.


Sarah got to hold the goose, Princess Buttercup. We were told she was waiting for the Dread Pirate Roberts (if you're clueless, watch or read Princess Bride).


A falconer showed us Dash the falcon, an owl named Archimedes, a boa constrictor named Julius Squeezer, and Igor, a vulture.


We enjoyed a harpist who played beautiful music,


a joust,



and even Dextre Tripp, who performed amazing feats (see video)!

En Garde: First Fencing Tournament

In the picture above, Josiah and some friends from his fencing school wait with Colleen (his instructor, in front with the name GALLANT on her pants) for the start of the tournament

Josiah had the opportunity to participate in his first "real" tournament in Charlotte. He placed better than he thought: out of 20 fencers in the open, he placed 13th. His instructor, Colleen, said he did better than she thought he might for his first tournament.
He won some bouts and lost some bouts, but had a good time overall!

Josiah on the left.



Josiah on the right.



Josiah on the left again.

In the following video, Josiah scores a touch after a short bout.

Rain in our creek

The creek on our property has been making beautiful music due to the rain...




And we found an umbrella for a mouse:

Learning about the solar system

Joshua made a solar system model for science today (complete with spaceships and stars):

Labor Day on Lake Norman

Friends of ours from church invited us to spend the day with them for Labor Day this year. They rented a house on Lake Norman for the week, and allowed us to share in the fun things to do. What a great time we all had!

Our hosts:

There was a big water trampoline that even Joshua swam to (wearing a life jacket, of course). It wasn't too bouncy, but it was fun!



Joshua preferred the land trampoline at first, until he found out how much fun it was to play in the lake.


They took us for rides in their motor boat:

which could drag the "molecule" behind. As the boat went faster, the ride got rough and it could be difficult to hang on. Some kids really liked a rough ride (like Josiah), but others preferred to just glide behind the boat.
Here is Josiah and a boy from another family preparing to ride the molecule:
See the molecule go:



Sarah collected shells:


and rode in the canoe:



After dinner, we played a rousing game of volleyball by the lake:



And at sunset, Josiah took one more ride on the jet ski, while Rebekah and Sarah tried the knee board behind the motor boat.


Aaah. Sunset on the lake: