PE Class

I'm tired.

More on that later.

And I want to write about the first week of school that was supposed to happen.

And the first week of school that did happen.

And Davy turning 3 months old.

And the Green Lynx Spider we caught.

But.

I'm tired.

So all I can manage right now is a peek at this week's Nature Study day.

We journeyed to the beautiful Back Bay of Newport Beach.

If you avoid looking at the big buildings in the distance, you can make believe you are at the estuary next to Morro Bay on CA's Central Coast--one of my favorite place--and miles away from the 405 and John Wayne Airport.

It's really lovely.

But before we made it to the waters edge, we had to go on quite a rugged little hike.
Down some very narrow trails, very overgrown with all sorts of dry, scratchy and sharp bushes.

Then we had to climb down a steep and slippery bank to a creek.
Which we had to cross on a log, even skinnier than the one William is climbing on here.
We did all this in the mud that stuck to our shoes and made our route even more slippery and more, ummm, exciting.
And 4 of of had babies strapped to us.
1 of us has a baby in her belly.
And we had a passel of chilluns to get down and across too.

We could have taken the bridge.

But where is the fun in that?
And that is when it struck me: "we do an awesome PE class!"

Even the littlest ones get in on the action.
And it's way cheaper than joining the gym or signing them up for gymnastics.

In fact, much of the day was spent hanging around in all the fantastic climbing trees clustered at the edge of the water.
We have some serious tree climbers in our group.
That's James, William and Emmerly.
You'd be impressed, or scared, at how high they got.

James, the one who never struggles with self esteem, declared Emmerly and William were very good apprentice tree climbers.
Never mind that they managed to get as high as he did.
They did make it to the top of the tree.
"Even a master tree climber like me has never gotten this high." 
It was a red letter day for tree climbing.

There was also a lizard caught that fell in someone's hair, then climbed up someone's booty.
Beautiful little shells were found and admired.
Palm frond shields made for protection against the green algae bombs being thrown (boys).
And even some time for the moms to chat.

I'd like to say to all those who worry about home schooling kids not being socialized that your worry is misplaced.
It's us moms who need socialization--not the kids.
They're doing fine.  Trust me.
But we need to talk to other grownups sometimes.
That's one more reason our weekly meeting is so precious.
I do love these adventurous, creative, amazing women who I am lucky enough to school alongside.
And do PE class with too.
I am a lucky girl.


Love from,
Greta