The School Year Starts

The first week of school is over and I am SO excited about the whole week and the rest of the year!! The first week went REALLY well. Having everything laid out for me made things much easier than homeschooling.

Knowing more than 1000 hours went into the research of the curriculum and being aware enough to know they really did pick the top curriculums available gives me such a peace of mind. They broaden the curriculum with SO much outside resources which is more amazing. They want to make sure the kids are seeing things from not one author's perspective, but many.

Courtney asked how we're still able to homeschool AND attend school. The school is a University Model School. They are set up like a college. They have core courses which are the Language Arts & History core course and the Math & Science core course. They have electives including PE, Spanish, Music, Art, Drama. They do their classes on Tuesday and Thursday and assign school to do at home on Monday and Wednesday. Friday is a flex day to be able to do extra work if desired or take additional electives.

J is taking Math & Science, Music, and Beginning Guitar. He is on the wait list to take the classes for Language Arts and History. In the meantime I am doing the classroom lesson plans on Mondays and Wednesdays at home along with the Math/Science assigned work and the assigned work of LA/History on the days he goes in to school.

It's gone wonderfully! He enjoyed his first and second day of classes. I asked him how he liked his first day at home and he said, "I LOVEd it."

Apples for Oranges

An apple is an apple with apple qualities and an orange is an orange with orange qualities.

A little vent... I am SICK of having to defend that we

used

to exclusively homeschool. You guys and the friends I have here have been so wonderfully supportive, I think I took it for granted. Some of my OLDest friends and my OWN sisters have not been so encouraging. I was thinking about why it irritated and stressed me out so much and came to the conclusion that I wanted to control their thinking. Well I can't. So why stress about it?

Instead I thought of a good one or two liner when they imply that they're soooo glad he'll be going to school and try to convince me his needs weren't being met previously. "As a parent knowing your child better than anyone else would you do what is absolutely the best for your child?" "That's exactly what I have done and

continue

to do." I never stopped!!!!!!! As a parent can anyone argue that? Seriously I'm doing the best for my children that THEY need, and you're doing the best for what YOUR children need. I'm not telling you what you're doing isn't what you should be doing, so please don't tell me that what I'm doing and have done isn't what I should be doing.

People have NO clue how much homeschooling has inspired Justinbustin to be the man that he is. They have no idea what creates the lump in my throat as I type this. You know the struggles that I have gone through, the struggles that I continue to go through. The struggles HE has gone through and how he has so amazingly come through all of them. Even his speech therapist who is qualified beyond expectation says that the reason he has the confidence he has today is BECAUSE we homeschooled him. So don't tell me that I have EVER done him wrong in that way in the past.

This child has compassion beyond the normal years of his life. He holds babies, feed them bottles, burps them, and kisses them on their forehead. He is by their side when they start to get fussy comforting them. His friend he attached to immediately in the fundamentals class has had challenges of his own during his life. The compassion they have for each other and the obliviousness to differences in human beings is priceless. I have more compassion because of all that we have gone through, but I

wish

had as much compassion as my seven year old boy. I KNOW that being in school with other children not so familar with the hardships of life would've been only a scar and not a development into the mature little man in front of me today.

Things that Make Me Happy

*Going to dinner tonight with a friend to catch up and celebrate my birthday!*

*My new computer (did I forget to mention the free iPod nano, free printer, and 15% discount that came with it? There are perks to homeschooling your kids : ) .*

*Mac's format. Soooo much more user friendly than Windows, once you take the four weeks to get used to it and have a Mac lover over your shoulder answering all the questions you spit out about how to open your email.*

*Playing around with Photo Booth on my Mac.*

*My new CHI, my sleek, shiny hair, and my fresh haircut with swept bangs that are long enough to fall across my cheekbones.*

*J enjoying VBS.*

*Volunteering with S for J's VBS and realizing volunteering there didn't require me to do everything. Just escort the kiddos and enjoy talking to them. That and spend time with S listening to the stories, making the crafts, and playing ball.*

*Going to SeaWorld for my birthday!*

*The sweet birthday wishes from my wonderful readers. It's tomorrow which is why I had not mentioned it before the gifts.*

*The adorable flip flops with K's initials in rhinestones on them I got for her birthday.*

*The adorable store The Cadeau I bought them at and the friendly girl I bought them from.*

*The fabulous store The Blue Elephant next to it that is equally as wonderful.*

*Finally finding a pottery place The Mad Potter to paint that doesn't charge an arm and a leg, glazes the whole thing, and has friendly employees.*

*Finding a new yummy kid friendly place to eat. Central Market with a playground.*

*Finding the above four places all in the same place and it's called Central Park. I heart it.*

*Finding my two perfect gift stores where I can find something that works, where one thing is enough, and where they wrap it in prettier stuff than I'd pay $10 for and have it ready to go before I leave the store.*

*S being super excited about my birthday and telling Daddy. "You know one thing? Mommy's birthday is tomorrow."*

*J's book order for school this year being ordered after getting a call that it possibly hadn't been ordered. Sigh of relief.*

*Meeting our host family for same. Which resulted in many fears being eased.*

*Being discipled by a good friend and uber sweet lady at church.*

*Our GREAT talk last night that lasted 2 and a half hours and we didn't even get to the Bible Study we're doing together.*

*Clarification on so many thoughts muddled in my head. A reminder once again to focus on God, be aware of the peace that He gives us, be aware of the order of priorities and how whatever decision I'll be making will affect that positively or negatively, and that everything is for His glory.*

*My husband taking a new direction in his business. Hopefully one that will result in paying the bills.*

*Being able to help my husband in that new direction by doing what I do best. Data management. NOT dealing with people : ) .*

*Hope.*

*Hope that this business is going to work.*

*Hope that J's school is going to work.*

*Hope that we'll be able to do what we need to do to grow as individuals and grow together as a family.*

My Break

It might not be apparent here but I have been on major burnout lately. I went through a tough period of completely losing my focus and came through that fighting out of the ring. But the burnout stuck around. B finally noticed what was going on and strongly suggested I take a break. He validated me by making me aware of the fact I've been homeschooling for going on four years now, starting when J first started all his speech stuff. I worked through the summer in California last year, subscribing to the feeling I needed to make up for what we had missed. Well no more! I am on a BREAK. And this only my second week. Break, in this instance, means ABSOLUTELY NO SCHOOL. Yay! And the fun thing is... the kids seem to be learning just as much or more without it ; ) .

Last week we went to the park three times, got together for three playdates, the pool twice, a one hour walk once, and made cookies. This week so far we've gotten together for playdates three times, had friends over at our house for the first time (with kids)!!!, checked out an organic farm in South Austin where we fed chickens carrot tops and picked strawberries, attended an orientation for chess club for J that we'll start next week, stayed in our pajamas all day once, and made peanut butter cookies once. I feel like a Mom again and that I have a relationship with my kids again!!! I am LOVIN' it.

Not to mention all the bubble baths I've taken. I have to clarify, I hate bubble baths. Well I did. Until I started taking this break. The second day I was taking a shower and just had this overwhelming feeling of wanting to sink down into the tub, it was a feeling of utter exhaustion and giving up. I finished my shower, started the bath and bubbles, got my bath pillow and a stack of washcloths so I can dry whatever needed to touch things that couldn't get wet, lit my candles, grabbed my magazine and sunk in. When I was done I felt renewed and refreshed, like everything had been washed away. Every time I've gotten that feeling of wanting to sink in since I've done it. And I absolutely LOVE it. I've been able to catch up reading my magazines, do my Bible study - although that one I won't do in there again it was too uncomfortable to write, and pretty soon I'll have to start on books since I'm almost done with my magazines. I only have two that I read each month, but I have to read them cover to cover before I consider myself done. I've been LOVIN' it.

My anger... has been so nil it hasn't even been funny. The boys, who wrestle all day every day, when it gets too much for me instead of fighting the battle of trying to get them to go take quiet time on their beds I just turn up my Ipod, stick it in my ears, and take my quiet time away. The recipe J made to make cookies that he taped to a kitchen cabinet we've made twice. That was one of those things I used to do when they were littler, always want to do now but after everything else don't have the energy for. Now I do. Playdates were another thing that always went on the back burner. Now they're on the front burner. The kids get to know their friends and feel like they have friends and the fun thing about playdates so far, is that they're not just fun for the kids, the Mom and I get to have a good time talking too!

J is going to that school we'd talkeda bout twice a week next year for four hours each and I can't wait to have the time with S to just be and discover who he is. I hope I will take moments like these to enjoy being with him. I'm so glad my husband had the wisdom to perceive that, and to present it in a way that I feel like I've done enough to actually deserve a break cuz this break has been the BEST thing for me.

College Days

I'd say I was going back but I've never really been in the first place. Unless volleyball and piano count. Don't ask me what I was thinking.

I went in today to take the TSI (Texas Success Initiative) placement test for our local community college and meet with an advisor. Reading and writing I aced with no problem. I knew that would happen, that's my love, talent, whatever. She was surprised how well I did on the math portion considering what I told her about my highschool math history - which is embarrasing to admit, but zilch. Nada. Except for a book called Algebra The Easy Way that I'm reading with J, and only the first three chapters and mostly just the story of that. She said I had a natural bent based on all I picked up from reading a book. Who would've thunk. She advised taking two courses, along with my 20-30 hours a week job of homeschooling and parenting and relationship with my hubby. It was nice she understood all these things. I won't be able to take the 16 week course and she still recommended two courses for the 12 week course. She said given she's known me all of five minutes from what she saw that I appear capable, motivated, and bright. She said she thinks I'll be able to handle it, get off to a good start and want to continue on. Sounds like a plan to me.

The college process has been really exciting, intimidating and overwhelming for me all at once - I ended up in tears when I was there last week. That's a long story though. Now the first steps are done and I'm getting really excited about this possibility. I'm inclined towards getting an Associate of Arts, in teaching if I wanted to narrow it down. I've wanted to do that since I was little but at this point it doesn't sound very exciting and I'm thinking I'll concentrate my courses elsewhere. If I end up teaching I'd prefer a private school any way and at this point not a whole lot of them require a teaching major. Any ideas on what else would be intriguing? Based on your thorough analysis of all my postings of course : ) .

I won't be registering until the fall so I don't have to pay out-of-state fees as I'll be a legal resident then. Given that, I have lots of time to sit back. Read some more. And figure out what other course I'm going to take besides math. Psychology looks interesting.

Now I'm off to be a more attentive audience for J's and S's plays they're coming up with. Mostly consisting of lines such as, "Try harder, you're acting like a girl!"

College Days

I'd say I was going back but I've never really been in the first place. Unless volleyball and piano count. Don't ask me what I was thinking.

I went in today to take the TSI (Texas Success Initiative) placement test for our local community college and passed with no problem. Except for the math. This is a little embarrasing to admit but I have never gone through ANY algebra courses. At all. Ever. The only thing I've done is recently started reading Algebra The Easy Way with J which has introduced me to a few of the concepts, and even then mostly the storyline and not the descriptions as those get too involved at this point for little man. I aced the writing and reading part. Hahaha the secret power of blogging. Actually, I love that area. I'm good at it and I know it. I can edit til' my face turns blue and still enjoy it. Writing? I'm good at but the problem is I can edit until my face turns blue. I have to wait on the score for the essay so we'll see what that says.

After testing I met with my advisor. She was surprised how well I did on the math portion considering what I told her about my math history. She said I had a natural bent. Who would've thunk? I didn't even tell her we're just up to chapter 3. She advised taking two courses, along with my 20-30 hours a week job of homeschooling and parenting and relationship with my hubby. It was nice she understood all these things. I won't be able to take the 16 week course and she still recommended two courses for the 12 week course. She said given that she's known me all of five minutes from what she saw that I appear capable, motivated, and bright. She thinks I'll be able to handle it, get off to a good start and want to continue on. Sounds like a plan to me.

The college process has been really exciting, intimidating and overwhelming for me all at once - I ended up in tears when I was there last week. That's a long story though. Any way the first steps are done now and I'm getting really excited about that and this possibility. I'm inclined towards getting an Associate of Arts, in teaching if I wanted to narrow it down more. I've wanted to do since I was little but at this point though itt doesn't sound very exciting and I'm thinking I'll concentrate my courses elsewhere. If I ended up teaching I'd prefer a private school any way and at this point not a whole lot of them require a teaching major. Any ideas on what else would be intriguing? Based on your thorough analysis of all my postings of course haha : ) .

I won't be registering til' the fall so I don't have to pay out-of-state fees as I'll be a legal resident then. Given that I have lots of time to sit back. Read some more. And figure out what other course I'm going to take besides math. Psychology looks interesting.

Now I'm off to be a more attentive audience for J's and S's 'plays' they're coming up with.

Academy Schooling

B and I have been debating on whether to send J to a school this year. Really debating. There's a place in town, actually at our church, that has a part school part home school environment. He'd be there two days a week and home the rest, with the same curriculum, same stuff. It would give him the opportunity to get the education that a place with (almost) limitless resources, many brainstorms, and the collective ideas of a bunch of cute little kids, that he can't get at home. We've asked him if he wants to go, and he says, "Well it's your choice." LOL We had to dig a little deeper, but, yes, he wants to go. Actually he talked about going to school five days a week until we told him he wouldn't get to do the math he WANTS to do. Whatever happened to wanting to do what we do? He talked about that. About how he would have to do more reading at school, which is the point. Actually the reading part we'd still do at home, he'd be going for math and science and some extracurricular activities. the decision hasn't been made. We're still debating pros and cons. It is definently on our minds at this point!

Austin Bergstrom Airport Fire Station

Yesterday we toured Austin Bergstrom Airport Fire Station. We enjoyed the huge trucks that don't look like our normal fire trucks. They sprayed the water for the kids, including the needle spray that punctures into the side of a plane. We looked up at the control tower right next to their building. We watched the planes take off and land as the kids climbed in and out of the trucks.
We came home with our Planes book and our Firefighters book. One of the firemen told me if we come in a smaller group next time they take the kids driving in the trucks.

Rolling... Action!

We watch the opposing team catch the football and let our displeasure be known. Our team, the Dillon Panthers, intercede and we cheer! Our home town boy, who we all know and love, goes down, and after the cheering dies a frightened silence. The silence turns into hushed whispers and we talk amongst ourselves. Is he okay? How bad is he hurt? His poor parents, crying on the field. His girlfriend, fighting to get to him in wild tears. The doctor checks him out, the ambulance comes and takes him away. Spattered applause as we're glad he's being taken care of, but have no idea how he is.

Cut

He gets off the stretcher and goes back to do it again, this time from on the ground with the doctor checking him out.

We're freezing in the stand. It's a hot summer August night in the middle of February on the set of Friday Night Lights, the in the works TV series, and we are doing our best to make it look like it. I never realized an actor's job could be so demanding and we were just extras! I couldn't imagine being on the field, HAVING to have your jacket off whether you like it or not except for in between takes. We had such a great time seeing how movie making works, using props, the boys wanting to know why the popcorn box was empty, B being offered a football player position but sweetly turning it down to make sure and stay with us. Next time he will take it as I told him I really, really, really wished he had. What fun for the boys to have seen their Daddy on the field as a football player in a film! It worked out. We took off after a few hours, it was just too cold and the boys were tired. Next time maybe it really will be a hot summer August night... and we'll have to wear jackets : ) .


The star of the show


The sign up above behind us. In the slim, slim chance we actually are onscreen we're sitting just below this sign to the right of it. You can't miss my bright yellow team color shirt.


The director & camera crew. The guy in the backwards hat directed us to our seats.


The cheerleaders. Not sure if the guy's girlfriend is in this shot.

I'm Still Here

Just enjoying my MIL's visit thoroughly. I am going to try to do this post justice because I don't want to forget and I am just too tired to do much.

She came in Sunday night a few hours late due to the FREEZING weather we were having here. We spent Monday at our homeschool group which was at a house for the first time and was a blast. The girl had all of the different activities set up as 'stations' in different rooms of her house and the moms and kids went around to each one. Tuesday we hopped on the road and drove up to Dallas. We checked in to the Executive Level at the Westin Galleria, and the beautiful miss Allison walked up to our room with us where I tried to erase three hours of tiring road trip. My MIL offered to watch the kiddos, I didn't argue, and we were off. We went to Uncle Julio's, the place of Allison's first date with Marc and the first restaurant she went to when she got to Dallas, now mine as well, that was special. We had margaritas with Grand Mariner, a Sangria Margarita for her, and chatted the night away. We emptied the restaurant and then took off to play in the Club Room at the Westin. After much giggling and too much fun we finally said good-bye.



Wednesday my MIL and the boys and I went to check out Frontiers of Flight Museum which was beautifully done. The airplanes were gorgeous, and they had a replica of the Wright's brothers bicycle shop. Besides all the airplanes they had the Apollo 7 and a neat video of when we landed on the moon.



We decided to head back home that night as the place we wanted to go that evening wasn't open. So we drove home, picked up B, and came back the next night for Medieval Times. Allison met us AGAIN, I was so happy she made the effort to be with us - not that it was hard my MIL loves to do nothing but the best ;) , and we enjoyed a VIP front row night of jousting and lords and ladies. Our yellow and red knight threw flowers and handed out his handkerchief, Allison caught a flower and I held the kerchief. The boys were in speechless awe with eyes as big as saucers. The metal swords clinked and sent off showers of sparks, they were made of titanium. The black and white knight won then was backstabbed by the not good knight, and our knight defeated him and was declared champion. It was our cheers, I swear. Once again we said our goodbyes to Allison, only this time it seemed way too early to be saying goodbye.



My MIL leaves on Saturday morning. I am so sad to see her go. I have just sat back and watched her 'parent' the boys the whole time she's been here, and it's been so nice to see a different and fresh perspective to everything I routinely say and do. They enjoy her so much. She sits and watches movies with them and cheers on the characters, and explains the moral better than I ever could. The last two movies they've watched have been on the importance of dreams, and her words are so inspiring of how dreams are so important to life. I've enjoyed every moment of her visit and am so glad she stayed as long as she did.

Mock Surgery

The hospital here had a Mock Surgery on Saturday. They had surgeries set up in an orthopaedic room, a trauma room, an anesthesia room, a gallbladder removal room, an ear-nose-throat room, an endoscopy room, and an eye room set up.

We found out how they do surgery without slicing you open. They showed us how they make the hole and then the tube stays in you and they slide the camera in one tube, different tools in the other, and if they need another tool they make another hole. BG tried his hand several times at operating inside the tummy while watching what he was doing on a screen. The third time he had it down pat.

LG was finally convinced to remove something from a throat when he discovered that was the only way he would be able to eat the candy.

They were both given hair nets, masks, and gloves (of which they were only interested in the gloves) and a bag of goodies - medicine holder, bandaids, tongue depressor.

The whole thing was fascinating and I could've sat there all day trying out the different operations and asking as many questions and observing as much information as possible. The boys held out from 9am until 11:30am which was awesome.

LG recounted every single event to Daddy that night. Retold in his words right now: "There was one guy that didn't have candy in the tummy and he had the things right here (pointing to his ribs. The lungs) and a face and didn't have candy. There was one with his tummy and he had candy. All of the ones that didn't have candy we didn't get, all of the ones that did have candy we got. " In his description to Daddy there wasn't so much candy, but two days later what else would you remember :) ?

They had such a wonderful time and my hope is if they were truly interested that a seed was planted.. LG is completely fascinated by the human body, the muscles, the heart, the veins, the bones, everything about it so maybe this will help give him that edge to find out more about it if he so desires.

Little Better

Today I was a tad bit better. At least I didn't feel like sitting around the house. The boys and I did school and discovered how sound waves bounce more off of harder surfaces than soft by singing in the closet and then in the bathroom. We also used a bouncy ball on carpet, then hardwood to demonstrate how it's easier for things to bounce off of a hard surface. We ended up playing a bouncy ball game in the bathroom and sending our sound waves to whoever we were sending the ball to. That got wild and crazy and fun.

This afternoon I brought a meal to a couple who just had a baby a few weeks ago. The boys and I brought her Artichoke and Olive Tapenada Chicken, salad with fresh cucumbers, and a homemade cheesecake. My heart went out to her, I could see her exhaustion in her face and in her words when she said, "It's been hard." She was sick with a stomach virus and is back down to her prepregancy weight within two weeks, mostly due to that. Our class has organized meals for her and her refrigerator looked pretty full so it's good she hasn't had to worry about that. We really don't know them that well, but I'd love to be able to do something to encourage her.

BG had soccer this afternoon and our way home we watched a teenage boy start to cross the street on his bike and a woman turning right who just kept going, she must've been looking to the left to see if the road was clear. I put the hazards on and jumped out to help and thank God he was okay. His front wheel was bent in half, but he just had a few cuts and scrapes. The hard part was how concerned he was over what he would tell his Dad. He didn't want him to know that he had to run into a car - to that the woman reassured him, "Oh honey, I hit you, you didn't hit me." and that she would get his bike fixed. She insisted on taking him home as he really wanted to walk, and I was glad she did. He seemed pretty shook up. The boys and I prayed for him and that his Dad would have compassion and that everybody involved would have a sense of peace. It was a heart stopping thing to see.

Ick

I just wrote that as Ikc and my brain read Ikea which made me think of the Ikea coming nearby next year. So excited about that.

Back to my ick. My throat has been bugging me the last few days, not bad, just enough to make it noticeable. Today I feel the attack and I just feel blah. Like not doing anything. In fact I haven't. We did school today, an appointment for BG and not much else. The kids keep begging to make the homemade ice cream that we made yesterday and I am just not up to it. Right now we are deoxidizing pennies and then we'll watch the copper oxide reattach itself to nails. That will be our science experiment for the day.

It might have to do with the fact that I am trying to get up at a certain time earlier than my normal wake up time each day. Maybe my body is wondering what the heck is going on. But no matter, I must plow through.

A Photo Meme

Our homeschooling group's celebration of the Chinese New Year, with BG leading the dragon.


A sweet note from my hubby. He wrote one the day before too that I was going to take a picture of. I didn't think he'd erase it to write a new one so soon!


The Austin skyline... and the view from the place where I'm taking my art class.


Happy soon to be Valentine's Day! There are five of these hanging above my kitchen island for Valentine's decoration.

The Story of Ping

So our book we are studying this week showed up on Commander in Chief, one of Hubby's and my favorite shows. The show had a lot to do with China and it had the President's oldest sibling reading the beginning of The Story of Ping to the youngest sibling and at the end the President finished off the end of the book to her youngest. They painted China in quite a good light, wonder if it had some way in commemorating the Chinese as their New Year celebration is next week. Any way, that was fun to see especially since we happen to be studying it!

Home-Schooling

This was our plan for the week, as well as BG's phonics and math program:

Day 1) Float different objects in water, help them understand buouncy and density of air and wood how it’s lighter than water, guess which will float, Read The Story of Ping

Day 2) Reflect sunlight off a small mirror onto the wall, notice different reflections, go to the duck pond and feed the ducks, notice reflections of trees, sun, selves, Read Mirror
Review AA Milne reflections artwork

Day 3) Make duck paper plate craft, imitate ducks, make a clay duck, Read a duck book

Day 4) Locate China on Map and color the flag of China, eat at Panda Express and use chopsticks, Read Tikki Tikki Tembo or Day of the Dragon King

And this is what we actually did:

Day 1) Read The Story of Ping. Filled a bowl with water and noticed which objects float and which sink. Guessed which ones would float. Ducky guessed correctly each time, Mommy and Monkey did not!

Day 2) Made ducks out of playdough, imitated ducks eating, swimming, diving, read about geese, ducks and duckbilled platypuses from animal books, and read Mrs. Jemima Puddle Duck. Traced our silhouettes on paper. Made fireman silhouettes on paper (nothing to do with FIAR, but something we did out of our phonics program). Ate chinese food and used chopsticks for dinner. Mommy discovered her treasured family habit of only using chopsticks for chinese dinner has gone by the wayside.

Day 3) Went to the library : ) . Four different ones to be exact. Studied AA Milne’s illustration of a swan on water. Noticed our reflection in the mirror and the reflection of our fingers dancing on the surface. Noticed how we could make the sun dance on the ceiling and make silhouettes of our hands. Went to the duck pond and noticed the reflections of the geese, ducks, and the trees in the pond. Noticed that a piece of wood bark floats. Read Day of the Dragon King and Magic School Bus Ups and Downs about floating and sinking. LG was fascinated with the Magic School Bus Ups and Downs.

Day 4) Made Chinese pinwheels out of straws and paper and a Chinese kite out of flame fabric and wooden dowels and read about different things the Chinese use kites for. One legend was that one was used with noisemakers on it to scare off enemies, the other was a kite released on Qing Ming (a celebration of passed away ancestors) that took the evil spirits and bad luck with it. BG made two of his very own creations of Chinese kites. LG made little balls. Read Who Eats What? and learned about food chains.

Day 5) Made a trick kite out of flame fabric with Daddy and flew kites in our nearby soccer field. BG even learned to fly Daddy and his trick kite we got at the kite store! LG and I conquered the rocks and on the way back marked each one cave man like with his "letters".