School Days

Our girls are homeschooled. They really enjoy the variety and freedom home schooling brings.



They love the chance to work and learn together.


We love that they learn life lessons along the way.

Track Meet

Since we have been homeschooling, one of our favorite events of the year is the homeschool track meet. This is the fourth year of the girls participating. Each spring they begin running, throwing, and jumping in preparation for the big day.

This was Lissie's first year of participation.

Clare was a little nervous, but she got over it quickly and did great.

Bernadette had a friend from her soccer team, Lydia, in her age group, so not only were the events fun, but the in between time, too!

The girls ran hard

And had a great time

Lissie started in lane 4. Her friends all decided to join her.

Ella was a great observer and cheerleader.

Clare throwing in the softball throw.

Bernadette trying an underhand approach.

Ella was a good critic, too.

The obstacle course started with rings, balance beams, and zig-zagging through poles.

It ended with hurdles and sprinting.

Clare's Birthday

Clare turned 6 this year. For her birthday, she had some very specific things she wanted. She wanted Breakfast in bed with biscuits, bacon, and a tortilla.

Breakfast in bed: CHECK!

She wanted a surprise party, but without any special guests. Mostly she wanted everyone to hide and then she would find them. We all hid while she was getting dressed and brushing her teeth. It didn't take her long to find us. Then it was present time!

She got some very nice cards from her sisters.

She also got the board game "King of Tokyo." She wasn't sure about it at first, but she quickly came to like it.

After presents, we loaded into the car and headed for Platte River State park. Clare really enjoys doing the Park Pursuit, so she wanted to do one for her birthday.

All the girls at Platte River State Park.

The birthday girl

The birthday girl and Papa

The birthday girl and Mama.

After the park, we came home and surprised her with the Lego Movie.
It was the first time they had seen it, so the girls were very excited.

At the end of the movie, she got her birthday cake.

Platte River State Park (NEGPP)

For Clare's birthday, she wanted to go to a park. We chose Platte River State Park because it was close and had a lot of options for fun things to do.

Platte River State Park is located 3 miles from Louisville, NE. It features Tepee camping as well as cabins, hiking trails, paddleboat rentals, fishing, and lookout towers that provide an amazing view of the Platte River valley. The shooting range provides a place for shooting rifles, trap, and archery.

First thing we arrived, we found our post and got our rubbing. Unfortunately, we completely forgot to take a picture of the post. But right after that we got some good ones near the bird observation area.



Once we were done with our rubbing and our pictures, we headed over to one of the lookout towers. Of course we chose the bigger of the two. The girls three big girls were at the top before Mama and Papa got all of our gear out of the car.

If you look really closely at the top, you can see three tiny girls.

Mama joined them a few minutes later.

It was quite a view. Here is the view to the northwest.

The view to the east from the tower.

The girls thought the tower was a lot of fun.

Ella loved it, too, since Papa did all the work.

After we got down from the tower, we decided to head over to the picnic area for lunch. Unfortunately, they didn't have the picnic tables out yet, so we had to sit on the ground, but we still had a wonderful picnic. The girls enjoyed playing on the swings and playing freeze tag with Papa. Don't worry, he put Ella down first.

Lissie swinging.

We wanted to go see the waterfall, so we used the map from the visitor center and took what we thought was the right path. It was not the right path for a family with a stroller, so after climbing, ducking, hopping, scooting, crawling, twisting, turning, lifting, and many other "ing" words, we were just about to turn back. Then Papa said, "Let me see how much further it is." Good think he checked because it was only about 50 feet more to the real path. So we climbed over a tree, jumped over a washout, and ducked under another tree (then Papa went back for the stroller). When we got to the path we were only about 50 yards from the waterfall. It was well worth it.

Some nice people took our picture on the overlook by the waterfall.

We waded in the stream because it was only about 3 inches deep. Here are Lissie, Bernadette, and Clare above the waterfall.

We took the easy, but long, way out from the waterfall. There were bridges over the creek as it crossed.




What a fun hike to start off our summer. We can't wait to get to our next park!

Wilderness Park (NEGPP)

We started off our 2014 park pursuit with an easy one. We drove across Lincoln to Wilderness Park where we got our first rubbing of the year.

Wilderness Park is located in southwest Lincoln. It is the largest city park in the city. It is a largely wooded area with trails for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. The Jamaica North Trail eventually connects to the Homestead Trail, which runs all the way to Beatrice, NE and will eventually reach Marysville, Kansas. The park features a historic site where in 1894 a train wreck killed 11 people. It is thought to be an act of sabotage.

We put on our sunscreen and headed out for a hike.

The three oldest girls posed for a picture in nature.

Ella got the best seat in the house - her backpack. She loves riding behind Papa.

We found the post and got our rubbing.

Though we watched for a little while, we didn't actually see any birds in the bird watching area.

Mama and her girls had a great time on our first outing of the year.

They all enjoy hiking through the woods

The girls also enjoyed walking across the bridge. It was a great view.

Overall, we had a really fun time on our hike in Wilderness Park.