Lantern Walk

Last night Nora Lee and I met our friends at Topanga beach and went for a lantern walk. The purpose of the lantern walk is to welcome autumn and to carry your light through the dark, symbolizing that even though the world gets darker in fall and winter, we still have our own light within us that we can nurture and share with others. The beautiful thing about flame is that you can share it indefinitely with others without depleting your own.

Last week we all made our paper mache lanterns using blown up balloons and colorful tissue paper. Nora Lee and I practiced walking with our lanterns in Matt's cave where is gets completely dark.

Last night we met around 6pm at the beach. It was the hottest day in history in some parts of Los Angeles. When I got in the car at 5pm to drive to the beach, my thermometer for the outside said 113 degrees! It was about 90 degrees at the beach when we arrived and it stayed warm throughout our evening.

When we arrived, Nora headed straight for the water to play in the tide pools and more importantly, the mud. She was wearing a beautiful princess dress which was covered in mud quite quickly. The kids played for about two hours as we watched the sunset and enjoyed the beach. As it got dark, we lit the lanterns and walked the beach while singing. One of the songs we sang was a new one to me. It went like this.

Burn little candle
Burn so bright.
Show to us your flickering light.
Turn the darkness into day
and slowly melt away.

We sang this in rounds and Nora Lee LOVED it! It was a beautiful evening.

Through Nora Lee's Eyes

Here is Nora Lee's view of the world through her photography this week.



A vine crawled up the side of the house and then inside the house!




Nora Lee giggled as she took a picture of Hogarth's butt. She is Matt's daughter...



Nora Lee wanted to document breakfast so she asked to be lifted so she could get a shot of the oatmeal.









Nora Lee's baby cousin Cameron



Grandma in Lake Arrowhead

September 14-19th 2010

This week one of the nearby homeschooling communities started back up again after taking the summer off. Nora Lee and I have been attending a small group about 20 minutes from where we live which continued meeting throughout the summer. We really enjoy this group and were excited to check out this other group which we heard was larger. Boy, was it larger! On this "Welcome Back" park day there were probably somewhere between 100-150 people! There were way more people than we could possibly meet or play with but it was really fun to see all the homeschooling families so close to where we live. My buddies, Carlene and Claire brought their kids too and we enjoyed a potluck, making snow, and running around. This group offers many classes that kids can participate in each week. Park day usually starts at noon each Wednesday and runs all afternoon. Kids can play on their own as well as participate in a variety of classes offered such as kick ball, french, Spanish, ballet, literature, and a bunch more. There are not many classes suited for kids Nora Lee's age but more will open up for her in the next year or so as she turns 4 and 5.

There is a lot of support and seasoned homeschooling parents are available for questions and advice. It seems to be a wonderful network. We plan to go back again this week and explore some more.









On thursday we learned how to make homemade jam with our friends Carla and Julian. No pics got taken but we hope to have more jam days and more pics soon!

This last weekend my mom hosted her annual Wonderful Women's Weekend where she invited all of the women in our family on a weekend trip. This year we went back to Lake Arrowhead (my favorite!). She rented a beautiful house and we spent the weekend resting and eating. Auntie Colleen braided mom and Nora Lee's hair.