The Hills

The Secret to Raising Your Kids to Be Kind {Printable}

Yesterday was my last day of the 2015-2016 GSRP Preschool.   It flew by so fast!   It was a great year.  This was my first year working with Ms. Melissa and Ms. Carol.   They are both amazing teachers.  I learned so much from them.  We all worked so well together.   I am so grateful for them and the 18 students that we had. I was able to get to know Carol and Melissa so well as well as the room next door, Ms. Sally, Ms. Debbie and Ms. Dawn.  This year is Ms. Debbie’s last year teaching, she is retiring and heading up to Alpena with her husband and daughter to begin her retirement life..   Debbie and I had many a laughs during the day especially outside time.  She always had a smile on her face and twinkle in her eye.  When I was with her, we were always laughing (and acting like school children), we sang loudly in the car driving to and from Detroit for a conference..  I will forever remember this amazing woman and am so grateful she came into my life.

Thanks Ms. Debbie for being you.  You are one amazingly, beautiful human being.  I am so grateful you came into my life.  You will be missed by all of us!

It’s time to start this up again.  This was my journal.  A time for me to post pics of my beautiful, irresistibly lovingly kind hearted children.  A time to write about my life. A time to write down my wonderful memories we have created for each other and our SIX children.  And then, one day when my mind begins to go , I can go back to my books that Daniel printed and remember the wonderful times we had together.  I love my life. I am so grateful to have it, to live it, and to love it!

This summer has been a pretty busy one, but we are always busy. There was EFY, Scout camp, Day Camp, Girls Camp, Park Days, and our Family Vacation. The days have been long, and the kids have been enjoying it all. This year for our family vacation we took a trip to North Carolina, and stayed in a beach house on Emerald Isle. We stayed 8 days and 7 nights, and it was amazing. Our trip started Saturday at Midnight, so I guess it technically was Sunday. We traveled the 13 hours to our destination, in one shot, the kids slept most of the way, so the trip seemed short to them. We stopped In Raleigh North Carolina for Lunch at CiCi’s Pizza. Theses use to frequent Michigan, but now they are all but extinct in our state, the kids really wanted to go to a CiCi’s, so I told them, find one that’s not out of the way on the trip, and we can go. They found one that wasn’t out of the way at all, and I held true to my word. After Lunch we finished our journey and arrived at the house, and after settling in, we hit the pool, and then the beach. The ocean was awesome, and pretty calm that first day.

Monday was pretty much Beach, pool, Lunch, Beach, Pool, Dinner, Pool, we kept it simple. Around 10:00pm we decided to go Ghost Crap hunting on the beach. The tide brings in crabs that are the same color as the sand, and pretty hard to spot. We saw various sizes, some the size of a quarter, to others about the size of your hand. Lots of shrieks and squeals as the craps took off running in random directions.

Tuesday they were calling for rain in the afternoon, so we decided to go to the NC Aquarium. We saw a lot of fish and see life, and in the touch pond the kids were able to touch various sting-rays, and ever a sand shark. Sharks are cool to feel, they aren’t smooth like you would think, there skin is almost like sand paper. As we traveled through the Aquarium, we came to their largest exhibit. It was a replication of a sunken ship, and showed how sea life flourishes around these artificial reefs. We had great timing too, because when we got to this attraction, it was feeding time, and Tuesday was actually the day they feed the sharks too. It was pretty cool to watch. After leaving the Aquarium, we went for ice Cream at a local shop called the ‘Sweet Spot’, if you ever go to Emerald Isle, you need to go to the ‘Sweet Spot’.

Wednesday, was a lot like Monday, lots of Beach time. We did go to an old Civil war fort, Macon Fort. It’s a cool place to visit, they have a ‘night gun’ ceremony Wednesday, and it’s a ceremony where they fire off a cannon like they would have back in the day to announce that the fort was closing. It was loud. Dinner on Wednesday, was a Seafood Bake, a much anticipated event. You slow boil crab legs, clams, potatoes, corn on the cob, and sausage in some seasoned water, it’s awesome.

Thursday was more beach time, and pool time, but in the evening after dinner, we went to a local go-kart place and raced a few laps. It’s something all our kids looked forward too. The last time we were there, we had a few boys who could only be riders, but this year they were tall enough to be racers, and they had a great time.

Friday was the day that we took our kids shopping for souvenirs, they had all been working this summer to save up money for this trip, and this was the day they got to spend it. Drew went with Pirate gear, and a toy machinegun…because “it was awesome”. Berkley got herself a mermaid and heart necklace, Lucas bought a Beware of Zombie poster, Jack got a hood that shows he loves America. Nolan got grumpy, and Zoey decided she didn’t really need anything. The rest of Friday was kind of a lazy afternoon, and in the evening the older kids all took the cars and went to get more ice cream from the ‘Sweet Spot’.

Saturday, was more beach and pool time, it was our last day to soak up the sun, and we took advantage of it. That evening the adults all went to dinner, while the kids hung back at the house. We found this small place in Beaufort, NC. It was about 40 minutes away, but so worth it…the food was epic good. After dinner, we got everything ready to pack in the morning.

Sunday, after packing the car we began our journey back to Michigan. Our kids where excellent in the car, they all found ways to entertain themselves, from making up games to playing on phones or kindles. We made it home without incident, and where just glad to be home.