King's Mountain NMP

King's Mountain National Military Park
King's Mountain was a very significant but somehow not 'famous' battle in the American Revolutionary War. Loyalist Tories from NY, NJ, CT, SC, and NC, and led by British Col Patrick Ferguson were soundly defeated by Patriots from NC, SC, VA, TN, and GA, including the Scots-Irish mountain men from the Appalachians, who had stayed out of the war until now. The European military tactics were no match for the guerilla tactics used by these mountain men, especially when the British camped on top of King's Mountain (which is really a big hill, but is a mountain for the region).
Jam and the kids managed to hike the 1.5 mile loop around the mountain, even though Jman was very stressed. For starters, it was all new, and that's challenging enough. For seconders, he kept wanting to go back the way we came, not understanding that it was a loop hike and it was shorter to keep going forward (to more new sights, of course, which was more stressful yet). But, we eventually made it, and it was a Lovely day.
Sly completed the work for yet another Jr Ranger patch. Jam bought patches and Tshirts and books and a couple Jr Ranger backpacks.
Jam's favorite trail marker was entitled "Be Your Own Officer."

Hiking

Sly was at the air show (post below), and the rest of us were hiking. It was a GORGEOUS day!

Snow Day!

A week ago last Friday, it SNOWED! That's worthy of resuming the blog! (Yeah, it still took me this long to convert and upload a video, and the video sucks, but hey, it's a start. And btw, I HATE blogger!)

Hay rides, hay bales, and hayseeds at the pumpkin patch

Backyard Makeover

When we bought our current house a little over a year ago, this is what part of the backyard looked like. There aren't many pictures of that section of the yard because, quite frankly, it was unattractive and little used. We'd intended to take down that ratty metal swing set, but somehow, it just didn't happen. You probably know how that goes!

However, over the last week or so, we've been finally working on that section of the backyard, and it's becoming quite the hang out spot for the family, especially with beautiful weather we've been having!

First, we raked up all the leaves, and pulled a lot of the random weeds, and generally cleaned up the 'tree trash' under the huge old pecan tree (remnants of a pecan plantation)and out of the 'sand pit.' When we did that, we realized how nice and pleasant it was under the shade of that huge tree. That got us thinking about putting in a paver patio or some other nice and fancy 'outdoor room.' I actually got the booklets from Lowes and Home Depot and was looking into it. We were talking designs and plans and whether to do-it-ourselves or hire someone to do it for us. And then we realized that we didn't want to sink that kind of money into a house we may not stay at forever. And I began to enjoy just sitting in an old lawn chair out there under the tree with good old dirt for the 'floor.' So, we dropped the patio idea and 'got real.'

What's the right Jam-and-Habeeb way maximize enjoyment of that backyard spot? A good old fashioned wooden picnic table, for starters, as opposed to the fancy porch furniture I'd been scouting all season (and hadn't found a thing I liked yet). Plus it's got a couple added bonuses: It's cheap, and it's a great 'project' for Habeeb and Sly to do together (a trial run of 'shop night'). So, here they are, putting together mom's picnic table in the dark in the light rain. Do they love me or what? :)

Next, the boys power washed an old Little Tikes playset the previous owners left here and which was full of spiders and tree trash from sitting under that old pecan tree. It'll be great for SB3 in the very near future. Sly did most of the power washing, and being the bad mom that I am, I only have pictures of Jman when he took a turn at it. They also both worked on power washing a bunch of old Tonka trucks that were yucky from sitting out in the sand pit for the last year+.

After we took a step back, Habeeb and I had the same thought at the same time: We need to hang the hammock between those two trees! Jman wasted no time giving it a test drive.

Of course, being outside in the evening probably means bugs, plus it gets hard to see once it's good and dark. Habeeb jumped all over those two problems by finding the pair of old tiki torches we 'inherited' with a house we bought a few years ago. He stuck them in the ground and Sly got to work 'playing with fire.' What is it about fire that is so much fun?

Now, that big old pecan tree has a big old branch growing out from it that was just begging for a swing. We already have everything we need to build a playset (except the wood). What we needed for a big tree swing, though, was a good rope. $20 later and some creative rigging by Habeeb, and presto--we have a way cool make-shift swing! He rigged this up for me in the dark (what a guy!). If we leave it as is, we'll have to move that one tiki torch, or someone's gonna catch themselves on fire when they're swinging!

And so, about $120 later, we have have a remade backyard!

And here are some kiddies (and kitties) having fun in the new backyard!

Lucky Charlie

This weekend we took the camper out for another practice run before our big June road trip. We camped right next to our previous campsite (#58 instead of #57), which worked great for 'different but same' for Jman. Plus, it put us still near the playground, the swimming area, and on the water with a dock. Can't beat that!

On the way, someone commented that we should have packed our lone fishing pole. Another quick thought and we were locating the nearest wallyworld on the handy dandy gps. As it turns out, we could take the next exit and a scenic route and pass by a store on the way to the campground. We followed the GPS, and at a red light in an intersection in the little town, Habeeb said, "It's says it's supposed to be here, but I don't see anything." We started through the stop light and then we saw it--a LITTLE and OLD wallyworld tucked into a little and old strip mall behind a Hardee's fast food restaurant. That's how LITTLE and OLD this wallyworld was--it was hidden by a fast food joint! We pulled in, gaped momentarily, and then Habeeb and Sly went in and bought a couple inexpensive fishing poles and with some basic tackle. We drove back by the place on our way home on Sunday because we just had to have a picture. It's just so NOT what we were expecting!

So, anyway, back to the story of Lucky Charlie. We took those fishing poles to the campsite, and even though it had gotten dark, Sly wanted to go fishing. It didn't take long before he had his line in a mess and was complaining that "that nevers happens to the professionals! (wah!)" Obviously it was time to pack it in for the night. :)

The next day dawned bright and beautiful. Sly eventually drug himself out of bed, ate some breakfast, and wanted to go fishing again. Habeeb had already fixed his line for him, told him how to do it himself next time (because there WOULD be a next time, because it DOES happen to professionals too!), and helped him try fishing again. After a while, Sly was casting like a pro--and fixing his own fishing line when it tangled up on him again.

Jman wanted to fish too. At first I was casting for him and letting him reel the spinner in, but that wasn't good enough--he wanted to cast too. I had my doubts as to the possibility and the SAFETY of that, but when we had the dock to ourselve, I decided to try to help him cast hand-over-hand, partly because I wanted to stay close enough to him to not get hooked myself!

Well, I was trying to help him, and he was trying to do it himself, but he WAS listening and echoing the little chant I was coaching him with. "Finger . . "--grab the fishing line with your finger on your casting hand and hold it to the rod. "Flip . . . "--flip the bail (little bar) over on the reel. "Throw!"--cast! Then reel her in, and repeat. "Finger . . . flip . . . throw!" Well, wouldn't you know it, Jman learned how to cast! In no time, he was doing it all by himself! However, because of the autism, he just didn't/doesn't have great 'perspective taking' to make sure that he's got good clearance before casting, so we still really have to closely supervise. But hey, he was so proud of himself! And WE all were too!

So, back to Lucky Charlie. Sly had the fishing thing down now, but wasn't catching a thing. I told him he wasn't holding his mouth right. He tried other ways of holding his mouth. I told him we needed to sing the "Fishin' Fever" song. We sang the "Fishin' Fever" song. Still nothing. So, I said maybe the fish weren't hungry for spinners that day and to maybe try some other kind of bait. We didn't have any bait, but I said you can fish with bread balls for bait. He decided to give it a try. Nothing else was working anyway.

So, Habeeb helped him rig up a hook and bobber and Sly made some bread balls. He started out fishing on 'our' dock, but when Jman came down to join him (with me following closely), we decided Sly might be safer on the next dock over. He moved on over there (only to be followed by Jman, of course! But Jman was satisfied with casting once from that dock and then moving back to 'his' dock!). Sly continued to fish over there for a while, Jman decided to go to the playground, SB3 and I followed him, and Habeeb was working on packing up some of the camp stuff.

Sly decided that since he could see his bread bait in the clear water that he'd ditch his bobber and just watch with his eyes. And then . . . and then . . . while nobody else was around paying any attention to Sly and his fishing . . . he got a bite, and not only was it a bite, but it was good size fish with a lot of fight in him. Sly fought him in, yelling for someone to come over. Our neighbor campers passed along, "He's got one!" We dropped what we were doing ('dropping' SB3 off in the 'baby jail') and went to see what he had.

Lo and behold, he'd caught a 2.5+ pound catfish! Not bad for your first time fishing all by your lonesome with an after-thought rod from a rinky-dink wallyworld and nothing but bread for bait! We were totally ill-prepared to deal with such a catch, and our other neighbor camper helped get him off the hook with his pliers. We quickly got him strung up, dropped back in the water (tied to the hitch on the dock), and took shelter in the camper from the rapidly descending thunderstorm.

After the storm passed, we checked on Sly's catfish, finding him alive and well, still tied to the dock. We finished packing up camper, and brought Sly's catfish home in a roughtote of lake water so we could weigh him before cleaning him (and so we'd have proper equipment to clean him with!).



Well, when the time came to clean the fish, Sly was having second thoughts about 'killing' it. We told him it was perfectly fine to 'tag and release'--that folks do it all the time. Sly decided to let his catfish go in the pond/lake/river near home. Thus, the catfish was dubbed "Lucky Charlie." Sly, however, has promised both me and Habeeb that in a survival situation, if it's his life or the fish's, the fish is TOAST!

So, how was YOUR mothers day? Mine was pretty darn good. :)

There just aren't words . . .

Homeschool in the Woods

We FINALLY got to go camping this week! We bought the popup about five weeks ago, and this weekend we finally had good weather plus no other conflicting obligations, and took the family camping Woo-hoo!

A few highlights of the weekend:
Jman and Sly stirring up that red dirt mud while swimming in the lake. I'll take mud over chlorine any day!





SB3 hanging on the swings while the big brothers swim. He says he wants a swing at home!





Sly said he'd like to live in a place like this, with the lake, but without all the people. (There were a lot of people when we got there the first day, and almost no one the next day. I liked
the 'no one' day better too!)


Sly put some of his training from Aviation Challenge into practice and worked at building us a star fire (best for cooking, he says, but not good for overnight because it requires tending). He needed a little more coaching on how to really get a fire started, but I think he'll be able o fly solo next time.

Toasting all natural, gfcf, no blue food coloring (you'd be surprised!) marshmallows, of course!





Jman's artwork decorating the camper door! This was so cute! He was so proud of hanging his art there. When the wind blew it down he was worried, and proceeded to better secure the poster with 3-4 on the bottom, 5-6 on the left, and 7-8 on the right. I asked if he wanted to leave it in the camper or put it back in his book when we put the camper down, and he chose to put it back in his book. I wonder if he'll decorate for us again the next time we go camping.

Hiking the nature trail.



And last but not least, Habeeb helped put out a dumpster fire near our campsite. People, please--do NOT put your charcoals into the dumpster in an effort to 'clean up' your picnic/grill area when you leave the park! That is NOT safe! Fortunately, we and another camper saw the smoking dumpster and were able to contact the park manager and help her get the fire safe thoroughly extinguished with no more flames popping back up and no more smoldering. Unbelievable. Sorry I don't have pix of smoke and flames for you, but we were more pressed with getting the fire OUT. Afterwards I thought to take a pix for remembering.

the little birdies

In honor of the Great Backyard Bird Count, we got a birdfeeder this year and set it up outside the back window. Actually we have 3+ birdfeeders out there: one of those hanging tubes with four perches, a bigger cedar feeder (which also has places for suet on either end), and a hummingbird feeder. We were also equipped with a bird book to help us figure out what we might be seeing. The nice thing about this book is that you identify birds by color--nice and simple for beginner bird watchers like us!

We've gotten pretty good at identifying our regular birdies--mostly a flock of chipping sparrows. Yesterday I started snapping a few pictures through the window. Not the best pictures, but they'll do for a total amateur like me. Here's one of our Gold Finches. There's a little chippie on the other side. Later in the day we had a gold finch on one side of the cedar feeder and a red cardinal on the other, but I missed that shot
This little fella is a chickadee. Unlike the chippies, who come and hang out, the chickadees fly in, grab a seed, and fly off with it. So, this isn't much of a picture, but hey, at least I got the shot before he left again
And this fella we think is a baby mockingbird. He and his brother (or she and her sister?) showed up for the first time yesterday, and were back again this morning. They are still fuzzy but can fly okay, though they are the LAST ones to fly off when the cats jump at the window. They'll either learn, or become one of the neighborhood kitties' lunch!
When we first put the feeders up, we all had a hard time identifying the birds, especially the 'little brown blobs.' But like I said, we're starting to be able to do it. What thrilled me was when a couple days ago Sly said he saw a different kind of bird at the feeder, one we hadn't seen before. A couple days later I saw something different and asked Sly if that was his bird. He said yes, and we studied its markings together a bit, then sat down and tried to find it in the bird book after it flew off. We decided it might be a House Sparrow, and look forward to its return to check again and see if we were right. It fits the description and the picture in the book pretty well.

Anyway, I've been pleased at how quickly we're noticing patterns and changes in our birdie visitors. Not only is it great for science and nature study, but it's also great for simple enhancing and developing observation skills, communication, and cognitive thinking, and the birdies are just simply fun to watch too. Who knew a couple a cheapo bird feeders would do so much, not to mention that it's driving the wanna-be-outdoor-kitties insane (which is very entertaining for us too!)