Texas Wrap-Up

So….we left Texas about a month ago, and we’re getting ready to leave our next location so I figure I better get  crackin’ on this blog here. Being away form the blog for so long has made it that much more difficult to get back into the groove, but after reading an old journal from twelve years ago and re reading this blog from the last three years it’s made me realize how important it is to record some memories and preserve our story. In my old journal I wrote directly to Jake (who was eighteen months at the time) and when I read it to the kids the other day they were entranced….they LOVED hearing it and because of them, I vow to keep this this thing going. I also plan to write our story all the way from the beginning, but that’s going to require me to get rid of the TV’s first. And maybe get a cook and a dishwasher.

So where do I start? Let’s see….we did finally make it to The Stockyards. Woop-dee-doo. We were at The Watergardens before that and that was much more my style.

It’s a park in the middle of downtown Fort Worth and it has this Big Pool as shown here, along with a Quiet Serenity Pool and another one full of sprinklers. I went with another unschooling mama, Missi, that we met on park day and naturally we had to break the rules and let the kids play in the water, but only until we were told to get out. We’re law abiding like that.

I dreaded another one of the unschooling moms hair, Angela, and then because she looked so awesome in her dreads it gave me the courage to get my own. Needless to say the dreads did not make me five foot seven and stick skinny, so they only lasted a couple weeks.  Angela and Missi threw me a birthday party and I had one of the best birthday’s ever! Usually we’re on the road en-route to somewhere or Joey is on a job so I rarely even get a cake let alone a party. I’ll never forget what they did, and how much it meant to me.

Aside form the very few encounters with the outside world, we spent ninety nine percent of the time on the Acres. One of my hobbies was googling myself and damn! was I surprised to find my pictures being used all over the web! For articles on catching an alligator at summer camp, to hitchhiking, to national parks, to how to build a chicken coop, to how to take pictures, to how to weld and even for an article on out houses. I’ve since put a copyright dealy-majig on my photos so they can’t be used anymore without my permission, but now googling myself just isn’t the same.

There was a lot of kite flying on Windy Green Acres and Joey schooled us on how to fly a kite with a broken leg.

There was also a lot of Bocci Ball going on. That was definitely one of our favorite games we played together, and as much as my brother tried..he just couldn’t beat me. Oh yeah, I said it.

Of course our favorite thing was playing with the chickens. WHO KNEW chickens would be so much fun?

Jonas decided as long as there was an animal in the picture with him, he would let me take his picture. I’ve decided I’m going to keep a frog in my pocket . Just in case.

The summer was beyond HOT. I never went to another unschooling park day, and the kids did spend most of the day inside. I know my parents probably thought our kids did nothing but play video games but that’s just because they were in bed at 1am when the kids were riding their rip stick and roller blades, or catching toads and feeding them june bugs, or jumping on the trampoline with a sprinkler. They were just smart enough to stay out of the heat.

 

We ended up spending TEN months in Texas! Ten MONTHS! In the last twelve years we’ve never spent that much time in one place. It reassured me that I don’t need a stick house, but it’s made the rest of the family want some land of our own again. Jonas even asked for a house for his birthday. Jewel still wants a big bathtub and a trampoline, and Jake just wants to live in Hawaii, as does Joey. It looks like I’m out voted but at least for now we’re still in the bus and hitting the road. If we do end up getting a house again, it’ll be just like when we had a house in Iowa: We spent the summers at the house and the winters traveling and working. So the way I see it, if they want a house in Hawaii ,it’s kinda like the best of both world’s and I can deal with that.

Rock On!