It’s hard to believe it. Five years ago, our family was finishing a two-week homeschooling “field trip” in Fort Myers Florida. The kids were in second and fourth grades. We’d spent our days hanging out next to the Gulf of Mexico, reading, “The Giver” and doing lessons about ancient Egypt in a beach tent to keep safe from the sun.
On the one hand, it seems like yesterday – it can’t already be five years! On the other hand it seems a lifetime has occurred between then and now: moved, new job, new school – TWICE! Darla is already a high school freshman, and Craig is learning Algebra.
Five years from now, they’ll both be attending or accepted in college.
Each day is a gift.
Over holiday break, we had an opportunity to stay with family near Miami, and we did some scuba diving in Key Largo during our stay.
We were staying in Hollywood Beach, so the drive to Key Largo was about 90 minutes each way, but it was worth it. We arranged four check-out dives with Scuba-Do and were very happy with their service. We’d completed the bookwork and pool components of our dive certification in Wisconsin, so we only needed the open-water dives to become certified. Our instructor, Shannon, was fantastic and the whole crew took great care of us.
Over the course of two days we did four dives off the coast of Key Largo. Three were reef dives and one was a dive to the shipwreck “Benwood”.
We all completed the check-out components of the certification, despite some high waves on the first day, that made my husband sick. We were all pretty tired by the final dives, but happy to have our testing out of the way.
In addition to the awesome fish and coral we saw throughout the reefs and wreck, we also got within a few feet of a stingray. He’d been watching us do our testing underwater – he didn’t seem concerned about us at all as we demonstrated our skills.
We highly recommend Scuba-Do for diving needs near Key Largo. There were divers of all skill levels on our boat, and they had a max of 10 divers. We felt very safe with all the pros on board.
Have you ever wondered what animals are saying when they vocalize? In the book, “Say What?” by Angela DiTerlizzi, readers can speculate about what is going on in their favorite critters head. Joey Chou’s fun and darling illustrations give plenty of opportunity for children to practice naming animals, and the story rhymes, which is my favorite kind of read-aloud.
It’s sure to be the book your small child drags off the bookshelf and to your lap every day!
Ages 2-5
We all know children who stand out a bit from everyone else. Maybe it’s the odd way they dress, or the games they like to play, or the way they walk. This darling book written and illustrated by Kristen Balouch shows how everyone has a perfect-match friend, even a little, little girl with a big, big voice.
From the publisher: “In this vibrantly illustrated picture book, one loud little girl looks for a friend to play with. She searches the jungle high and low for a pal but her BIG voice scares all the animals away! One by one, an elephant, a snake and a croc quicly retreat away from her booming vocals, until at last she finds the perfect playmate-whose “roar” is even louder than hers!
Ages 2-5.
M.O.M. (Mom Operating Manual) by Doreen Cronin and Laura Cornell, will remind you immediately of Cronin’s hilarious “Diary of a Worm” series, as well as the Jamie Lee Curtis books, because of the Cornell’s smile-inducing illustrations.
M.O.M. is the perfect gift for children of anyone who recognizes the many jobs of mothers and ways we sometimes carry out our stressful roles. The humorous illustrations describe situations most of us can relate to, so even mothers who take themselves too seriously may crack a smile. Detailed and colorful pages are designed to be read in any order, like an operating manual, rather than as a “story” which is appealing to readers who prefer the “magazine” approach to reading. (My son likes to read this way.)
Great book!
Ages 4-8
