With a Splash

That's how we celebrated the end of our first official week of school: by splashing in the cold mountain water of the stream that runs through one of my favorite nearby places, Riven Rock Park.  Even better, we arranged for half a dozen other homeschooling families--who just happen to be great friends of ours--to meet us there for fun and fellowship.  

This week has been busier than normal, what with the fair and all.  But today's outing was a perfectly wonderful way to conclude the week; the sun and fresh air and water play and conversation with friends was delightful.  We had 26 kids there; but with 7 moms around, there was always an extra pair of arms if a fussy baby needed to be held and an extra pair of eyes if a child in the water needed to be watched while the mother took another child to the bathroom.  Rather than seeming stressful, it felt easy to pass the time there!

Our time together today reminded me to rejoice in the companions that God has allowed us to meet along the way in our homeschooling journey!

 Catching crayfish...

 ...and other fish (including a dead one--ewwww!) was one of the activities that occupied the kids for a long time.

 Having Emily there was so nice, since she is quite skillful with her camera and generous with her photos.  :)

Eating lunch in the pavilion...

...and taking pictures of our sweet families that we love so very much...

 ...rounded out the day.

And then I came home to this happy sight:

...a box that I eagerly opened because it contained the last few items I needed to dive into our main history/readers/read-alouds from Sonlight for the year.  This first week of school was a light week academically--an intentional choice so that we could ease ourselves into a routine of schoolwork again.  But now I'm getting so ready to jump in fully...and this time, with a bigger splash.  :)