The week of May 5th-9th we took off to the family cabin in the mountains. I had originally planned to take school with us, but my husband talked sense into me at the last minute and I decided to leave it all behind! Turns out our week was pretty educational after all, but most importantly, it was a wonderful week together as a family!

We had a picnic lunch on the way to the mountains (1), went on a hike around a lake (2), went on many nature walks one of which the girls got a lesson about tree rings and how that tells the age of the tree (3), went to the Town Hardware Store and played with the toys there (4), enjoyed the front porch of the cabin (5), got to meet Nastya for the first time!!!! (6), ate at our favorite BBQ restaurant (7), enjoyed spending a week with Grams and Gramps (8) and went on a date the last night we were there thanks to Grams and Gramps (9)!

That wasn’t all! Little Bug has always had a fascination with Indians ever since we first learned about the Pilgrims and Indians at Thanksgiving. She has asked me, “Mommy, are Indians still alive? Do you think one day I could see a real Indian?”.

We took a road trip one day to Cherokee, North Carolina and Little Bug got to see some real Indians. She was thrilled! Grams and Gramps treated us to a tour of an Indian Village where we got to see a replica of a Cherokee Indian village from the 1700s. The first part was a guided tour through the village so we could experience the ways of the Cherokee as they practice their traditional arts. We got to see them (from top left) making pottery, using a drill, finger weaving, doing wood carving and basket weaving. There were several replicas of cabins from that time that we got to go into along with a sweat house where the sick went to “sweat out their diseases” (middle, right). We got to go in the council room where village meetings took place (bottom, left). The highlight for Little Bug was seeing a live performance of the Indians dancing! She said that was her favorite part of the day. Sweet Pea said her favorite part was the “fishies”. There was a pond with fish near where the cabins were. We all enjoyed the day very much and I’m so glad Little Bug can now say she has seen real Indians!

Before we left for this trip, Little Bug found Bus Station Mystery and she asked me to start reading it to her. We were about halfway through it when we left for this trip so I took it with us. Most days, during the time we normally would do school, Little Bug and I would go on the porch and read Boxcar Children! We finished that book and started The Firehouse Mystery and then finished that one the last day we were there. On the way home Little Bug wanted me to start reading Chronicles of Narnia so I read the first two chapters while we traveled home.

It still amazes me that this ball of energy child will sit and listen to FIVE chapters of a chapter book at a time with very minimal pictures! I love reading to her and I am working on a Read Aloud list of books that I want to read with her (and eventually Sweet Pea too) during our elementary years of homeschool! I want Read Alouds to be a huge part of our homeschool.

At the Town Hardware Store in the mountains I found a set of plastic Indians with accessories for $5 and bought them to make an Indian Sensory Bin. Little Bug enjoyed this and when it was time to clean up and go outside she asked to take the bin outside to keep playing!

For a “Break Week” our week ended up being pretty educational after all, which is the way it should be anyway. Children are always learning whether we realize it or not!

- Elaine