A visit from "home"

Zoom's cousin came to visit in July. It was great having Champ here. He's a great kid. The boys played lots of legos in their downtime and enjoyed the ocean a beach a ton. Champ was a great influence on Zoom regarding being a big brother. Zoom has been pretty negative about having a little sister and hasn't been very nice to her recently, but he SO looks up to Champ , who was awesome and sweet with Squeak so Zoom starting acting much nicer to her and seeing her as a fun little playmate and baby instead of just competition. It was sweet to hear Zoom conversing with Champ. He asked him about being a big brother--"Do you like your sisters?" "How old were you went Bean was born?" Etc. It was very therapeutic for him to see how Champ deals with having sisters and that his world didn't come to an end.

After Champ left Zoom went to camp for a week with church (9-4 each day) which was the most he's ever done. It was great because I got to have some quiet playtime with Squeak and lots of time to organize and plan school for the year. I'm excited about our new school year and activities. Zoom will be in an outdoor nature study class each Wednesday from 9-1 and will do listening lessons in the car on the way to and fro--it's an hour drive from here. He's also hoping to take intro to fencing. We'll be studying the Roman Empire, stories from Shakespeare, wildflower identifying, collecting and pressing, bird identifying and beading. He's hoping to make jewelry for the holiday craft sale. He also want to get a rabbit so we'll be researching that. He's all about pets.

Speaking of animals and such, we just got back from a farm we participate in. It's a CSA--Community Supported Agriculture. A family farm that we pay into to have shares of the harvest each week. The couple is so sweet and like us, from the 'burbs. But they've been farming organically for seven years now or so. The produce is great and it's $20 a week! I've been reading some amazing books about food and the environment and pesticides and organic stuff. I highly recommend "Chemical-Free Kids" by Allan Magaziner, "Newman's Own Guide to Good Living" by Nell Newman (yes, Paul Newman's daughter--she lives in Santa Cruz!) And "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I'm now perusing farmer's markets and buying locally as much as possible and nearly all organic--no pesticides and chemicals. It's hard on Zoom to give up bubble gum, but on the other hand, Champ flew home and announced to his mom on the way home from the airport, "MOM, You've GOT to buy organic! It tastes SO good!"
Okay, so my segue from animals didn't quite make sense because I didn't mention that they have goats and chickens. And I hope to someday in the not so distant future have goats and chickens myself--the fresh eggs and milk are amazing. Plus, we won't have to mow the lawn. :) And I'm not allergic to them (a big bonus) and Zoom loves animals. Squeak thins they're pretty cool too as far as we can tell. :)
Well. It's been a long post and I've lots to do.
Gotta go.
Daw