Semester at Sea

We've been a little busy this year getting ready for our trip around the world. It is such a big deal, it deserves its own blog. Follow us at

http://knowledgeship.blogspot.com/

for the next few months!

First Day of Fourth Grade

Back to school after a really good summer! Fourth grade, he is ready.

Jasper getting his first yellow stripe at his new Taekwondoh school. We love his instructor, who is also one of his after school program counselors.

Lego stylings

It took a shockingly short amount of time for this little dude to go from a bunch of pieces to finished project. Good thing there will be many later creations with the same parts.

I always thought "jasperation" was a word I made up. Turns out that is not quite true. Look what I found in the dictionary today: Jasperated Jas"per*a`ted\, a. mixed with jasper; containing particles of jasper; as, jasperated agate. So that would mean jasperation is the quality of being mixed with, or containing particles of, Jasper. I suppose that will eventually be more true or Jasper's children than of his parents, but then again, he does have the ability to leave evidence of his presence pretty much everywhere! To use the word in context, I might say that my house is an example of Jasperation. Anyway, back to the purpose of this blog to keep you up to date on our adventures. I'll post the annual First Day of School shot shortly for those of you who didn't see it on Facebook. Third grade is going well so far, school started 2 weeks ago. In other news, we found out recently that in January 2013, we will be sailing around the world as part of my university's "Semester at Sea" program. They take a librarian on each voyage, and this librarian is taking her family. In what will no doubt prove to be one of our most questionable parenting decisions yet, Jasper will be home schooled by his dad (actually that will be ship schooled) while I earn our berth running the shipboard library. Part of the assignment includes writing a blog of our experiences, I'll post that address here for you all before we go. Now we get to spend the next 16 months planning for our trip, which will last for about the first 4 months of 2013. Much more to come on this topic, feel free to tune us out when we go on and on about it as we have already done with any of you we have talked to since we found out! Hugs to everyone. E

Germany

We took an amazing trip to Germany right before Christmas this year, to visit good friends of ours. We went to Christmas markets, rode trains, explored castles, cross-country skied, and at a lot of schnitzel. Jasper did a terrific job with all the travel. This picture is at the Christmas Market in Stuttgart. More pictures on picasa.

Asheville Vacation

This year's spring break trip was to Asheville and Brevard, NC. Mostly we mountain biked, but did some other exploring as well. Waterfalls, granite "slickrock," and beautiful weather were trip highlights. Also our annual visit from the Easter Bunny (we have to email her when we go on vacation so she knows where to hide the eggs). See more pics here.

Art Show

We're very proud of our boy today. His painting was chosen by his art teacher for display at the district-wide art show at the local shopping mecca. Only one other first grader from his school had work displayed. Here's a pic of artist and work, and a closeup of the masterpiece.