Virginia Beach 2013

My apologies for the delay in posting, but we were on our first family vacation in many years!  Our Ukrainian born kids had never seen the ocean, and every summer I say we should take them but never manage to make it happen.  This year, however, I recruited my daughter-in-lawKerri to help me with the arrangements and we made it happen!  We don't take a yearly vacation, in fact, not counting 2 trips to Ukraine for our adoptions, we had not had a vacation in years.  We do frequent weekend visits to our camp in the Adirondacks, but I can never get Wayne to stay longer than a weekend.  And since it's our camp, he spends most of the time working, not relaxing.  So Kerri and I made all the plans and just told Wayne the dates to plan on being away.  Sadly neither Curtis nor Missy could join us due to college and/or work reasons.  Wayne Jr. and Kerri joined Wayne and I and Sierra, Andrii, Anna, Jordan, and Slava.  Yup, 9 of us packed into 2 vehicles (we rented a mini-van, or according to Slava a "vini-van") and fled NY at 4am Saturday morning.  By 3:30pm we arrived at our destination - Virginia Beach!  Since the whole point of this trip was for the kids to experience the ocean for the first time, we rented a house right on the beach.  Sandswept (name of the house) is in a residential neighborhood but was just minutes by car from the boardwalk.  It was an excellent choice!

Sierra, Wayne Jr., & Dad

 Wayne loves to fish and made sure that he got in a deep-sea charter trip.  I opted out of this voyage and stayed back at the house and took the little boys to the beach.  The 6 of them went and all caught a dozen Spanish mackerel which they had filleted and prepared for lunch right at the marina.

Slava aka Sand Man

 The beach is a sensory rich environment.  Slava was in his glory covered in sand, laying on the sand, digging in the sand, jumping in the waves, and he even was pretty good with a boogie board.

The Little Patriots

 We took a few day trips here and there during the week.  One day we went to the Virginia Aquarium, another to Busch Gardens, and finally Colonial Williamsburg.  In between we just enjoyed the beach and ate lots of sea food.

Anna & Wayne Jr. digging the beach.

We had perfect weather.  The days were hot, in the 90s and only a few rain showers at night.  The ocean was warm enough for us to play in.  I actually went into the water farther then I'd ever been.

Jordan, Wayne, Sierra & Andrii taking a break in the shade.

 Andrii dug a hole and stuck Anna in it.  

 She willingly complied.  Afterward he had to dig her out because she couldn't get out herself.  

The Flachs at Sandswept

Slava & Jordan with Gayle

 The house we rented was Gayle's family home.  Her parents built it in 1955.  She's had many upgrades done and it sleeps 14.  We were very comfortable, Gayle was extremely hospitable, and the house had ocean views from practically every room.  We couldn't have picked a better place to stay.

First time at the ocean!

 This pic was from our first day in Virginia Beach.  We romped around in the waves and tasted the saltiness of the water.  Then we went to Bubba's Crab Shack for some delicious seafood!

Anna enjoying crab legs!

 For the most part we ate breakfast and lunch at the house and enjoyed seafood dinners in the evening.  Of course we ordered pizza in once and on Friday Wayne made a trip to Chick-Fil-A to bring us beach bums some lunch.

Wayne and the little boys chatting with a fishermen.

 The ocean sunrise had me up at 6am each morning.  I savor quiet mornings so I'd sneak into the kitchen, make the coffee, and curl up in a cozy spot for my morning devotions.  But ocean sunrises also wake up sleepy Slavas.  He'd make his appearance around 6:30am.  Almost every morning by 7am Wayne and I would take the little boys down to the beach for a morning walk and some sea shell collecting.  Jordan loved chasing scampering sand crabs and Slava just loved running around.  Every day we were treated to our own dolphin show.  A pod of dolphins frequented the area right in front of our beach house.  They came so close to the shore that it seemed we'd bump into them while we were swimming.  I warned Anna not to ride on one!

Anna & Andrii on the boogie boards!

Wayne Jr. & Kerri relaxing & reading.

Andrii & Dad

 We ventured down by the boardwalk one evening and had dinner and ice cream.  We had planned to go back, but with all the other day trips and the heat, it just never happened.  Wayne is not a big fan of tourist areas (another reason why we rented a house outside of the tourist spots).  Sandswept is in a residential area so we had the beach practically to ourselves.

Sierra & Kerri on the roof-top deck.

 On the night of the full moon we hung out up on the roof top deck.  Wayne Jr. played some guitar, and Sierra & Kerri played Banana-grams.  Check out the moonlight reflecting on the ocean.  It was a breath-taking view.

Jordan & Slava at the aquarium.  

It was an excellent vacation.  We arrived home on Saturday evening and spent the rest of the weekend recovering.  I am so thankful that the Lord blessed us with this incredible time together.  Back to reality this week:  Jordan gets a new cast on on Tuesday.  He had a doctor's appt right before we left and I had Dr. Carl remove his old cast.  He'd had it on since January so it was a bit nasty, plus I didn't want him to have to deal with it full of sand from the beach.  The Dr. took it off but wants to put one right back on this week.  I guess he's figured out that Jordan is a busy little boy!  And it looks like the next surgery will be late August or early Sept.  Like I said, back to reality!  God is good!

Endings & Beginnings

Well, it's June;  Half way through June actually.  We are finished with school, sort of.  Wayne Jr. and Curtis are both taking summer college courses.  As for the homeschooled kids, Sierra too is finishing up 2 online courses with Liberty University, Andrii is finished and working his summer job, Anna is finished except for a grammar test, and Jordan & Slava are in summer schedule mode.  With the little guys I just can't stop doing "school" over the summer.  They really need to retain what they've learned and both benefit from a structured day.  Our summer "structure" is a bit loose, but we still do reading, calendar, and hands on activities.  I've been in the throws of year end home school reports to the school district.  NY has some of the heaviest requirements for homeschoolers.  I've just finished our quarterly reports and officially promoted everyone to the next grade level.  Then I typed up the Letter of Intent letting the school know we intend to home school again next year.  That leads to Individual Home Instruction Plans (IHIPs as we veteran home school moms call them).  IHIPs are basically a list of curriculum for each subject that I plan on using for the coming school year.  I have to do one for each of the 5 kids.  Once that's done I end up in the throw out the old, reorganize, and start setting up for fall mode.  I'm trying to hold myself back - I really need to enjoy the summer before it's gone!  

A Bit of Home School History!

 This is the grade book that I've used every year for the past 11 years since we began homeschooling.  It has all the kids in it starting with Wayne Jr. and going to Slava!  I've kept attendance, yes go figure homeschoolers must take attendance.  My kids have perfect attendance since we pretty much live here everyday!  The book also contains everyone's grades too.  I think I'll display it in the Flach Academy Museum.

Last week Slava had a speech/language evaluation at the local public school.  His scores indicate that he qualifies for therapy 3x weekly next school year.  So starting in the fall, in addition to homeschooling, I will bring him to school for PT once weekly, OT 2x weekly, and now speech/language 2x weekly.  They will try to combine the days so I don't have to be there every day.  I am thankful that the school is working with us and they are not being difficult because we homeschool.
In fact, so far the therapists all seem to agree that what we are doing is working best for Slava.

A Quiet Morning Pool-side.

 Friday afternoon Wayne took Jordan and Slava up to our camp in the Adirondacks overnight to check on things and clean up.  A tree had fallen in the yard, thankfully no damage was done, so he wanted to get it cleaned up.  In addition to the 3 of them being away, Sierra, Andrii, and Anna all had a youth group sleep-over at our church.  I pretty much had a mini-vacation for 24 hours!  I was able to complete so much paperwork on Friday, then went out to breakfast with Curtis on Saturday.  After breakfast, I went for a walk with my friend Lauri, then spent the day by our pool doing paperwork in the sun!

We are going on a "real" family vacation for the first time in years.  Aside from traveling to  Ukraine for our adoptions (not very relaxing) and weekend visits to our camp, we have not been away as a family for any length of time.  Every summer I lament that the Ukrainian kids have never been to the ocean, but I never seem to be able to put a plan together.  This year I enlisted Kerri's help and we booked a house right on the beach in Virginia Beach!  The kids are so excited and counting down the days!

Curtis & I at breakfast!  

On Thursday, Mary and I recorded our very first radio show entitled "Orphans No More"!  It was so exciting!  The show will air on WDCD 96.7fm (Christian Talk Radio) on Friday, August 9th at 1:30pm.  We basically shared about ourselves and Justice For Orphans.  We have the studio on Thursday mornings to record our shows over the summer.  They will air from Aug. 9th through November on Fridays.  We are considering doing the November shows live.  This week we will record 3 shows!  I am so excited about this door that the Lord has been opening.  We would have never had the idea to try and get on the radio, not to mention have our own show!  We give God the glory.  He gave us a heart like His for the orphan, and now He has given us a way to share it with the Church!

It's June!

We've had such a busy 2 weeks that I have just not had a chance to update the blog!  My apologies to those of you who check in regularly.  I'm actually just realizing that it's already June...finally June!  We kicked off summer with a Memorial Day parade and picnic with family and friends.  It was a great day.

The Jubilee Fife & Drum Corps.

 Andrii is in the last row with the base drum.  Slava is waving the flag.

Jordan & Slava questioning the police after the parade!

Wayne and I attended the 29th Annual Loving Education At Home Christian Parenting & Homeschooling Convention from May 30th-June 1st in Rochester, NY.  It was our 12th convention and this one we attended without kids...all by ourselves!  This event is always a boost after a looooonnnnngggg school year.

Wayne & I with the Besenfelders at Dinosaur BBQ in Rochester!

 It's become our annual tradition at the convention to go to Dinosaur BBQ on Friday night.  We get together with friends from our LEAH chapter here at home who also attend.  It's always a great time.

Speaking of homeschooling, a few days before convention I realized that it's almost June...which means the end of the school year.  I've been so engrossed in the craziness of our life that it caught me off guard a little bit.  Thankfully all the kids are in good shape with school.  Sierra is actually taking 2 online courses with Liberty University which she will finish in July.  Andrii has already completed everything except Algebra 2 which he started mid-year.  Over the summer he will do 1 lesson per week to keep current and then complete the course in the first quarter of next year.  Then he will begin Advanced Math.  Since he's otherwise finished, he has already begun working for his grandfather for the summer. Nothing beats hands-on learning!  Anna has completed everything but her grammar book which she will be done with next week.  As for the little boys, we're slowing down a bit but I always continue their schooling over the summer for retention and the fact that they need structure.  My brain is already on the next school year and new curriculum and lesson plans.  Now if I could only find the time to do it!

 Happy Birthday, Kerri!  

 Kerri is pictured here with her parents and some of our kids.  We all celebrated at her partents' house last Sunday.  I am so blessed to have an excellent relationship with my daughter-in-law and her family.

Gram & Curtis

I love this pic of my Curtis and my mom.  It's not often I can get him in a picture, but I seized the opportunity here!  He recently completed his courses at HVCC and will now enter RPI as a junior in the fall.  Originally he had the summer off of school just to work.  But a couple weeks ago on a Thursday he met with his advisor at RPI.  As it turns out there is 1 class he needs in order to graduate with his class.  It's offered now as a summer class but won't be offered again until after his graduation date.  Basically RPI was kind and let him into the class which had already begun that Monday.  So he's already attending RPI!  I'm excited for him, but sad too because this means he won't be able to go on the family vacation we are planning this month :(  

Engard!  

Another pic I love and it just so happens Curt's in this one too!  We brought the little boys these duct-tape swords home from convention.  It brought the little boy out of Curtis!  This was his kind of thing when he was little.  Being the engineering student that he is, he made his own and proceeded to engage the little boys in sword fighting.  Love it!

Last week I had Slava's annual assessment at the elementary school.  Even though I homeschool him I began taking him down to the public school for Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy each week.  His assessment concluded that in the fall he will begin having OT twice a week and PT once a week.  It was also decided to evaluate his speech/language which we had done this week.  It looks like he will also have speech therapy weekly now too.  Slava is making a lot of progress and these therapies combined with what we're doing at home seems to be working.  The speech eval was very eye opening to me.  I was able to observe this testing and learned a bit more about how Slava processes information...or doesn't process information I should say.  For one test the therapist read a sentence such as, "After lunch Mary rode her bike down the street."  Slava would then have to repeat as much of the sentence as he could remember.  Almost every time he only remembered the last word.  This reveals why he has a difficult time following instructions.  So if we say, "Go outside and pick up all the toys you left out on the lawn."  It shouldn't surprise us when he doesn't do it.  And it's not that he's being disobedient.  It would be better to take him by the hand and say, "Let's pick up these toys."  And do it together.  Not that he can't learn to processes complex thoughts, but he will need to learn how.  There were some other interesting things I noticed as well.  I am thankful for these learning opportunities.

This week Mary Slager and I visited the The New Light WDCD 96.7fm, the radio station that will air the Justice For Orphans' radio show.  We will begin recording the 30 minute shows next week and they will begin airing on August 9th and go through November.  The name of the show will be:  Orphans No More.  We are so excited about this opportunity to rally the Church for the cause of the fatherless!