Literacy Learning Zone

This summer, as with anything in 2020, has been anything but usual. Days at the pool non-existent. Playdates with friends on hold. Camps delayed. One vacation delayed a year. Another vacation postponed until deemed safer.  But, thankfully, we did get away as a family for a week.  We are so blessed to have a family cabin in the woods in the middle of Wisconsin. We packed the mini-van FULL with AnythingAndEverything we may need (or want). Here there seems like there is nothing to do. Here we just get to be in the slow moment of time... We stayed up late and slept in until we stretched out of bed.  I stole moments to sit in the quiet and read.  We noticed the beautiful Monarch butterflies fluttering in the breeze.  I was in awe of the bright blue sky and puffy white clouds.  We hung out in bright pink flamingo tubes cooling off in the lake.  I enjoyed lots of walks with the dog on a new dirt road.  We bounced around in a UTV on the trails splashing i...

Image from Unsplash: Photo Credit Jordan McQueen Right now, we {should have} been ... Enjoying the Hawaiian Islands A trip of a lifetime with family Celebrating 50 years of marriage and family Soaking up the sun on the beautiful beaches Sight seeing and observing island life Relaxing, laughing, sipping something good Flipping through the tourist books Balancing the busy hustle and the resting calm Making memories and taking lots of photos All this will happen. Just not this year. Not right now.  But Summer 2021. Watch out. We are coming for you. For right now, we are home. Dreaming about what {should have} been.

The March Slice of Life Story Challenge hosted  at the  Two Writing Teachers . Join us for a month of writing! __________________________________________________ Dearest Reader, Today is the day. Spring break begins. A time to get away from the ordinary daily scheduled life and make new memories as family. I've debated my next move. I've thought a lot about what I should do.  This year is going to be different. It's hard to write these words, but this is the first spring break vacation that is not a stay-cation at home or a visit to my parents' home. Our days away will be full and busy and exhaus...

The March Slice of Life Story Challenge hosted  at the  Two Writing Teachers . Join us for a month of writing! __________________________________________________ Counting down the days Excited about the trip to come Less than a week to go ... Squeezing in the usual daily tasks Life at school and at home Along with sorting, piling, packing ... Six days to go ... laundry and more laundry Five days to go ... pulling out possibilities Four days to go ... packing, packing, packing Three days to go ... unpacking and repacking...

Slice of Life  hosted  at the  Two Writing Teachers My Mom , my girls, and I took a little road trip during our vacation -- Two hours in the car through the hills and valleys of Arkansas over the state line into Missouri.  We landed ourselves in Branson -- the "Puts the show in show me state" town.  All sorts of attractions to see and places to go, but we were there for only one reason.  (Well, actually, two -- the first stop was at the winery.) The other attraction was to meet with the ONE, the ONLY, real-life slicer and comment extraordinaire ... elsie ! Yes, Elsie in real life! (I know some of you recently connected with her and many others are wishing it was you!) I wasn't nervous about meeting Elsie because one knows through her stories, her words, and her comments that she is quite possibly the sweetest person on earth.  She...

Slice of Life  hosted  at the  Two Writing Teachers A planned road trip can be fun. A planned road trip with three year olds . . . can be quite amusing, very entertaining, and also fun! It's a long 575 miles from Illinois to Arkansas. Not once did we hear (use your best whiny voice), "Are we there yet?" However, we did hear: "I dropped my book." "I want to watch Nemo." "Can I have another book?" "Look at that over there." "What's that over there?" "Where's the Jeep?" "I saw a horse." And interspersed were many sleepy moments of peace and quiet and staring out the window as the low fields of Illinois passed us by, and the beautiful countryside of Missouri, and the rolling hills of Arkansas. These three year olds? They did an AMAZING job traveling.  Only a couple times did w...