Breakfast at the Beach
We joined a couple other families for breakfast at a nearby beach one Saturday. (A little neighbor friend decided that's how she wanted to celebrate her birthday.) Who doesn't love pink frosted donuts and fruit salad followed by beach time with friends?

Movie Making Magic!
We've been learning a lot about how movies are made over the past couple of months.

Last month we responded to a local casting call for families to be extras for a major motion picture. While waiting in line to get our picture taken, one of the casting staff spotted us and asked if Brian and the girls would be willing to come back to audition for named speaking parts! The girls were a bit nervous, but definitely up for it. They got to see what a few scenes of a movie script are like, and go downtown for one-on-one auditions with one of the casting staff. They actually had a blast! The staffer said they did a great job, but it doesn't look like any body got a part. Such a cool experience though!

Next, after watching the live-action Hobbit trilogy (they recently finished reading the book with Daddy), they were very curious about what goes into creating such an epic fantasy movie--motion capture, effects with a green screen, stunts and stunt doubles, make up, costumes, etc. The special features DVDs have not disappointed! The girls also declared that if we ever get to visit New Zealand, we absolutely must visit Hobbiton, where the outdoor sets for the movie are still available to tour.

Learning about all the CGI stuff in The Hobbit, led us to Pixar in a Box, a collaborative effort of Pixar and Khan Academy. It's a series of lessons that involves videos, quizzes, and activities about all the math, science, art, and storytelling that go into making a computer animated movie. They have been fascinated!

Set and Uno provided this week's mid-afternoon entertainment.

New Music School
I'm thrilled because I found a school less than 10 minutes away that had availability for all three girls in the same afternoon. We have an hour to kill between two of the lessons, so we bring a snack and games to entertain us.

The girls all love their new music teachers here on the island. Bug and her violin teacher hit it off immediately--he's a slightly goofy twenty-something who was also a military brat. He's had her back up a little to strengthen some of her basic skills, but thinks she's definitely up for playing in a recital at the end of October--a prospect she is really excited about!

Lion's teacher is very sweet, and is quickly moving Lion through her last book, so she can get a good feel for Lion's skill level. Most exciting for Lion though is Miss N's willingness to work with her on composition! Lion has one song in the works that needs some serious polishing. Next time Lion's going to show up with a recording of her playing the song and some extra pages of blank sheet music to work with.

The biggest success though is that we've found an awesome drum teacher for Monkey! He's a soft-spoken, laid-back jazz musician, who is totally on board with Monkey's request to learn the full kit and learn how to read music. Mr. M says she's making great progress in just a few lessons, and her enthusiasm is back!

More Fun Things

• It was a perks-of-homeschooling moment: we met up with another homeschooling family and had the neighborhood pool to ourselves on a weekday morning.
• Our church's Wednesday night programming has started up again. We all enjoy the good food and company; the girls have a blast with Bible stories, games, and crafts; and I get to hang out with the infant and toddler set.
• Bug has started a counted cross-stitch project (a flower and butterfly scene) that she's very excited about and ought to keep her busy for a while.
• The oncoming tropical storm meant we sheltered in place, and invited another homeschool family over to play boardgames. Good times!