Amy Scott's Thoughts

There might be more nature and food pictures in this blog post than people pictures! It’s been a fun couple of weeks and I’m excited to share the highlights with you. Let’s start with our last family field trip. It was an extra special one for me. I spent a good part of my childhood years in Woodland, WA. I remember visiting the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens many times. I especially remember touring the historic farm house as a child. (I have a thing for touring old houses; I love them!) It’s been on my field trip list for years to visit these gardens as family. I was so excited when our calendar lined up with the Lilac Days and we could finally make it happen! The gardens smelled amazing. I had forgotten how fragrant lilacs are. We explored every inch of the gardens before waiting in line to tour the house. The house will filled with historic and time-period appropriate lilac décor. Our final stop was the plant sale where Owen purchased his very own lilac. We all agreed that the Sensation variety was one of our favorites. We’ll see if it survives and thrives in our little corner of the world.

After the lilac gardens was book club for me and preparing to be out of town yet again in April. Jeremy and I attend Network Conference in Coeur d’Alene, ID with our pastoral team every year. We gather with churches from around Washington state and northern Idaho. The content is always top notch and it’s a great time to connect as a team and also with friends around our network. The main focus of this conference is also the eating. We are always discussing our next meal. I enjoy the break from cooking and our team appreciates good food. Another highlight of the week away was going to see Project Hail Mary in the theaters. I read the book at the request of a friend and we were supposed to see the movie together. Unfornately, sickness derailed our movie plans and I thought I’d missed my chance to see the movie in theaters. Jeremy and I shared our plans to see the movie on the final night of the conference and most of the staff joined us. So fun! (For those that are wondering, I thought they did a good job of translating the book into a movie.)

We came home from conference and poured ourselves into projects around the house. Jeremy spent most of Friday and Saturday in our yard. He cleared our new fire pit spot and laid down two loads of gravel. The boys helped him. It was fun to watch them all working together. This project isn’t quite complete yet, so I’ll save photos for later. My projects were indoor this weekend. I had lots of laundry to do after our travels. The boys spent the week with Nana and Papa at their house. I had a lot of laundry to catch up on. The travel laundry also corresponded with my bedding washing schedule. My laundry room saw a lot of action this weekend! While I was waiting on loads of laundry, I typed up my school record notes. Every year I create documents that list what curriculum we used, what extracurriculars we joined, what field trips we took, and what books each boy read. All of these notes help document our 180 days of school. As I work to tie up all the loose ends of this school, I’ve also made our complete summer school plan. It’s now all written down in our official record planner. It feels good have these projects tackled! Hooray!

The last adventure to share was more hiking in our local state parks! We’ve been putting our Discover Pass to good use! In April, we made to Ike Kinswa State Park. This month, we hiked at Lewis and Clark State Park. The next park we hope to visit is Seaquest State Park. We’ve been meeting up with friends to make the adventures extra fun. The trails at Lewis and Clark wander through a lovely old growth forest. At the front of the park is a stream that the kids could have spent hours in. I drove home with wet, muddy, and happy kids! I love that we get to enjoy nature like this right down the road from our house!

Last week and this week are my “normal” weeks in the middle of an out-of-the-ordinary month! I’m enjoying the relaxed pace and having our routine back. It’s also nice to be on the other side of sickness. I finally feel like I have my energy back and I can keep up with life again. I’m so happy! Hooray!

One of the first projects I tackled with my renewed energy was a copycat Bo Berry Biscuit recipe. I enjoyed these biscuits when I visited South Carolina in January. Sadly, Bojangles is not a PNW chain. I’ve been daydreaming about Bo Berry Biscuits and the only option was to make them myself. I chose an extremely easy recipe which led to so-so results. The flavor was great, but the texture and appearance were lacking. I ended up making this batch more of a drop biscuit style and next time I plan to shape them so the appearance is less rustic. I also plan to add another leavening agent to make them fluffier. Overall, the flavor was what I remembered. Between flavor, texture, and appearance, my opinion is flavor matters most. Time to experiment and see if I can perfect the recipe! Stay tuned!

We finally made it the Washington State History Museum! We opted to go on the third Thursday of the month. For this monthly event, the museum stays open late into the evening and offers free admission. I was concerned that free admission would make for a crowded experience, but thankfully, I was wrong. Going during the day might have been more crowded since the museum is a popular location for school field trips. I would rather visit with a quiet group of adults then a rowdy school field trip. It was a definite win! We enjoyed the new Native American exhibit and the information on Washington’s geology and global exports. This field trip was a great addition to the Washington State History unit we’ve been working on this school year. After the museum, we enjoyed dessert at The Cheesecake Factory before the late ride home. It was a big day, but a fun one!

The weather is starting change which means nicer days and less time for board games. We’ve switched to playing quicker cards when we want to pull off a family game night. Owen got Wild, Wild, Taco in his Easter basket and Graham got Uno Teams (We now own 12 versions of Uno. Yikes!). We used new decks of cards from Christmas to play War last night. We have still yet to unbox Jeremy’s birthday present – an expansion to Heat, a race car board game. Time just keeps getting away from us. Card games seem to be the easy win right now.

This weekend was full of spring cleaning and house projects. We had a work party on Saturday to help my parents tidy up their beach house after a season of construction. We also did lots of work and cleaning around our own house as well. The sun was out all weekend and it was the ideal weather to get things done. I cleaned and did laundry inside while Jeremy tackled the outdoors. One of his final projects was building a new fire pit on Sunday afternoon. He pulled out the red chairs he bought last year and the backyard looked quite picturesque. We grabbed smores supplies and had the first backyard fire in the new pit. I’m sure we will have many more as we cultivate this part of our yard moving into the summer months.

The final adventure to highlight was hiking with friends at Ike Kinswa State Park. This beautiful park is right by Mayfield Lake and the hiking trail wanders above the Tilton River. The boys loved adventuring with friends. I loved catching up with my mom friend and her daughters. Lots of rocks were tossed into the water and many nature photos were taken. It was lovely weather and a wonderful day to be outside enjoying nature with friends. The PNW is a fantastic place to explore. I’m thankful that adventures like these are nearby!

Our final February field trip was to the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA. The boys are currently taking an art class, so an arty field trip felt like a fun direction to go. Their art class won’t cover glass as a medium. It was neat to show them art that goes beyond a page or a canvas. I’ve been be pondering a visit to the Museum of Glass for a few years. Every time I’d mention it, someone would comment on me bring brave. Apparently, taking young boys into a space filled with glass sounded risky. Thankfully, nothing was broken by our family visit. We started our time at the museum watching the artists work in the Hot Shop. We peaked in a couple times to see their progress. It was fascinating to watch them work with the malleable, super-heated glass. We enjoyed the museum’s collection of kid-inspired creations. There were lots of silly, colorful, child-like pieces to discover. We liked the nature inspired pieces as well. It was an out-of-the-box field trip for us. I’m glad we were brave enough to risk it!

Last week was a super social one for our family. As an introvert, I like to spread my social commitments out over the month with breaks in-between. Occasionally a month’s worth of socializing happens in one week. Last week was one of those weeks. On Monday, Graham had a dentist appointment. It was a quick filling (with no anesthetic, praise the Lord). We chatted with a friend from church while we waited. Tuesday, we had friends over to hang out. Jeremy and the boys had cleared the trails in the woods over the weekend. The boys spent the majority of Tuesday afternoon running through the woods with friends. I love these wild and free moments for them! Also, outdoor kids make indoor conversations easier. I love catching up with friends while my boys enjoy their friends as well.

Wednesday, I had a farewell dinner with my forever friend, Christa. She’s been preparing for a big move from the PNW to the south for months now. Our final dinner together was a good time. It was certainly bittersweet. I will miss getting together with her in-person every few months. She didn’t live right around the corner, but she was close enough to feel like she was just up the road. Now she’ll be across the country! Our friendship has survived long distance before and it will be able to do it again. Thanks to technology, we remain as close as ever. We also have a movie date planned for November. Knowing I will see her again in 2026 is easing my sorrow a bit.

Thursday was a super full day! We had our art class in the morning before meeting up with friends at the park in the afternoon. We packed bikes and scooters for the outing. It was a fun afternoon of exercise and activity. The kids biked, scootered, ran, and played while the moms walked and talked. Walking and talking is one of my favorite combination of activities! We came home pleasantly exhausted. I had a quiet evening to recover while the boys went to piano lessons. We don’t usually have three different activities in one day. The kids were a little shocked when I gave them the plan for the day. Thankfully, their stamina held out and fun was had by one and all.

Friday, the boys got a down day at home while I met up with a friend for lunch. We played quite a few games over the weekend. We enjoyed game time on Friday as family and then went over to play games with Nana and Papa on Saturday. We concluded the weekend with a black light mini-golf birthday party for friends. Wow! I’m tired after relaying all that we’ve done in the last week. Daylight savings certainly hasn’t helped us recover. This week has more margin built into the scheduled. We need it. Okay, I’ve need it. I joked with Jeremy that my voice is tired. So much talking! I loved each minute… But now, I need quiet. I need stillness. A lot has been shared and a lot has been processed. I need space to sort all these things in my head and my heart. I’m definitely grateful for the ebb and flow of the calendar. These slower moments are just as important as the busy ones!

We’ve been homeschooling for years and I get the occasional inquiry about our educational philosophy and social calendar. There is still the belief that homeschoolers are just hiding at home away from the world. This couldn’t be further from the truth with our homeschool experience. I’m continually amazed we get to do this homeschool life together as a family. It’s been such a wonderful opportunity. Our life is anything but boring!

While I was visiting the Carolinas, homeschooling with Dad was an adventure! Jeremy and the boys went to Top Golf, which I totally count as a field trip. The boys helped Jeremy at work with a community service project. They also played many board and card games, worked on their piano lessons, and made cinnamon rolls with Nana and Papa. All these activities have educational value! I love that they get to learn in community and out in the world. It’s a rich and rewarding way to do school. Jeremy also had them pull out their school books and work at the table. We didn’t want to get too behind in our curriculum. I was so thankful Jeremy put on his Homeschool Dad hat on while I was out-of-town. It’s fun to mix-up the routine!

Homeschooling right now looks like meeting up with friends at the library for Lego Club. It’s a visit to the Lewis County Historical Museum with friends for a Washington State history field trip. It’s learning a new way to play the piano with Nana. It’s weekly art lessons with other homeschoolers (the fridge now displays beautiful hand-drawn hummingbirds and silly faces). It’s making a tide pool display in science. It’s reading On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder out loud while snuggled up on the couch with blankets. These are the days I will look back on and remember fondly (I hope my boys will too). Homeschooling has been such a gift.

We still have plenty of time around the house. We don’t live at a fast pace. We have mornings at the table doing book work and afternoons to either rest or adventure. We regularly spend time with friends, family, and our church. I had no idea when we decided to take the plunge to homeschool in 2021 that it would be this good. I’m just so grateful! These are lovely days. I’m glad I get to walk them alongside my family, together!

P.S. This post was an ode to homeschooling and all that I’m loving about it right now. I realize that this is a personal decision that works well for our family. I am in no way saying it is the right and only way to educate and raise children. Just sharing my real-life, lived-in experience and the joy that it brings.

I should briefly explain how I view Red Cup Day. Originally, Red Cup Day was the day that Starbucks debuted their holiday cups. They also added free reusable red cups to that day many years ago. Then they separated the dates between the holiday cup launch and the reusable red cup giveaway day. Now Starbucks refers to Red Cup Day as the day they give reusable cups away, but I still view it as the day they decorate the store and start using holiday cups. Essentially, I celebrate two Red Cup Days. The first, I make the most fuss over. The second, I send Jeremy as a my acquisitions agent. In the past, we got reusable cups for our whole family and were quickly overrun with too many plastic cups. Now we just collect one reusable cup a year. Much more manageable. Reusable Red Cup Day is tomorrow. My version of the real Red Cup Day happened last Thursday. Make sense? Great!

Last Thursday our family was up and out of the house early. I was excited to make it to Starbucks for my first red cup of the season. I save my favorite peppermint hot chocolates for only when red cups are in stock. It’s a seasonal treat I savor – along with cranberry bliss bars. YUM! Starbucks sees a lot of business from me in November and December (the rest of the year, not so much). I’ve celebrated Red Cup Day for over a decade. It’s a tradition! It’s a holiday! It’s a big deal! I’ve passed that legacy on to my kids as well. We enjoyed our seasonal treats together as a family as a start to our weekend away. Red Cup Day 2025 did not disappoint!

We postponed a trip to the Long Beach Peninsula to this last weekend. We tried to go in October for the cranberry harvest, but wild weather and sniffles changed our plans. Thursday was a blustery, stormy day at the beach. There were also king tides happening which made the ocean rough and wild! It was an intense and impressive sight to see those huge waves exploding along the coastal cliffs. We studied king tides (also known as spring tides) in science this year. It’s one thing to read about them, but it’s a whole other thing to experience them in real life. We kept a safe distance and we were in awe of the power of the ocean! We observed the tides from Cape Disappointment State Park and the Oysterville approach. It was so crazy to see no beach, just waves up to the sand dunes. Eventually, we left the wind and waves behind to hunker down at my parent’s beach house. We were all snuggly warm with books and games while the wind whipped around the house! Stormy beach days were a new experience for us!

Friday the storm cleared out, but the waves were still super high. The boys were able to get a beach walk in during low tide, though. After a morning walk, we visited the Cranberry Museum. We learned about the local cranberry businesses, how they harvest cranberries, and the many health benefits of cranberries. The boys did a scavenger hunt and each received a pouch of craisins as a prize for completing it. We walked around the cranberry bogs by the museum and we sampled many cranberry treats. I loved the cranberry ice cream and Jeremy loved the cranberry fruitlets from Liberty Orchards. Owen, Jeremy, and I tried plain cranberries at the insistence of the museum employee. We all agreed that cranberries on their own are super tart. They also make a really cool popping sound when you bite down on them. I didn’t know that! I love learning new things alongside my kids! We hope to catch the cranberry harvest in action next October.

We went back to Cape Disappointment State Park Friday afternoon. There is so much to do there! We watched the king tides from the North Head Lighthouse. We explored Fort Canby and did a scavenger hunt at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. The kids got bookmarks for completing it. It was a scavenger hunt day! We went back to down to our spot from the day before at Waikiki Beach. This was the best place to watch the king tides. Such a neat experience! It’s been fun finding things to do around the Long Beach Peninsula with each visit. We hope to go clamming on a future trip. The high tides didn’t work in our favor for clamming this time. We also hope to explore Fort Columbia. We are making a to-do list for next time!

We wrapped up our adventures with a Friday night swim at Dunes Bible Camp and a stop at Scoopers Ice Cream on our way out town on Saturday! We had plenty of to adventure time together and we also enjoyed a lot of cozy, down time around the beach house. It was a great mix of activity and rest. After the stormy beginning of trip, the weather changed to sunny and almost 60 degrees. It almost felt like summer! We had a fantastic trip and our family is looking forward to making more beach memories with future visits.