The Jolliff Family

The three older boys had their first day of school this week.   Sam is entering the 8th grade and will go to school 2 days in the classroom. Andrew is starting 6th grade.  He will attend classes 4 days a week. And Jacob will also attend in classroom learning 4 days a week in the 4th grade. Everyone had great 1st days and a good week of school.  I pray that school remains open and they can keep going and learning.

 We decided to do something a little different for Jacob's birthday and to get away for a night.  We loaded up yesterday and headed to a nearby camp for the night.  The evening weather was beautiful and the sunrise so peaceful. Finding roly-polys is just one benefit of camping out. Two tents all set up and ready for the night.  Jacob, Andrew, and myself slept in one tent and Hap, Abigail, Abram, and Sam in the other tent.   This morning, we got up and ate some breakfast I had packed and played baseball most of the morning.  I actually didn't take any pictures of the batting practice but everyone had fun and ended up super HOT. Which made the swimming pool super refreshing.  We were the only ones in the pool and it was wonderful! After eating lunch and a bit more swimming, we headed home to celebrate Jacob some more! Jacob is 9 and it's hard to believe! Jacob is full of life and enthusiasm for things he loves.  Jacob continues to love panda-bears. ...

We finally made it to the beach and the sandy mess was totally worth the fun, relaxation, and time together!!  It was the best day!!  Sam and Andrew Abigail Jacob Abram, with big sister jumping on! The beach was good for all of us!!  

This morning we ventured to a football field that is near a old village called Deir Yassin.  This village was invaded in 1948 and left over 100 people massacred.  They say about half of the village remains while the other half was destroyed.  You can do a quick google search for more information but the older boys have learned about this village and I have been wanting to hike up to it for some time.  Sam and Hap stayed at the football field to play some ball while the rest of us hiked up to the village.   Andrew was our fearless leader for the trip and everyone did well with the journey, we just should have brought some water! Lots of weeds and sunshine! It's nice because the trail was marked going down and since we came and went down the mountain two different ways, this helped. The backdrop of the new city against these old buildings is such a paradox.  Kids were afraid they heard hyenas laughing in this particular building and were checking it out. ...