5 Field Trips I'll Never Go On

There are just some places in the United States that I have ZERO...some even less than zero...desire to go see and "experience".

1) San Francisco
2) Chicago
3) New York City
4) Las Vegas...I've been but don't want to go back.
5) Miami

Now tell me, why would I want to visit any of those places when there are so many AMAZING destinations??

My top 5 places I can't wait to visit/revisit:

1) Jamestown Settlement in Virginia
2) Branson
3) Renaissance Festival (we go every year and L.O.V.E. it!)
4) Yellowstone
5) toss up between the cities of American history (sites of civil war battles, Philly, Boston, etc)

Honestly, there are only so many "field trips" that one family can feasible go on. We must discern between mediocrity and greatness. Sure all of my "no-go" cities have great food and picturesque sites (well maybe not Chicago) but who wants that when you get so much garbage with it?

One of the many benefits of homeschooling is protecting your children's young eyes from the glaring sin in the world today. It's not possible, nor advisable, to shelter your children from all evil all the time. Certainly one would agree though that explaining practical nudity (Las Vegas, Miami) and homosexuality (San Francisco) to a 3 year old is ridiculous.

A former pastor of ours said something that has always remained in the forefront of my mind:
"Sometimes you have to say no to the good things, so you can say yes to the really good."

Of course, we don't know at the time we choose to say no that right around the corner is something spectacular. God is always testing our faithfulness to his Word.

EDIT: Einstein just reminded me that I have been to Chicago...not even 3 years ago. Wow. That is really sad that I couldn't remember that. Oh well, he also reminded me that I did in fact enjoy the food and shopping.

Field Trip: Farm

Recently we started drinking goat's milk after we finally faced the fact that Jack Jalapeno is sensitive to pasteurized cow's milk. We had a feeling but when it got worse the more he had, we knew.

Thankfully, we found a sweet young family with 2 extra gallons of goat milk we could buy each week. The kids loved the tour of the "farm": mingling with goats, petting an hours old chick, visiting a whole bunch of chickens and riding a horse.

It was definitely a day to remember for them.

The next day we drove 1 1/2 hours to a ranch to purchase a 1/4 cow. Sort of a sample pack to see if we like their meat. Really though there isn't any chance we won't like meat from 100% grass fed, no antibiotic, no hormone cows!

While visiting the Shudde Ranch the kids got to feed the chickens and horse while sweating profusely in the 100+ heat. Ugh! It was miserable and fun at the same time.

We took the scenic route home from Shudde Ranch and saw the most amazing views! We are truly blessed to live in the Hill Country!!