For the Kyker clan Wednesdays are just another day of school, reading, and time outside. Today however, is different. Last night Mom announced that tomorrow we would go (along with our friends the Keigley's and the Bursh's) to go visit Sassafras Mountain. Once a month the Keigley's, the Bursh's, and an assortment of other close friends would host a sort of co-op. Today we were asked to join them. Accompanied by an audio book we embarked on our maiden voyage to the highest point in South Carolina. Sadly, the night before, a huge rain storm ran through and the mountain was covered in a big blanket of fog. I think I would have taken many a picture, but since the view was shrouded in fog, I resisted. However mom was able to a picture of our rambunctious group of children.  

As you might be able to tell by the picture, rain was slowly, but steadily, falling. Soon it got so bad that the mom's decided that it would be best to take the class elsewhere. After a tedious talk between the parents, (which didn't take long, due to the rain) they decided that the best course of action would be to go to the Keigley's house and finish the lesson there. So that's what we did. Packed up our wet clothes and headed home. But right before I was able to catch a glimpse of a massive hornets nest.

I don't think you can tell by the picture but it was swarming with angry-looking hornets. With great sorrow, I watched as the rain came down harder and faster as we entered Greenville. When we eventually got to the Keigley household, I was met with two of their dogs jumping up and down in front of me. If you were to walk into the dining room five minutes later, you would be met with thirteen kids bending over their work, as they struggled to produce an accurate sketch of a Sassafras leaf. With the Sassafras plant being edible, I think that more leaves were being consumed than being used as drawing props.

When our work was finished, London, Caroline, Mosely and I played a board game until it was time leave. For those of you that think going to Sassafras Mountain would be fun, I do highly recommend it. Although the drive is rather long, once you get there you want remember the drive. 

Last night, Dad, Travis, Caroline and I crept around the house like little elves while we decorated for my Mom's birthday. Travis and I hung up some banners while Dad and Caroline made a chocolate espresso cake. Since Monday is a holiday, Mom gets the privilege of having Dad on her birthday. A few days ago when I realized that it was, in fact, a holiday and Dad would be here supporting Mom, I was greatly pleased.

  
When we finished the job, we carefully (without disturbing the sleepers) crept upstairs and climbed into bed.

Today, after our wonderful meal and present opening, we got ready and headed for Asheville, NC. When arriving at our destination I realized that Downtown Asheville was pretty similar to our Downtown Greenville. One thing cool that Asheville has is plenty of restaurants. Besides places to eat, Asheville has a pretty cool park located in the very center. In the park it has about twenty different chess boards and plenty of chairs to boot. I think the idea is to bring some chess pieces of your own and play in the park. Asheville also had many of street performers. While we walked around, we saw magicians, guitarists, and a man painted the color of copper and pretending to be a statue.

After Eli bent down and placed a one dollar bill in the man's hat, the man with drew from his position and smiled warmly in his direction. At this, Eli hid behind mom and wouldn't come out from behind her legs. After several persuasive attempts to get Eli to come out, he gave up and moved back to his daunting pose.

Happy Birthday Mom! and I hope you have many more to come.

Starting August 6, 2015, the first Republican Presidential debate took place in Cleveland, Ohio. The debate was hosted by Fox News and Facebook. There are exactly 17 republicans running for President at this point. In the next couple of posts I will be starring the top seven candidates so far. 

Ted Cruz is a Republican United States Senator for Texas and a chairman of the subcommittee on the Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. He graduated high honors at Princeton University and even larger honors at Harvard Law School. Cruz also successfully made the top 10 candidates for the debate and placed 6th overall. Cruz announced his entry into the running for president while at a rally at Liberty University on March 23, 2015. Cruz is strongly against abortion. He also believes in traditional marriage, but he does believe that the state should have the power to carry out whatever laws they deem legal. Although he was born in Canada, Cruz's mom is a legal US citizen. Ted and his wife Heidi currently live in Houston, Texas with their two daughters Caroline and Catherine.      

                                                                                         
                                                   

Throughout her life, Carly Fiorina has been a best selling author, a well respected public speaker, business commentator, and strategic advisor. In just fifteen years, Fiorina grew from an ordinary employee worker to leading AT&T's spin off company Lucent Technologies. In 1999, she was asked to become Hewlett-Packard's new CEO. In mid October 2006, she released her autobiography "Tough Choices." Six years later, she left HP and started working on charities and non-profit organizations. In November 2014, The Washington Post reported that Fiorina was actively looking into the role as US President. She believed that her experiences in business would give her the winning edge to become the first female in American history to be a United States President.  On August 6th, 2015, Ms. Fiorina failed to qualify for the main debate and was placed in the one that was set three hours earlier. According to almost every news channel around the US, Fiorina blew the other candidates away.     

Donald J. Trump, owner of the multi million dollar company Trump Organizations, lives and works in Manhattan, New York. In 1971 Trump became the CEO for his father's company Elizabeth Trump & Sons. During that year he changed the company's name to Trump Organizations. Trump also appears and hosts many TV shows, but The Apprentice is his most popular. After the show's established success, Trump was payed over three million dollars an episode. He is a real estate worker, television host/star, and author, He is also the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. As far as golf courses go, Trump owns seven. In 2006 he purchased a piece of land that consists of over 1,400 acres in Menie, Scotland. Even now the land is being transformed into a colossal golf course and resort. Trump intends on hosting huge golf tournaments like the The Open Championship . Trump announced his run for presidency in Trump Tower on June 16, 2015. Oddly enough, right before Trump announced he was running for president, former President Bill Clinton spoke with him. Another  suspicious incident involving Trump began with him giving a decent amount of money to Hilary Clinton. I guess you could say that there is nothing wrong with giving a sum of money to people you like, but not when the person you give money to is a democratic candidate.  

References:

1. Wikipedia  2. RealClear Politics

3. www.trump.com  4. carlyforpresident.com

5. The Washington Post  6. www.tedcruz.org 

Last night Caroline had the two of the Keigley kids come over for a sleep over. As a birthday gift for London, the girls enjoyed hanging out together on Tuesday night and then making a big brunch for the siblings and moms this morning. During the cooking process, I enjoyed documenting their work as it progressed. They worked together seamlessly and prepared a lovely and delicious feast.

All summer long we have prepared for the start of school. After a very short summer, the start of school has sprung up without much thought. Really this week everything started happening all at once. We went to Ikea, installed shelves, and had many a meeting discussing the up-coming school term. Mom had originally wanted to start on Tuesday, but a friend had requested earlier that she wished to drop her child off at our house. Since Travis goes to a co-op on Mondays and Wednesdays, Wednesday wouldn't work either. And every Friday we do a different kind of school, so Thursday was the only logical day to start.

Now I can start discussing our very amusing first day of school. After we ate breakfast and did our morning chores, Mom had an unusually long phone call. While we waited for her, I judged an act-it-out game. The game required the contestants to group up into two teams and perform the category I gave them the best. The team that did the best imitation of the category won five points and the round. Afterwards, Mom came downstairs and took our usual start-of-school pictures.

When the picture taking was over with, we started a group session that we call "Convo." After Convo, Mom took the little boys to the library while Caroline and I made lunch for everyone. 

   Finally, a movie that will make kids stop singing "Let it Go" and start reciting quotes from their favorite emotions. Inside Out, rated PG for mild thematic elements and some action, is a fun- filled, kid-friendly movie that is loved by all ages. The film features Riley Andersen and her wildly amusing emotions. The movie stars the voices of Kaitlyn Dias as Riley, Amy Poehler as Joy, Mindy Kaling as Disgust, Lewis Black as Anger, Phyllis Smith as Sadness, and Bill Hader as Fear. The film also stars Kyle Maclachlan and Diane Lane as Riley's parents. It begins with Riley as an infant and Joy (the first emotion made in Riley's mind) inside her head watching over her. With every new thing that Riley learns while growing up, a new emotion pops up into her head. Soon four new emotions have joined Joy up in Headquarters. Within the first few months of her life, Riley can smell Fear lurking in every corner, Joy throughout every inch of her home, Anger at her parents when things aren't fair, Disgust at the food that is served to her, and sometimes, though rarely, deep Sadness. When Riley is 11, her family moves from Minnesota all the way to San Fransisco, California. On her first day of school, Sadness touches one of Riley's very few core memories. When her finger tips touch the memory it rapidly turns from bright gold to a dull blue. All of a sudden, Joy and Sadness are swept away into long term memory. To get back to Headquarters they need to travel through "Dream Productions," Imagination Land," "Memory Dump," and the subconscious. Without joy in her life, Riley turns bitter against everything and everyone she cares about. It's soon up to Joy and Sadness to return to Headquarters and fix everything before it's too late. The movie is really well made, funny, sad, and a major emotion picture that you have to see. Inside Out gives viewers a mind expanding experience while still making it easy to follow. 

Seeing as how school is only three days away, Mom wanted to make some last minute purchases from Ikea. Sadly, the nearest Ikea is in Charlotte, NC. When the little boys found out (for the second year) that they weren't old enough to have a desk in the school room they were pretty bummed out. So, since we were heading to Ikea anyway, Mom thought to surprise them with two new desks. Here are some pictures of while we were there.   

When the idea to make an Ikea commercial came up, I don't think it left our minds until we had finished the editing process on iMovie. Surprisingly enough, the employees that saw us filming the video didn't even try to throw us out of the building. Here it is!