Life at 10,000 feet is not as bad as it sounds.  Breckenridge is a walkable town.  It very quaint with lots of little shops, cafe’s and museums depicting life in the mountainous frontier.  There are historical miner cabins everywhere.  It has been quiet and fun.

The boys ski four days a week – twice with a group and twice with an instructor.  They are doing great and really enjoying it.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays we spend all day covering all the basics — math, grammar, history, literature, Spanish, spelling and typing.  They also do a few pages of journal each week.

Thomas has read amazing books this school year for his online literature class: Call of the Wild, Kidnapped, The Yearling, A Christmas Carol, Around the World in 80 Days, The Jungle Book.  He is now reading Little Women, which he is beginning to like now, well into Chapter 6.  It seems the class has given him a good perspective on life in various parts of the world in the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s.  It has been fascinating watching him thoroughly enjoy historical fiction.

Gabo’s online lit class is a little easier.  He has read four books including The Chocolate Factory and Mary Poppins.  He is now reading The Hobbit and loving it.  As opposed to Thomas who has to answer a ton of comprehension questions and do quite a bit of writing for his class, Gabo has to do story boards and dioramas.

Math is going great.  They are both very good at it, so I have taken to giving them 3 -4 lessons daily, as long as they master the exercises.

We are also enjoying history quite a bit, with a lot of independent reading.  We have finally gotten to early American History and are learning all about the French and Indian Wars, the different Indian tribes and colonial America.

A few days ago we studied a little poetry, and they asked to read The Raven.  Turns out we ran into a huge Raven on Peak 7 who kept yakking back at us while we were skiing.  They had heard about the poen from a Simpson’s Halloween episode.

So we took a detour from grammar, and delved into The Raven, which was amazing.  We read all about Poe, and the many literary references in the poem.  We read about Lenore, and the variety of symbols he uses to set the mood.  We found an interactive site which highlighted many of these literary devices in various colors.  Then we watched the Simpsons’ episode, which was very funny and remarkably true to the original poem.  I have to admit it was one of my favorite homeschooling moments — they directed the whole experience and we were all learning so much.

When they get everything done I let them go out into town by themselves, which is a HUGE deal.  (For both of us!)  They love walking around town and running into people they know.  They seem to be quite popular on the mountain — they know all the ski patrol people, most of the instructors, and all the locals.  Whenever I run into them at lunch they are surrounded by people.  Sometimes when I’m on the chairlift I’ll hear someone scream – “Gabo!”

They seem to have befriended many of the local shopkeepers, and most of the shopkeepers dogs.  They even are allowed to walk certain dogs around the block.

At night, if it’s not too late, we curl up in the tiny living room and watch either Stargate or Chuck, a new show we have been following.  They love it.

We love life here.  It’s simple.  We all have three outfits and very little stuff.  Mom does a lot of cooking.  I made Captain Crunch French Toast today, with plenty of fresh strawberries and blueberries and whipped cream.

When we finally put them to bed, I am reading a few great books.  The surprise hit is a book about Richard J. Daley called American Pharaoh.  It is extremely well written and very interesting, with lots of background stories about his upbringing and the Chicago Democratic political machine in all its machinations.  I’ve also decided to leap forward a few years from the Founders and tackle the Civil War.  I found a book of 12 essays called Struggle for a Vast Future which has proven a good start.  Each essay is by a different historian and covers a different aspect of the war – from leadership, to soldiers, to espionage, military tactics – it’s been fascinating.  Of course I also have Sarah Palin’s book, which I am sure will be a little lighter than these, and a few others.  Rounding out my limited mountain library are two books about christianity and Funny in Farsi, about an Iranian woman’s experiences in American culture. My sister Juli thought I’d get a kick out of it as she thought about me when she read it.

Tio Juan Carlos is undergoing surgery in Argentina today.  He has prostate cancer and I am awaiting news from my mom who went down to take care of him.  Also, we are praying for our dear friend Miss Jeanne in Florida, who has developed severe back and leg pain and they have not been able to figure out why.  Rounding out our prayers is securing a husband for Miss Jo, our dear Breckenridge friend who has had trouble with immigration after having lived here in the winter for the past 15 years.

Living on a very tight budget can be extremely rewarding…  Really I think the key is plenty of comfort food, a close family, good books, a nice view, a fun kitty and good hiking boots.  Oh, and a fast internet connection!

If you walk into the Cracker Barrel still wearing your neck pillow…

In an attempt to keep up with our fast and furious descent from Superpower status, here’s the headline just prior to Obama’s historic trip to China (some joke to visit our money!).

China Criticizes U.S. Financial Management During Obama Visit

by

Wall Street Journal

Regulator says U.S. policy puts global recovery at risk as Obama arrives in Beijing.

So in the past few months, Russia has praised Obama’s decision to abandon the missile defense shield in Poland, and now China is chastising the handling of our economy.  Really?

Also this week, Attorney General Holder (with full support from the White House) decides to bring the 9/11 terrorist mastermind KSM to New York to stand trial in a civilian court.  The main reason stated for this (as opposed to a closed trial in the military courts) is so that the world can witness what a great system we have here — what a fair and just justice system — where even the most hated terrorist in the world, who openly admits to the massacre and to beheading Daniel Pearl, can go through a fair trial.

I will never understand the constant need to justify ourselves to the world.  Have we really looked at who we are trying to impress here?  Did we not originally come here as an attempt to leave all those other “civilizations” behind and start anew? Did we not become the most innovative and free country in a mere 100 years by shunning the old corrupt empire regime ways and creating a new form of government that attempted to be more equitable; that guaranteed certain freedoms from the start (with a few kinks, of course, which are still working themselves out…)

Are not immigrants from around the world still coming here in search of realizing their full potential?  A better life for their families?  More opportunities?  More freedom and security?

We do have a lot of serious issues in this country that need to be addressed.  However, I increasingly feel our leaders are deliberately creating so many new problems so fast and not addressing the fundamentals to improve everyone’s quality of life.

As if all this was not bad enough, on 11/5, we suffered the second worst islamist terrorist attack, in the form of a horrific shooting at Ft. Hood, the largest army base in the world.  13 people are dead and about 40+ wounded.  The gunman was some army doctor turned islamic terrorist who decided to kill as many as possible while shouting praise to Allah!

In yet another sign that we are turning into a third world country, more and more vendors are holding our dollar bills up into the air and checking for signs of counterfeit currency.  This is standard procedure in Latin America, but I have never seen it here to the degree that it is happening now!

So the kids heard me make an appointment with the pediatrician to get them vaccinated for H1N1.  There were loud protests.  Thomas stated that he refuses to get any vaccine that has not been tested for at least three years.  “I don’t want to turn into a wetland-challenged mutant with a piggy nose!” he cried.

Yesterday my daughter Britney told us that one of her employees at Starbucks who is also going to school asked if she could fire him because Obama extended unemployment benefits for another six months and if he could just get fired today that would be enough time and money for him to finish school and not have to work!

When she explained she could not fire him without cause, he seemed disappointed but showed up 15 minutes late the next day.  I guess he will try to get fired somehow so he can collect his Obama money.

Wow!  I can’t conceive of anyone buying anything for $1.3 trillion.  I can’t even imagine $1.3 trillion.  America’s leadership has just managed to spend that much in one single 15 minute vote.  They voted on a piece of legislation over 2,000 pages long they call healthcare reform.  The promised goals are to insure all Americans, lower healthcare premiums and costs for those currently insured, ensure that people cannot lose their coverage if they get sick and that those with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied coverage.  To do that, they find it necessary to create a massive new government bureaucracy to manage all aspects of this ambitious agenda.  It is mind boggling, truly.  They say that we will begin funding this gargantuan effort immediately but will not see a system in place for the next five years.  Where will the money come from?  We are already in debt, and many of our biggest companies and banking institutions are on life support with federal money propping it up.  Unemployment reached 10.2% yesterday.  Small businesses still can’t access credit to expand, or stay above water for that matter.

Would it not be cheaper to just cut anyone who wants health insurance a check which they can spend in any policy they want?  If they want?  Could we not expand and fund some of the entitlements we already have in place at both the federal and local levels to cover people that cannot afford healthcare?  Can we not try to deregulate the industry so more companies can compete across state lines?  Get the insurance agencies to compete fro your business, like those online banking commercials?

Whether they even come close to getting any of the results they promise with this bill is of no consequence, because they have already perfected the lines to defend their out-of-control spending spree — “Things would have been worse had we done nothing,” they’ll argue.  So remember, when your healthcare costs continue to rise over the next few years, and you wonder why, they’ll let you know that you would be paying even more had healthcare reform not been passed in the historic vote of 2009.  When you lose your job and cannot get another one, they’ll remind you that were it not for the fact that they extended unemployment benefits, you would be in worse shape. When unemployment continues to rise in the next few months, they’ll gloat that we are losing less jobs per month than we were when the recession began.

Unless people start getting more involved and angry about this massive power grab by government, we will continue to become more and more like Argentina – where the most corrupt hold all the cards and all the people can do is complain and fend for themselves.  When faith in government and its institutions erodes, it affects everything – from people’s morale to their everyday choices.  Social infrastructure begins to crumble, lack of respect for authority of any kind becomes commonplace, crime increases, and opportunities for prosperity begin to dwindle.  The line between right and wrong becomes ever more confusing, cheating of every kind becomes more commonplace, and people become more focused on money.  Where I come from, people try to supplement their income any way they can.  It is very common to be on some kind of government aid while working for cash, trading services, or taking money under the table in various ways.  This is particularly true of government workers at every level.  There is more mistrust, and more pre-payment demands for goods and services.  Credit becomes more expensive.  And political change is much harder to achieve. Once the machine is in place, it is is almost impossible to move.

They were noble ideals, the ones on which this country is founded.  Unfortunately, probably unsustainable in the long run, as the country grew, and the publicly educated masses become more interested in the immediacy of life in general than the long-term repercussions of their actions and their votes.

Brace yourself, America.  It’s gonna be a rough ride.