Window Stars and Origami

We have taken a sudden interest in paper art.  Loving the window stars especially.

Happy Halloween

Grand Marais Day 1- Happy

{Just arriving at our campsite}


{Setting up}


{Exploring}


{My love affair with photographing mushrooms begins}




{Our site 37e- Private and beautiful}


{Hiking to the falls}








{Nora helped me discover many mushrooms and informed on their "names" as well as which fairies live there.  "And this one is called a pelican sunrise."}


















{Campfire dinner.  Roasted hot dogs, soup and smores.}

After the kids were asleep Ryan and I sat up repeating various versions of I think this camper was the best decision we ever made! Then we daydreamed about our next big trip before watching an episode of "Detectorists" and falling asleep.  Happiness.

A Nora Date

Nora (who is having a little trouble with mama being gone on occasion for my internship or a class) has learned that what she needs more of in her life are dates.  Recently she shared with the family that she had a date planned for her and I to go eat treats together.  Both Jackson and Grace looked at each other and said, wait, does she really just get to plan a date and have it happen?  Yes, apparently she does.  This one to French Meadow.


{Peanut butter brownie gets the thumbs up}

October Days

Farm School

Nora and I had our last day of farm school last week.  Oh how we love farm school.  Every week beginning the day after farm school Nora would to ask if tomorrow we have farm school.  We gave the animals extra hugs and snuggles last Tuesday and promised to return again in the spring.

{Also I back tracked our first field trip tonight}

Stone Soup

Always one of my favorite days with our homeschool group.
{Sept. 20th}

Hello

I've left this space before for a period of time but never for this long. A lot as happened in 5 months.  As much as I wish I had the record of our lives here, the time away was needed and good for me.  I have been a bit of a lost soul as of late. But now I am starting to feel like I'm emerging (not sure from what yet) and I'm ready to be back.  I miss this little record of my life.  It makes me happy.  I kept wondering how I would return (would I try and go back and post about all we'd done?  Just skip over it?) and then I decided to figure that out later.  For now, just this.

Field Trip: The Arboretum

We are studying botany this year and so it only seemed fitting that our first field trip of the year be the arboretum.


{Doing some bark rubbings and leaf collecting}


{Picnic lunch in the "tree house"}


{Playing at their favorite little houses.  Jackson was the wolf hiding in the corner.}


{The four of us visiting my grandma's bench}


{Sketching some flowers}




{Dreaming of all the Dahlias I will plant next year}





They got so into drawing the flowers.  They didn't want to leave even when I told them we might be in traffic.  On the way home I asked what they thought of their first field trip.  Well, they all concluded, trying to be very respectful as they responded (as we had just been talking about this very thing), it was a fun field trip but not the funnest field trip.  I reminded them that most field trips will not be the funnest field trip, in fact technically only one field trip a year could win the funnest field trip award (and yes, I know most people say funnest isn't a word but it turns out it is).  Anyway I told them, you didn't want to go home which means you were engaged in your learning which is how a teacher would measure whether or not it was a successful field trip.

It was good to see my Grandma's bench too.  She's been showing up in my life lately in her tiny magical ways.  Plus visiting her bench means they ask me questions about her and I get to tell them about her.  I love that.