My four year old asked his father on Wednesday afternoon to take off the training wheels on his bike.   Right away he was riding like a pro.  It was amazing.  (My now 8 year old son was the same way; he also learned right away at age 4 and was riding great the very day we removed his training wheels).  Now my 4 (and a half) year old loves to ride his bike up and down the street.  He can look around, he can go fast, he can turn, he can skid to a stop, he can do the Ed Bagley (sp?) bike dismount from the Living with Ed show, and he can even do tricks (like put his feet up on the frame, something we don’t encourage).  It is truly amazing and I cannot believe how easy he makes it all look.  My daughter and I did not learn as quickly.  We both were cautious and needed time and experience on the bike before we felt confident riding.  My little guy just needs someone to hold the bike while he gets his feet in place – and then he is off!  He learned how to do all of this on Earth Day, a great day.  It was a great way to celebrate loving our planet.

My dear hubby just informed me to take a look at the Google website.  Their logo reflects the fact that today is the first day of spring.  The logo looks an awful lot like the hungry caterpillar in Eric Carle’s book of the same name.  It has been a long winter here and I am grateful for the change in season, the return of so many of our songbirds and longer days of sunshine and outdoor play time. 

Happy Spring!

I think these cold temperatures have frozen some of my brain cells.  Right now it is -3F.  It has been cold like this for about four days and I am starting to feel it.  I am trying to get my children and myself outside every day as Charlotte Mason would recommend but it. is. so. cooooold.  I think a warm up is in the near future.  Maybe my brain will thaw and I will be able to come up with something worth writing. 

Until then, I do need to share that my daughter has made great progress in learning how to knit.  She received a Klutz knitting book as a Christmas gift and has already learned how to cast on!  I am so proud of her.  She has been practicing this so much that tonight she told me her wrist was getting sore.

My 8 year old son has been listening to Harry Potter audio CDs and is the chief gardener in the house.  Today we picked up some strawberry seeds at Target’s Dollar Spot and watched the soil ”pellet” magically transform itself before our very eyes!  Now we have three strawberry plants, two pine trees, lots of snow (alyssum), and some herbs growing in our kitchen.  Not bad, eh?

My four year old is studying birds with me.  We have an old bird calendar that has all kinds of bird photos with the bird’s name written below.   He is getting really good at knowing all about the different kinds of woodpeckers.  Charlotte Mason would be so proud!  I know I am. 

Okay, -12 is really cold.  I will not lie.  But on the positive side, our house is warm.  We keep it in the upper 60s most of the day and turn it down a bit at night.  (We would turn the thermostat down even more if it weren’t for our Betta fish.)  So even though it is freezing cold outside; inside we are warm and cozy, for the most part.

I am trying to find ways to be positive about all of this.   I am sure many will find this strange but I am super excited about the new long underwear I ordered yesterday from Hanna Andersson.  I llove Hanna Andersson clothing!  I figured that I deserve soft, high quality long johns as much as my kids and I won’t be outgrowing MY pair so I can justify the expense.  They were on sale this past week and I got a good deal but it wasn’t cheap and I had to pay for shipping, something I hate to do.  But I am glad that I placed the order.  I am super excited about it.  Weird, huh?

We went ice skating yesterday at the park.  Well, the kids and hubby went skating and I hung out there with them.  It was really cold with the wind blowing down on us.  But not as cold as today.  My husband advised against driving to the club today for my yoga workout.  That was not easy for me to give it up.  I get my best workouts on Monday afternoons with Kristina teaching.  I have not done yoga since last Wednesday and I am starting to feel it.  I plan to do SOMETHING tomorrow that is active even if it means walking around my 2000 square foot house for a half hour.

My dear, dear friend Mieko called from Japan tonight.  She is 70 years old and very healthy and energetic.  She was telling me that she runs on her treadmill every day now and walks with a friend outside even in winter for an hour 4 times a week.  I am inspired by her to do more.   If she can do it, so can I!  Maybe. 

We spent the earlier part of this week camping and vacationing on the beautiful shore of Lake Superior.  We tent camped at a site that had a good view of Split Rock Lighthouse and a path leading down to the rocky shoreline.   We hiked and ate wild raspberries along the paths bordering the trails.  We found beautiful Lake Superior agates (a few), Thomsonite stone (we think), and broken pieces of vintage glass that had been “polished” by the rocks and waves on this great lake.   We roasted marshmallows, studied the stars, and saw some beautiful sunrises and sunsets.  We also heard (and maybe saw?) a loon from afar.  We saw a marsh hawk aka northern harrier up close at Hawks Ridge in Duluth and came pretty close to an immature bald eagle.  (Did you know that bald eagles don’t have their white heads until they are about 5 years of age?)

We spent our third night relaxing at an inn on Lake Superior.  Dd and I were able to do some sketching while relaxing on the big rocks on the shoreline and the boys walked all the way to the lighthouses.  We went over the aerial lift bridge a few times, which is always a treat, and spent some glorious moments hanging out on the beach at Park Point before we headed back home. 

The kids and I are still recovering from all the big adventures.  Everyone is a bit exhausted from the early mornings and numerous adventures.  Here are some of our favorite photos from the trip: 

Songs of Innocence-The Schoolboy

by William Blake

I love to rise in a summer morn
When the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the skylark sings with me.
Oh, what sweet company!But to go to school in a summer morn,
Oh! it drives all joy away;
Under a cruel eye outworn
The little ones spend the day
In sighing and dismay.

Ah! then at times I drooping sit,
And spend many an anxious hour;
Nor in my book can I take delight,
Nor sit in learning’s bower,
Worn through with the dreary shower.

How can the bird that is born for joy
Sit in a cage and sing?
How can a child, when fears annoy,
But droop his tender wing,
And forget his youthful spring?

O, father and mother, if buds are nipped
And blossoms blown away,
And if the tender plants are stripped
Of their joy in the springing day,
By sorrow and care’s dismay,

How shall the summer arise in joy,
Or the summer fruits appear?
Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy,
Or bless the mellowing year,
When the blasts of winter appear?

The kids and I have been having a ton of fun outside lately.  We went on a nature bike on Friday morning and spent the rest of the day making bird baths from terra cotta pots.  On our bike ride into the woods, we saw all kinds of cool stuff.  We saw a huge wasp nest along the bike path, then later ran into the woods to check out the “kids’ fort” and scared away at least one antlered deer.  It ran out of the wooded area when W went charging into the tall grasses by the creek.  W also found a very pretty blue and black and white striped feather.

When we came home I started pulling out our assorted collection of terra cotta pots so that the kids could make bird baths.  We saw this idea first on PBS’s Donna’s Day show.  It is a lot of fun, doesn’t cost any money, and keeps the kids busy for hours.  We have been stacking the pots, rearranging them and decorating them for going on three days now.  The children have decorated them with pennies, glass gems and other things we have found in our house.  And the water that we add to the pots to make them look like fountains cools us all down.  At night we have placed candles in the center of the baths, making our own version of ishi-doros (stone lanterns).

I found this on the web to illustrate how some others create these works of art.  My dc have yet to commit to gluing them and painting them.  I think at this stage it is more fun to rearrange and design the pots.  It is kinda like building blocks for the garden.   Here is the site:

  http://patriciaspots.com/birdbathhowto.htm. 

I would love to hear if others enjoy this as much as we have!

The trip to SD was an experience our kids will remember for a long time.  Well, maybe not our youngest, our 3 1/2 yo, but our other children will remember touring a cave for the first time, the Beautiful Rushmore Cave; and seeing the beautiful Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse, among other things.

I am very proud of our children adapting to all the new situations and trying new things, esp. in the area of food.  C did have her moments where she was unwilling to do things that the rest of us wanted to do, things like watching the 20 minute video at Crazy Horse but these were balanced out somewhat with the times she was willing to try new things and go with the flow.  As a matter of fact, it seemed to be a “go with the flow” kind of vacation.   And hopefully the lesson she and the rest of us learned about going with the flow will be remembered for a long time.

Our camping at the Sylvan Lake campgrounds in Custer State Park was one of the highlights of the trip for me.  We hadn’t planned on camping in this particular spot but when a park employee told us that the campsites were “rustic”, our curiosity was piqued.  The campground was everything you would want, full of gorgeous ponderosa pine trees and plenty of privacy.  There was an open area behind our campground where we were able to gather wood for the campfire and do some exploring. 

The park employee that we met on our first night there, Tara, was a wonderful addition to the place.  She was the one who recommended our camp site and we started to rely on her for other recommendations for restaurants in the area and other activities.  And it turned out she knew her food too.  She recommended a place in Custer called the Sage Creek and esp. recommended their carrot cake.  We got it “to go” and it was one of the best carrot cakes I have ever eaten.  I am truly grateful for her presence there.  She helped make the stay so much better. 

The weather was sunny and warm but not too warm during the daylight hours.  At night it did get cold, really cold and that became one of the downsides.  The campground was up in the mountains so it was chilly at night and hence, mommy had no sleep that first night.  This was partly due to needing to share sleeping space with my very active 3 yo and partly due to the fact that our tent was on a sloping hill.  The next day, we were forced to leave this particular campsite because someone had reserved it online.  (The reservation process left something to be desired).  The kids were bummed that we had to leave this wonderful site until … we discovered perhaps an even more beautiful campsite higher up in the campgrounds.  It was gorgeous with lots of ponderosas and even more space and “hills” to explore.  Thus, the beginning of C’s “go with the flow” attitude. 

All the kids were awesome in their fearless touring of the old cave near Mt. Rushmore.  I think they did better than I.  The tour guides gave all of us the experience of total and absolute darkness for a few minutes during the tour.  My kids did really well and it seems touring the cave may have been the highlight of their trip. 

C and the other children became quite good at adapting to new places and food.  One particular incident stands out:  Eating Mexican food at a restaurant in Hill City.  They ate food that they never would have tried in our hometown.  Of course, maybe the fact that we ate our meal at 8:00 had something to do with it.  They were hungry!!!

We took some 500 photos and I will try to post some of them later.  We are already thinking about our next camping trip, somewhere much closer to home.  The summer may be particularly short this year so we gotta make the most of it.  I am going to be doing a lot of list making over the weekend.  Making a list and checking it twice… gonna make this summer especially nice…. 

Well, we are back from our trip to South Dakota where we camped, hiked and even toured a cave for the first time!  We saw Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and Custer State Park (absolutely beautiful!), ate bison burgers and too much restaurant food, and met many wonderful South Dakotans.  I especially enjoyed camping at the Sylvan Lake campgrounds in Custer State Park.  The campsites that we stayed at were gorgeous with plenty of room for us and the kids to explore. 

The drive to SD was long, made even longer on the way home by a very sick and uncomfortable 7 year old.  Poor W … he was so miserable and the drive home was much too long for him.  But now he is fully recovered, albeit a bit tired yet and we are slowly moving back into our routines.  It was a wonderful family vacation but it is really nice to be home again.  I hope to be able to blog more about it later.  South Dakota’s advertising slogan is Great Faces. Great Places.  I like that and it certainly lived up to it.  More later…

We have been shooting hoops (H-man got a new basketball); practicing our golf swing (just a little on the front lawn); filling up the compost bin with scraps collected over the winter months; and spending lots of time outdoors, picnicking and playing with the neighbors.

We have been reading Harry Potter, the Borrowers, and Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.  We are also reading a d’Aulaire book about Abraham Lincoln and a Holling book, Minn of the Mississippi.  The latter two were recommended on the Ambleside Online website.  C and W also finished a Hardy Boys book at W’s request.

We saw the second Harry Potter film on DVD last week.  It was enjoyed by all except H who is too young to watch the scarier scenes.  We just picked up the CD to the Broadway musical Wicked.  It sounds really good and I hope to be listening to it a lot over the next few days.

We are playing outside on the swings and trees, taking nature walks in search of painted turtles and birds and just enjoying the great out of doors.  This is the one of the best seasons in my neck of the woods and I don’t want to miss it.