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. 

We went bird banding on Wednesday at the local nature center.  It was difficult getting out of the house for the all day event for a number of reasons:  A) H-man said that he didn’t want to go (?!); B) C-chan’s hair needed some serious de-tangling and C) I had to pack lunches for the four of us!  Not something I am used to doing early in the AM!  And my options were very limited, our lunch packing supplies were low, and I heard a little grumbling about the p & j!  But we made it there.  I drove the mini-van while practicing a little pranayama (!) and of course, once we got there we had a great time! 

H-man and I were in a group separate from the older kids which we hadn’t planned for.  The center had not informed us that the kids would be separated by age.  Uggh.  But it worked out fine mainly due to the fact that W and C were able to hang out with the older kids’ group and be with their fellow HS buddies.  (Even though technically W was supposed to be with the little kids group of kids who were 3 - 7 yo).  My good HS friend Cathy was in the group with the older kids.  I am very thankful that she helped coordinate the outing with all the other HS kids from my semi-local group and helped keep an eye on my kids. 

It was really wonderful to be able to watch the naturalist and bird banding volunteers (a HS mom and daughter team, nonetheless) band two chickadees, a hairy woodpecker, and a yellow rump warbler (also known as a myrtle warbler).   We watched as the birds were released back into the wild complete with their new “ankle bracelets”.   All of us had the opportunity to hear a chickadee’s heartbeat; it sounded like a faint purring.  The bird banding volunteer, herself a HSing mom, held the chickadee up to each person’s ear so that we all, even my 3 yo, got a chance to experience it.  The children had a good time doing all of this with other HSing peers. 

I really enjoyed seeing some HS moms I haven’t seen in a long time and enjoyed chatting a bit with some moms I have recently gotten to know.  When we got home I had lots to tell my hubby.  H slept on the back seat of our van which was parked in the driveway while I told Phil all about the day’s events.  I definitely want to go back and see more of the bird banding.  Heck, maybe we could become bird banding volunteers! 

At the end of the day, in addition to the birds that were banded, we saw a red bellied woodpecker, red-winged blackbirds, a red-tailed hawk, a pair of trumpeter swans, and a pair of goldfinches.  At least that is all I can remember right now…. 

We will be back to see more.  We heard that this particular nature center is known as the best birding place in the metro area.  And it is not too far from where we live.  Lucky us!    

Can I brag just a little? 

This winter the three children, Papa and I have been skating on the ice down by the marsh every chance we get.  And I am afraid that our skating days may be numbered.  So it is with great pride that I will announce that this winter we have made skaters of them all.  This has been one of those unconscious goals of mine for a long time. 

Everyone, I am sure, has ideas of what experiences they want to share with their kids, right?  Well, one of mine has been to raise kids who were comfortable swimming in a pool or lake in the summertime and also able to skate across an icy surface in the winter time.  And enjoy ice skating enough that you wanted the frigid cold days of winter to last just a little longer just to be able to skate outdoors just a little longer. 

Today we all skated outside on the pond.  It was glorious.  The sun was out part of the time and we warmed up enough to take our jackets off and skate in our sweatshirts and long-sleeved shirts.  Glorious. 

One of the neighbor’s grandparents saw W skating out there and commented that W had “style” and had a future in hockey.  That was a nice compliment to hear.  And there were no lessons, not even informal lessons.  We paid no money, other than what we spent on buying the skates.  We just laced them up and sent them out onto the ice.  We took them ice skating every chance we got.  And this year we were lucky, yes, lucky, that it has been cold up here in this neck of the woods. 

So even though I am looking forward to spending more time outside in warmer, spring weather and I am looking forward to playing outside without having to spend a lot of time dressing for it I am not ready to say goodbye to ol’ man winter just yet. 

It has been so wonderful to see my children skating faster and more confidently on the ice.  It has been a great way to play outside on these cold days of le bons hivers.  (That’s the good winter, n’est pas?)  We have taken photos.  I have blogged about it.   And we have made memories sharing good times with family and friends on our frozen pond. 

When it is time to go, we will wish it a fond farewell.  But not until then.  We will be out there every day we can, trudging down the hill with our sleds, water bottles, bubble gum, skates and shovels.  Making winter memories for those hot, dog days of summer that are sure to come, but in their own good time. 

On Wednesday night we ended up having a “o-tsukimi” party.  At least I think that is what the Japanese would call it.  Papa made his famous homemade pizza and then later we watched a beautiful lunar eclipse from our front yard in the frigid air, running outside to look at it and then back inside to enjoy the warmth of a fire in our fireplace.   

That same night I also taught the children some basic kanji.  The children had seen Sagwa, a PBS show about a Chinese cat, where people were practicing kanji and it showed people learning one of Celia’s best remembered Chinese characters, the kanji for rain.  This was enough to inspire the kids to practice writing these beautiful Chinese characters. 

We practiced again on Thursday and both Celia and William have really neat writings to prove it.  I taught them the few that I know including moon, day, rain, river, mountain, book, eye, and rice paddy.  Makes me glad that I studied kanji enough to share this with them.  It is amazing how what I have learned is able to be passed on.  Bit by bit.  Makes me wish I would have studied harder!  Well, I guess there is still time for that.  Maybe HSing gives all of us that second chance.

Today we went ice skating!  We haven’t been outside on the ice for about a week.  It has been too cold.  It felt great to finally get out there.  We ended up doing quite a bit of shoveling as well. 

We skate on the pond across the street from our home.  We bring all of our stuff (skates, drinking water, snacks, bandages, etc.), get them in their skates and let the kids loose.  H-man, after getting his skates on, attacks the ice with gusto.  It is as if it is a race for him.  He doesn’t go very far before he falls, but he is not afraid to go fast.  C takes her time, settles herself on the ice and glides.  W, he goes the distance.  He will skate the loop over and over given the opportunity.  He is now teaching himself how to skate backwards and he is not afraid to fall.  All three of them are improving their skating skills and not one of them is afraid to fall.  They fall and get up right away or they fall and sit on the ice and rest.  No shame.  They know that in order to learn they will need to fall many more times.  No fear.  No problem.  We adults could learn a thing or two from them.   

I find this to be a good opportunity for the head teacher (aka mom) to make sure their Latin vocabulary gets some use.  That’s right.  ”The safest way to fall is to land on your gluteus maximus.”  Much safer than landing on your arms or your back or anything else.  Knowing how to fall is very important in skating.  And in skiing, and a lot of other sports I am sure.   And of course, they do fall, many times over, with no trouble getting back up again.  Over and over again.