The temperatures have been soaring. Even though it didn’t get past the mid 60’s today, the kids cracked out their bathing suits. They made a mini swimming pool in the snow tube and splashed in mud puddles.
Clearly, we’ve been missing being outdoors.
Category: farm
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Rural jungle gym
Someone thinks the high tunnel frame is in place solely so she can climb all over it. It’s like a jungle gym on steroids.
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Family walk
The weather turned, and then the sun came out. And with it, I’m feeling that itch to be outside.
After dinner, I decided to take a walk. The Oldest wanted to come with me. And then the Youngest. And then suddenly we were on a family walk.
When I take these walks with my kids, it reminds me why I love living here. We found little holes in the grass where mice made their winter homes. The tracks of deer. The kids delighted in milkweed pods that burst open with silky seeds.
They found the intact wing of a bird, which may sound repulsive to some. But my junior naturalists aren’t squeamish. They were fascinated by the delicate array of feathers, and insisted on bringing it home to take to science tomorrow.
They threw dozens of rocks in the pond. But the highlight? Cattails. I never lived near a pond growing up, so I experienced my first cattail as an adult. It starts as this innocuous looking, compact plant. But with a few swift moves, it explodes into this huge cloud of fluff. It beats most anything in the fireworks aisle. The kids could do that for hours.
I can’t wait until the days stretch longer, and we can fit these sorts of outings into our evening routine more often.
On a side note, these photos were taken with Tom’s phone. Hooray for pocket technology!
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Rickshaw
When the weather crept over 50 degrees and the sun came out, we all rejoiced.
Although it’s gorgeous, I think I might be reaching my fill of the snow.
We shuffled everyone outside. Tom and I were focused on winter clean-up. Between the snow and the wind, there’s debris as far as the eye can see. The upside of the snow? It was a nice little blanket over a sea of hard work.
As we were gathering sticks, Neko was eyeing the cart. The minute we left it unattended, Neko claimed it, and conned Ellery into being her passenger. Ellery later decided it was balmy enough to merit a bathing suit and flip flops.
And then a few minutes later she revised it to a bathing suit, flip flops…and a blanket.
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Happy (Valentine’s) day
For Valentine’s Day Tom finally finished making my long-awaited shelves for the linen closet. Finally, I can move all the linens out of our bedroom closet, alleviating the daily avalanche that occurs whenever I attempt to retrieve a sweater.
I can think of few things much more romantic.
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Hooks
It took us roughly 5.5 years, but we finally hung hooks in the kids’ bathroom. Which is worse than the 3 years it took us to hang a toilet paper holder. And, yes, I know, these hooks are probably really for dog leashes, but they make all of us smile.
I should not even confess what has occurred in the interim—towels shoved on counters, which then fall on floors. Or little people grab a clean towel from under the sink, wipe their mouths or hands, and then shove it back among the clean towels, thinking I won’t notice. (If they would learn to fold properly, they could carry this off with a bit more panache.)
While I was in the bathroom, I snapped a pic of one of my favorite things we added to this house. If you know my children, you understand why this tile is not only amusing but also likely necessary.
