The fact that I created something this obnoxious is sign of true love for my now eight-year-old.
Category: Neko
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Balmy
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.
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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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Dance partner
Neko decided she needed a dance partner, so she created this handsome friend. You might notice he bears a striking resemblance to Harry Potter, who’s a big hit in this house right now.
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At the library
In the children’s section of our local library there is a display case which displays “collections” from children in the community. Some display their fossil collection, while others show off their extensive Bakugan arsenal.
Last summer Neko asked if she could display something. The nice librarian took her name and said she would likely get a call in about six months or so. My jaw dropped. Who knew there was such a waiting list for a small town display case?
A few weeks ago we finally got the call. After much deliberation, Neko selected the Playmobil dinosaur collection. (Which made this Playmobil junkie quite proud.)
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Skating
The two oldest kids have been in skating lessons for some time, but Ellery has declined, as she’s scared of going to classes without me.
But today, with Tom gone to a circuit bending workshop all day, we had some time to fill. I mustered up my courage, and headed to open skate with all three kids.
Ellery was nervous, but after a few minutes on the ice with her red pushy-thing, she was whizzing around. Alex was on the ice for the first time, too, so the two of them made quite the big, red, plastic train.
In other news, Neko nearly won the limbo competition.
(Tom had my Lumix with him at the bending workshop, so you’ll have to contend with these phone photos.)
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Hoops
We took the kids to go see one of Neko’s friends play basketball. Between soccer, skating, swimming, and the impending riding lessons, basketball just wasn’t in the cards for us.
Based on the average height of folks around here, I doubt we’ll book much time in our future on the basketball court, but it was pretty inspiring to see all these young girls getting into the game.
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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!
