Saturday, November 20, 2010
hawk (no idea what kind) anyone?
red-shouldered hawk
Later as we were walking the path around the pond, I saw a movement in the tree next to me ... and there was a red-shouldered hawk right there! The kids and I watched it for a long time .. and then suddenly it swooped down, caught a snake and flew up to another branch to eat it. So cool!
white-throated sparrow
Tons of white-throated sparrows at the arboretum. No sign of the red-breasted nuthatch I saw last time.
adorable piggies
During terra firma class, I went for a nice run and then visited with these cute pigs.
exploring at Bluff Point
Went to community think in Groton and played and picked out a pile of books. It was so nice that we went for a walk at Bluff Point.
hiding from the wind
Getting ready for running .. some of kids hid/sheltered in the doorway. I love all these little nooks in New London.
Spanish class time
Here we were again at class. This time with Donde esta ..? Aqui esta. And globo! (balloons) So fun!
halloween bear
The kids and I love to see how this bear will be decorated in all seasons. We pass it on the way to the nature center. I wish I could tell the people who live here how very much their bear is a topic of conversation on our car rides!
late fall
Rainy run and then hike while the kids were at their nature center class. So peaceful but too miserable for any birds to be out.
first fire of the season
The first fire in the fireplace and a delicious dinner to follow up our chilly hike. Mmmm.
hermit thrush
Cute little thrush hanging out by the pond when we went for our walk. We also saw tons of yelow-rumped warblers and sparrows and a couple of hawks. We think there was a kestrel but it was in and out of our sight so quickly!
running!
And P taught running! (e has declared this "the best!") Here is everyone stretching and the next pic is of running relays. Once my kids got the concept of "relay" things went a bit more smoothly. :)
espanol :)
First day of learning Spanish .... it was cold but this is a whole new definition of "carschooling!" The kids had a BLAST .. while M spoke Spanish the whole time and this did not seem to phase them at all. It was also the roving class .. I will post some pics of the traveling class.
wicked good race
Here are my runners! J ran his first 5k and did really well. The kids and I did some of the cute halloween activities (pumpkin bowling, balloon animals, feeling peeled grapes and pretending they are eyeballs, etc), visited with the hawk counters at lighthouse point, checked out some crazy halloween costumes on the runners (our favorite was the mad hatter who ran (fast!) with a tea cup and saucer, and alice in her blue and white dress), and cheering daddy. Then the kids ran their first ever race of a half mile .. and did great too! e spent a lot of the race stopped and waiting for his sister .. which is sweet and not at all competitive. Later we worked on our costumes and headed out for trick-or-treating.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
haunted eagle
L insisted that she wanted to go to a haunted house this year but everything we heard about seemed way too scary for us all. We thought we would try out the haunted eagle during the "not as scary" early hours. Boy, it was still scary! The kids were brave and the cadets were good about keeping some distance and moving slowly for the kids .. but they got J and I a couple of times. After our excellent tour, I asked the cadet how much fun they were having doing this and he said (I think this is what he said through his mask) "It's awesome!" Then he came to ask me if I had seen his fellow cadets trying to scare him while he was giving the tour. I had not, I was too busy trying to look everywhere so no one would surprise me too much. We seem to have managed to have gone through the tour and had no nightmares afterwards. Phew! And it is great to know that the cadets were having as much (if not more) fun than we were!
hawk .. what kind?
I am working on my hawk ID skills .. no idea what this is yet, but it was being pursued by a huge murder of crows!
hermit thrush
Took a nice (cold!) walk in the morning at Waterford beach to get some peace and quiet.
