friends

Lillith and Iris, originally uploaded by hobbitsmama.

Today was dentist appt day. Always an interesting experience as the kids are asked lots of homeschooling questions out of my hearing. Then they spend an inordinate amount of time examining every item in the prize box before they make their final decisions. After the dentist, we went to the health food store, met friends at the toy store, watched the Mystic bridge go up and the boats pass through, played at the playground, ran home and grabbed dinner, and met more friends at the homebirth meeting.
The kids are intent on making halloween plans (no matter that I tell them we still have plenty of time) .. L wants to be a vampire (hence her choice of plastic fangs from the prize box) and e wants to be a (hope I get this right) "superhero goblin monster with red hair."

Sept 7th .. cupcake time on labor day

cupcake time, originally uploaded by hobbitsmama.

The kids helped Josh bake lemon cupcakes with white chocolate cream cheese frosting (mmmm!) for the family party. We had a quiet morning and then headed to the family party. M&J are getting ready to travel all over the country and have agreed to keep us up to date on where they are so we can look in our geography book and learn about the states they are in while they are there. Will be 'almost' as fun as doing the traveling ourselves. (J and I are thinking about getting last minute plane tickets to the cheapest .. and most appealing destination we can find for our anniversary.) We had a great time catching up with aunts and uncles .. and even baby N on skype.

Sept 6th .. tree frog on thumb :)

tree frog, originally uploaded by hobbitsmama.

exploring deer bones

exploring the bones, originally uploaded by hobbitsmama.

Sunday Sept 6th.
Today we went for a hike near Beach Pond along the Nehantic Trail. I love this place! I often think that it will not live up to my memory of it and then when we go I am again taken aback by just how beautiful it is there. The kids were enthralled .. and it is a good reminder to see things through their eyes. We explored the upturned roots of a huge fallen tree and I realized .. this may be the first time they have ever seen roots like this. Highlights ... we found a cave, a ledge that L proclaimed "the perfect place for bats", a millipede casing, cicada casing, a group of friendly chicadees in the sun, a toad, a tree frog, a woodpecker calling and a big pile of deer bones. We took home a piece of the deer jaw bone with teeth still attached to "study."
We tried to find the letterbox at buttonwood farm, had no luck and were forced to content ourselves with ice cream instead. The kids were surprised at how different it looks at the farm now with all the sunflowers cut down.
All in all, it was the perfect day for a walk in the woods.

deer jaw bone

deer jaw, originally uploaded by hobbitsmama.

Sept 5th .. letterboxing at Wequetequock Burial Ground

headstones and kids, originally uploaded by hobbitsmama.

Saturday (because as well as every day being a field trip there is also learning every day) we went back to the coop and ran into lots of friends! Then we went to Terra Firma farm to pick up our share of veggies (potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, garlic, onions, celery, etc yum!) and ran into more friends .. tried to catch some chickens (?! not so successful) and peeked at eggs in the chicken coop. Then we decided to do a little more letterboxing. We went to Wequetequock burial ground and read some of the cool old names on the headstones. We found the Minor family letterbox and headed further out to the marsh to find the "Block Island" letterbox. We were amazed by how many people were out at Barn Island! There were tons of empty boat trailers. Wow. Understandable since it is a gorgeous place but still a bit overwhelming.
Forgot to mention a highlight of the morning .. we got to see a car on fire downtown and the fire department responding. The kids were very excited. I want to set up a visit to the fire station. One of the questions of the week was "How do firefighters in big cities fight fires in skyscrapers?" Great question.

Sept 4th .. barn island

barn island, originally uploaded by hobbitsmama.

Today we ran errands at the library and food coop. We visited with Miss Sue at the library who said "Your kids are so wonderful, so sweet and well-behaved. I love to see them. I love when you come in. " What a compliment! Is it bad that I wonder sometimes where those traits are when we are at home? I know, I know .... they are free at home to let it all out because they know they are loved no matter what. Sooooo .. we signed L up for the science program "messing around with books" that is starting at the end of September. Then we went to the farmers market and coop. Ran into friends and caught up .. and talked to one of the teachers at the magnet school who was there with a field trip. He said "We always run into you when we are on field trips!" We did in fact see them at the arboretum last June when they were probably on their last field trip. I am sure he is a great teacher .. but my recurrent theme of "every day is a field trip" seems much more appealing to me. :)
Fri eve we headed to Barn Island in Stonington for the Full Moon hike .. the Corn Moon. We walked through a beautiful meadow where many owls live .. watched the moon rise, heard a fox yipping (!! love foxes!!) and had a very fast-paced (I ended up carrying e for almost the whole 1.5 miles so we could keep up) but pleasant evening. Too bad J could not join us .. but he would not make it off the train on time. We want to go back to do this loop on Barn Island soon!

Sept 3rd .. walking in the meadow

e walking in the meadow, originally uploaded by hobbitsmama.

We spent today at the nature center, where L had her class on birds and they created bird journals. L showed us an owl skull and talons. E and I took a long walk and saw a cormorant land in the pond, painted turtles sunning themselves, dragonflies and butterflies, and tons of hungry mosquitos. We collected milkweed for our monarch caterpillar whom we have not named. Sometimes the kids agree to call it "Norm" but we need to find another soon so they can each name one. I look forward to our monarch visitors each year. We collect at least one each year and watch it eat eat eat, chrysalis and then fly away. We forgot to check in at the nature center on our 3 abandoned baby wrens. L did get to see a baby goldfinch that they are hand feeding and she wanted to be sure I understood that it cannot be released since it will be raised by people. It was nice to see so many friends at L's class ... some of whom we have not seen since June .. and of course, some that we see quite often. Whoever says socialization for homeschoolers is a problem has not experienced our life.
4 year old e's philosophical pondering for the day "When we die, we are just gone. " Alrighty then.

Sept 2nd .. view from the top of the monument at Fort Griswold

view from the top of the monument, originally uploaded by hobbitsmama.

Today (September 2) we went back to Fort Griswold to climb the monument. It was a clear day so we could see out to the ocean. This is a photograph of the fort. We explored inside the museum and saw a model of the Fort as it was in 1781, etc. Both kids climbed all 166 steps to the top and the park rangers gave them both a poster of the monument to take home. We walked around the fort and through the tunnel again and talked a little about Colonel Ledyard and Benedict Arnold (and what the word traitor means). Later we went over to Grampa and Grandma's house to see them before they leave for China. We watched a video about China and talked about some of the places they will visit. The kids were most interested in the terracotta soldiers and the great wall. Note to self: research whether the great wall can be seen from space. One of the guide books says no way. We will follow their trip in our atlas and can't wait to see their pictures. Time to practice some of that Mandarin. Ni hao!

Sept 1st .. Northern Harrier hunting in the marsh

northern harrier, originally uploaded by hobbitsmama.

greater yellowlegs

greater yellowlegs, originally uploaded by hobbitsmama.

black and yellow argiope aurantia

black and yellow argiope aurantia, originally uploaded by hobbitsmama.

kids with ginkgo leaves

kids with ginkgo leaves, originally uploaded by hobbitsmama.

Today we headed over to Harkness Memorial State Park .. one of our absolute favorite places. We stopped to pick up ginkgo leaves, found the gingko letterbox, walked through the gardens, found the most enormous spider (black and yellow argiope aurantia), played in a tidal pool with hermit crabs of all sizes, watched a greater yellowlegs fishing and a northern harrier hunting in the marsh, spotted a cedar waxwing eating berries and a female goldfinch in the meadow before we were chased home by a swarm of mosquitos.

August 31st .. Friends at Fort Griswold

friends at fort griswold, originally uploaded by hobbitsmama.

Here are most of the kids gathered at the top of the fort (taking in the view of New London?). They especially loved walking in the trench and tunnel. It was a perfect weather day. We poked around the fort, made friends with a local cat, had a picnic, climbed (literally) the stones of the monument (the inside was not open that day), visited with an old friend that we ran into (randomly!), descended upon the local gorgeous stone library (where they apparently and against all logic (we were loud and wild) exclaimed a number of times .. "We are so glad you came in!"), said goodbye to friends, headed home with a huge stack of books, played on the computer, read our way through a good portion of said stack of books, played on the swings (e just recently learned how to swing and pump his legs .. hallelujah! I am no longer summoned into the backyard every 2 minutes), cooked a delicious dinner, and collapsed!
It has been close to a year since I started this blog .. and I literally forgot where to find it. I am resurrecting .. but sans grammar and with a stream-of-consciousness format. Our homeschooling days go by so quickly ... the kids are growing up right in front of me .. and I want to document it somehow. I take loads of pictures, so that seems to be the best place to begin. Load the pics to the blog .. try to write some of the details of our day before I forget. I want to be able to look back and remember. Our days are full of (mostly) joy and curiousity; learning and exploring. I am so grateful to be with my kids and experience their everyday revelations. I have my moments when I question if I am doing enough, if they are learning enough ... but when I stop and look at my children, listen to my children, look at the pictures of all the places we have been .. I know that we are doing what we are meant to do ... :)

first day "not back to school"

first day "not back to school", originally uploaded by hobbitsmama.

Since school started in our town on August 31st, we decided we would call it our first day of not-back-to-school. And I thought it would be appropriate if we also took the obligatory photograph!
Here we are heading out to meet our homeschool friends at Fort Griswold. L gets high marks for fashion today .. especially from Iris. :) e was excited to rediscover his bug shirt. And off we go .. everyday is a field trip.

Wading in the water .. November in CT?!

L finding all sorts of neat stuff washed up on the beach. Here she has slipper shells.
e, perhaps yodeling (?) with friends. I can't believe the air was warm enough to put our feet in the water in November. The kids were loving it!

Watching Obama

Here is the rest of the family .. we woke up the kids to watch Barack Obama's speech. Very exciting moment in history for us all to see.

i love photography .. so when i can figure out how to post a photo .. then i will be representing our life through photos (about all i have time for these days anyway).
here i go ..