On our first visit to Trustom Pond we spied giant bullfrog tadpoles, several snakes, ducks, a hawk, mute swans, cormorants, and a Benjamin and a Julia in a giant tree!
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| Julia spied me! |
Monday, May 30, 2016
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Poetry Picnic
One of our favorite activities this year has been poetry teatimes. We brew tea, or more often, make some lemonade or hot chocolate, find some treats and I pull out some poetry books and read aloud. To celebrate a warm afternoon we made dandelion chocolate chip cookies and took our picnic outside!
It only lasted about 10 or 15 minutes but was made extra special because Julia decided to choose a book and read a poem for us! Her choice? 'A Pizza the Size of the Sun' by Jack Prelutsky.
Friday, May 27, 2016
Fairy Houses 2016
In early April we spent a fairy filled afternoon at the Roger Williams Botanical Gardens with friends. The kids did a scavenger hunt through the gardens searching for fairy secrets. They sketched the fairy houses they liked best. And they spent almost three hours constructing a fairy village with materials the center had gathered.
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| deep in concentration |
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| drawing up close |
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| garden teepees in the gnome village! |
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| a fairy boat created by Benj |
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| Julia's fairy shelter |
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Exploring the World
We've attended some great activities in the last few weeks:
A demonstration and discussion of the local fishing industry by local fishermen in Wickford.
A demonstration and discussion of the local fishing industry by local fishermen in Wickford.
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A Chinese Lion dance performance. And Julia got up close and personal - even trying out the costume herself!
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| oh no! He ate Julia!! |
Hiking and Survival Skills class! Did you know that most edible fruit has a star shape of some sort somewhere on it?! The things you learn!
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| Constructing a shelter |
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Serenading the Squirrels
On the first warm spring day, Julia couldn't contain herself. She had to play for the squirrels and the sunshine!
Monday, May 23, 2016
Sunday, May 22, 2016
Friday, May 20, 2016
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Chestnuts!
As part of their nature swap program Roger Williams Park Zoo holds a monthly nature walk at varying locations around the state. These nature walks are meant to encourage folks to explore different areas or learn about different topics but there is another draw as well - large amounts of swap points! You can earn up to 5,000 points for participating in the walk and then turning into a journal entry about your experience.
As Julia is currently saving up swap points for a meteorite (35,000 points) she has wanted to do more of these. So this weekend we headed down to South Kingstown to learn about American Chestnut trees and the Chestnut blight. The native American Chestnut was once widespread along the Eastern U.S. and an integral part of the environment. Animals relied on the nuts and people favored the wood. But in the early 1900s the Chestnut blight struck and the trees were eliminated. But since the 1980s, scientists and gardeners have been working to develop a blight-resistant strain of the tree. They cross the American Chestnut with the Chinese Chestnut and then are able to re-cross the strains multiple times until the Chinese Chestnut is only about 1/15th of makeup of the tree but maintaining the blight-resistance from the Chinese Chestnut. The story is pretty fascinating and today, Master Gardeners from URI are growing these trees to expand the number of American Chestnut trees in the United States.
As Julia is currently saving up swap points for a meteorite (35,000 points) she has wanted to do more of these. So this weekend we headed down to South Kingstown to learn about American Chestnut trees and the Chestnut blight. The native American Chestnut was once widespread along the Eastern U.S. and an integral part of the environment. Animals relied on the nuts and people favored the wood. But in the early 1900s the Chestnut blight struck and the trees were eliminated. But since the 1980s, scientists and gardeners have been working to develop a blight-resistant strain of the tree. They cross the American Chestnut with the Chinese Chestnut and then are able to re-cross the strains multiple times until the Chinese Chestnut is only about 1/15th of makeup of the tree but maintaining the blight-resistance from the Chinese Chestnut. The story is pretty fascinating and today, Master Gardeners from URI are growing these trees to expand the number of American Chestnut trees in the United States.
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Artists at Work
Julia and Benjamin received a new drawing medium in their Easter baskets - oil pastels! There is a great series of art videos for kids on youtube and they both, but especially Benjamin, love to watch and draw along. Of course, they had to try the pastels out before we went to Grandma Laurie's for Easter dinner.
Sunday, May 15, 2016
New England Spring
We had a beautiful day in March. The kids and I hiked Rocky Point wearing t-shirts and light coats. We found sea glass, sketched a few pictures, watched the sea gulls, and splashed a bit in the water.
A week later they were splashing me with this!
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| snowball fight! |
Saturday, May 14, 2016
Easter 2016
a holiday in pictures... |
| egg prep |
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| he was happy with his results |
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| the first egg of Easter morning |
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| cool dude! |
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| skater rabbit! |
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| scooter dude! |
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| me and my sweet, sugared up girl! |
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| me and my sweet, sugar crashing boy! |
Cooking Music
It's become very common for me to prepare lunch or dinner while listening to my own personal strings concert.
Julia on the violin, Andrew playing fiddle, and Benjamin on the fiddlestick! They've become a musical trio!
Julia on the violin, Andrew playing fiddle, and Benjamin on the fiddlestick! They've become a musical trio!
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