Cole’s Luminary

I love the way this turned out! And he made all the holes by himself.*

My brain is trying to figure a way to justify buying some tin, awls, and a rubber mat so I can make a bunch more, maybe some for Halloween as well as Christmas.

*It kind of bothered me how many other moms completely took over for their kids and did it “for” them. Not the point. I admit, yes, I would have loved to have sat for a good long while making something myself, but it was not *my* time! (Which is why I want to buy supplies to make myself about a million, haha!)

1-2-3

Berry Picking….

Berry Eating…

Berry Wearing!

Mama-Cole Time

With the bigs in school all day, Cole and I have been enjoying our one on one time the past few days. Not every outing can be awesome (Costco), but we did have a really fun time at the Discovery Museum the other day. Over the summer we did go a couple of times, but it’s really hard to keep kids of such varying levels all happy on the same spot for long, and Cole often would have to move on before he was ready because everyone else was “bored.”

It was wonderful to be there with my little(ish) Coley, letting him dictate how long and where. It was a full day, too!

He made a punched-tin luminary, all by himself after I helped him make guide marks. Cole’s masterpiece is on the mantle right now.

He painted – with brushes and his hands.

We read about 23 books, give or take 15.

We learned about mirrors and light reflection. Just kidding! We made silly faces.

We played with toy cavemen and mammoths.

He made a newspaper pot and planted a fava bean. I may have suggested sunflower… but he liked that big fava bean. :)

We painted with water. This is an activity I have copied at home, and it’s fun—and clean.

We helped the garden by watering, and watering, and watering.

He made sure to get filthy.

He made the biggest bubble I have ever seen in real life. Dude’s got a real knack for making big bubbles.

We both can’t wait to return again next week, maybe by train.

Pie of Her Choosing = Back to School Dinner

Some people have lovely back to school traditions, like the meaningful dinner, with crowns, presents, and, if they’re really on the ball, some inspirational theme for the year. They make special decorations, and it’s all so…. especially SPECIAL.

Me, I start to mock myself in my head before I even get halfway through the idea of such a thing. Don’t get me wrong: we’re good people. We really enjoy our time together as a family (most of the time). I do try very hard to set up good times and the kids and I do a lot of fun things together.  We love each other, and tell each other that—often.

But, we’re also a family of smart alecs. Evening TV time is not unlike Mystery Science Theater 3000, the live version. We are all fluent in sarcasm, and it’s closer to a first language than anything else. I guess what I am saying is I’d probably laugh myself out of town before they even did if I even started in on the kind of heartfelt celebration a proper Back to School Dinner-Celebration entails. I can just imagine it now… So, I did what I do nearly every Sunday evening when it’s warm enough: I slapped the tablecloth onto the picnic table and we ate outside. Heck, Carter wasn’t even wearing a shirt (maybe not underpants either, to be honest – he enjoys the feel of flannel PJs au naturel, he says).

However, I do like to do something special now and then to mark an occasion and told Bun I’d make her any pie she wanted from A Year Of Pies. She surprised me by choosing the one pie I’d probably be least likely to select, and it was aaaa-mazing. I bungled the transfer from baking sheet to plate, but it was delicious.

Back to School Feast Celebration Normal Dinner
Grilled Eggplant
Peanutty Coleslaw
Homemade Baked Beans (Bittmann)
Grilled Chicken Thighs with Peach Barbecue Sauce
Hotdogs for the little guy
Nectarine and Lavender Crostata

Start Your Engines…

…the school year has begun!

Here’s hoping the first day goes smoothly for them both, as Carter enters his first year among the ‘big kids’ who go to school all day, everyday, and as Bunny starts her last year of elementary school.  My fingers are crossed that Carter takes enough time to eat snack and lunch, and he does not get lost trying to find his room after recess or lunch. (Big sister did once, and still remembers how upset she was until she spied a grown up she knew to ask for help—it’s not a huge school, but feels enormous when you’re 4 feet tall.)

In the meantime, I’ll be taking the next 20 minutes to finish the cup of stone-cold coffee I poured myself at 6:30, and then tackling some of the wall to wall messes summertime has presented to our home while littlest brother happily plays with toys no one can tell him he’s not using right. Ahhhh, exhale….

Great American Summer

This spring the kids and I got season passes to Great America, which is not too far away. We like to go to fun places on our long Wednesday afternoons when school is in session, and we went nearly weekly this summer break—it feels so early to be wrapping up summer, but they go back Monday!

Note: I snapped a bunch of photos along the way and will share ‘em here, en masse. They’re all instagrams, about which I feel ambivalence. I like that I didn’t have to worry about the “big mama” camera when I had to relinquish my possessions more or less unattended while I was on a ride or worry that I’d be knocking it around a lot. However, they’re not the best photos. I decided since the photos will not be technically the same as I’d take otherwise, to have fun with it, playing with oddball (i.e. imperfect composition, when we only had one shot to conserve film) photos and filters just for fun. C’est la vie.

I’m really happy about buying the season tickets, overall. If he wears the “right” shoes, Cole is 48” by their measuring pole, and can ride anything he wants. It’s amazing what he does want to ride—and with enjoyment! Sometimes I have to hold onto his hand, more for me than him. :)

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama.

World of Their Own

All three were playing here. There's a whole lot of stuff going on, and it only makes sense to them, as it should be.

Farm in the City

Yesterday we mostly wanted to be homebodies but managed to quickly go out and play at Emma Prusch Farm Park. I think we took Bunny to a playgroup event of some sort back when she was about 2 or 3, not that she could possibly remember that, so it’s was new to us.

It’s a nice little place overall. Carter wished the animal area allowed petting, but we can always go to Happy Hollow to pet goats, etc. I think I liked the fruit orchard the most, and we tried acai berries (SO sour but still pleasant) and the few ripe mulberries we could reach. Cole really wants a mulberry tree now. :)

A few photos…

 

 

this goose made me laugh as it hustled by at breakneck pace

All That Glitters

We are a one-TV family. It’s something my husband and I agreed on years and years ago, because, in a nutshell, it’s sharing, and we believe having everyone holed up in their own areas ultimately is not good when families only have so much time to spend all together. Now, don’t get me wrong: we have computers that do sometimes, for the sake of peace make do in lieu of a TV (or two… or three), but in the evenings we always watch something together. I don’t know if it’s because all the things that would have classified as “family” television back in the day, and which the big 3 would have had as a family hour are now on Nickelodeon or Disney (Good Luck Charlie would totally have been an 8 p.m. “Full House”-style show)… but for whatever reason, there’s not a lot of scripted TV for families to watch together anymore, unless you’re pretty cavalier about bawdy jokes and language. SOOOO, we watch a lot of Discovery Channel, History, Science Channel, etc.

This is how you end up with a 6 year-old who wants to pan gold. Gold Rush inspired 2 years of begging to go looking for gold. Which inspired us to try to find a place in gold country to camp, and yes… pan for gold. Which led me to what seemed like 15 thousand hours of research to find just the right place for us.

Coloma Resort is what I found, and I can’t even say how I came across it. However, I sure am glad I did. It’s privately owned, but right across the road and river from Marshall Gold Discovery State Park, where the gold rush began when Marshall and his buddy Sutter found something interesting in the water near the mill they were building.

 
early morning walk by the river

crazy-curious ducklings with a very good mama… they pecked our toes

  
panning for gold

mostly finding fools gold, but enjoying it… we did find a couple small bits
I figure it’s like playing in sand; who cares if it’s productive?

 
playing catch with Daddy

 
my kids are somewhere in this Where’s Waldo of children… love the community feel here

 

Plus the business of camping: the cooking! When we camped as a DINKy couple, menus were not given much thought. Funny thing is, kids expect to be fed really often. I’m becoming pretty decent at planning the menus and prepping the food before. This trip we had:

Thurs Dinner: Korean Ribs and wild rice blend (those cheesy heat and serve packets of rice are dubious for home consumption but perfect for camping), hot dogs for boys because they don’t know what they’re missing on the ribs.
Friday breakfast: eggs, sausage, toast, fruit, juice, milk
Friday lunch: hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, carrots, yogurt
Friday dinner: tacos/burritos, mexican rice, refried beans, chips & guac, s’mores
Saturday breakfast: breakfast burritos with home fries/eggs/leftover taco meat & fixings, toast, bacon
Saturday lunch: hot dogs, burgers, carrots w/last of guac
Saturday dinner: barbecue chicken, beans (Carter ran around with a chicken leg in each hand like a wild man)
Sunday breakfast: pancakes, bacon, fruit, and cinnamon rolls in the pie iron WORKED GREAT
plus: snacks, snacks, snacks, and always coffee for the grownups in the morning

I’ve learned to cook what makes sense or is messy at home, then freeze it flat in a freezer bag, like the taco meat and home fries. I also marinate and freeze the chicken legs so they’re easier to keep cold, and also serve as ice in the cooler. In fact, I freeze everything this side of milk and eggs. Normally I think precooked bacon or “just add water and shake” pancake batter is the epitome of laziness, but, like the precooked rice packets, they’re really handy for camping. And, I protect my well-seasoned cast iron pan with my life (not really, but it is nice to have a pan you can truly wipe clean with a paper towel when buckets of soapy water would be a drag to deal with). At this time I still use a lot of disposable plates, cups, and utensils. Someday I’d like to go greener on that aspect, but for now I’m letting it slide in the name of sanity for myself.

I know that was a lot on what we ate, but as the person who spent hours and hours on it, I think I am allowed a little jabbering. We don’t go camping just to eat, but boy does everyone do that with gusto after long days outside playing, playing, playing.

We really enjoyed our time in Coloma, and still have so much to do next time we go, probably next summer. Now we have about a month and a half until the next family camping adventure, up north next time. I’m so glad we’re a camping family now; it took us nearly a decade to get back to it, but better late than never!