veggie pickin’

:)

Our homeschool group took a trip up to an organic farm in Platteville CO to get a taste of what it is really like to harvest your own veggies. (Most of these pics were taken by Brenna.)

see the tractor?

We rode in the trailer behind that tractor up there.  They took us from field to field where we stooped down in search of potatoes, cabbages, beets, turnips, artichokes, carrots, onions, corn, pumpkins, celery, squash…

carrot!

out in the field

big carrot

It was hot, sweaty work, but we came home with quite a load!

the loot

And Hunter had another cozy day of hours spent in a Sweet Pod. (The pattern writing is coming along nicely, just have to finish some illustrations and I’ll be ready for some testers!)

baby wearing

There was also some crazy fun things for the kids to play on back at the home base.

bounce

 dirt sled

dirt sled

fire truck

chickens

pedal tractor

 

get away

We ran away to soak up one last summer weekend in the mountains, and since I was wanting rest and relaxation we decided to forgo the tent and sleeping bags and coolers and try something new.

ymca!

YMCA!!

We hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park,

over the rainbow

thin air

up

rmnp

dream lake

all of us

and the Sweet-pod got some extensive testing.

in the sweet-pod

I must admit, though, that my favorite place on our trip was the Craft and Design Center.

craft and design center

craft and design centercraft and design center

Big windows, open spaces, shelves and shelves of paint, wood, ceramics– everything you could ever want to make, make, make all day long.  Just the kind of place I dream of running myself someday.  Come in, pick your project, take a class, or just have at it.

Some day.

The kids all painted a wooden toy and loved it.  If only we had had more time…

Next time we go I am totally weaving a basket.

creek school

The weather has been beautiful, but too hot to just play outside without something cool and refreshing, so we declared this week Creek School.

in the creek

We’ve journeyed down to the open space with buckets and intentions to stay all day.

5 year old feet

Logan had the camera for a while.  There were lots of pictures of feet

creek school

because shoes were too big of a hassle.

 creek school

I think my very favorite thing I heard was, “Mom, let me introduce you to Grandpa Tweezers.”

Grandpa Tweezers

Grandpa Tweezers!  Well, can you think of any better name for a crayfish?  Grandpa Tweezers is the embodiment of everything whiskery and pinchy.  I guess there was a Great Grandpa Tweezers, but he was way to fast and tweezery.

caught

But someone’s littered socks did a lot of finger protecting.

bucket full

Hence the bucket full of grandchildren.

Hope you have a great long weekend and squeeze every last drop out of what is left of summer!

 

a post about reptiles

Sorry, dear readers.  Summer has sucked my brain away and I just have not been able to wrap it around actually writing a post instead of just thinking of one.  We have been busy with vacation recovery, growing teeth and fluffy hair on the baby, swimming lessons, a Primary activity that required a life size drawing of Goliath, the diaper saga, and some sewing and crafting thrown in too.  You know, the normal stuff– the kind of stuff that makes actually sitting in front of the computer a rarity, especially sitting down to do something productive on the computer.  So today, I’m starting with the most recent stuff and will work in some highlights from my absence in the next few days.

Now, look what we found on our family room floor:

cute turtle friend

It was Friday night after the afore mentioned Primary activity.  We were unloading the car, we were in and out of the house, all the neighborhood kids (and some of our own) were in and out of the house, the dog was in and out of the house, you get the picture.  There was a lot of choas, and then it was time to send other people’s children home to sleep in their own beds and Jonah found something on the floor.  There was a lot of things being said like, “It’s not mine, it’s Holly’s.” “No, it’s Megan’s.” “What is it?”  Barry decided to intervene and help sort things out when he discovered that “it” was a turtle shell sealed up as tight as could be– with a turtle inside.  Ellie (our dog) dug it up in the back yard and dropped in inside amid all the hubbub.  Now, how random and fun is that?  We kept it for a day and learned all sorts of things.  She is on Ornate Box turtle and we know she’s a she because she has brown eyes (males have bright red or orange eyes) and a flat tummy.  We’d get her out of the aquarium to roam around the house,

look what we found in our living room!

and then we let her go– in a place Ellie won’t dig her up again.

 ready for the release

back in the wild

Now if that isn’t cool enough for one weekend, check this out:

hatching gecko! hatching gecko!

We watched a baby gecko hatch!  My brother sent us some eggs thinking they probably weren’t any good, but we could try to see if they’d hatch.  Monday morning we woke to a trail of little rocks across the kitchen counter and an empty egg.  I hadn’t snapped the lid on the container all the way and the hatchling escaped.  (I’m still feeling totally sick about that and praying that it will turn up tonight.)  Later that night, though, Barry noticed a little head popping out of the other egg,

all the way out

and then the whole thing!  Oh the wonders of nature.  We are thrilled with our new addition.  Oh, I hope we can somehow find the other one.  I have no idea where or how to look for it with it being so tiny and nocturnal. I just feel so bad that it got away…

all cleaned up

So, there you have it.  We like little cold blooded animals at our house and are so excited that some decided to come and hang out with us this week.  How’s that for homeschool science?