happy may!

Is it? Could it be? Spring? We had a weekend that felt like early spring. Not really like the first weekend in May, but I'll take sunshine and chilly but not completely freezing any day! The boys even had a few hours of shorts before the cold breeze convinced them pants were in order.

We had a weekend of being outside. State park and a flooded lake for scooping with nets and casting. Playing on the playground. Walking the boardwalk.


Watching wildlife. (I'll just stop right there, and skip past the swarms of flying insects, screaming children running to car sobbing, bugs in eyes, up nose, swallowed!!! ;)


We had a car ferry ride (no bugs!) and drive through small towns.



Lots of basketball in the alley. One on one, with dad, with neighbors, repeat, repeat, repeat.



Some more garden transplanting.


Nerf battles when they needed to come inside to warm up for a bit.


Fresh home made tortillas and lemon loaf.


Swings and climbing and walks.


Just how weekends should be. Happy May!

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indoor fun.

We were planning on going to watch a high school age robotics competition at UW Madison today - but the weather was just blech. Really really cold, raining, wind advisory windy. None of us really felt like walking through all of that from parking garage to far away buildings. So, we had a family vote - and after lunch we hit the road for some indoor fun instead. Mini Golf!



We had the place practically all to ourselves (spring break around here is next week). It is a great spot - with water features & traps, boats, slides, blacklights, basketball, stairs, ramps, tunnels -- all in a Madison theme.



We played golf followed by some skeeball and air hockey. We then grabbed a snack and sat at the window in the cafe to watch the crazy adults who were trying to play mini golf OUTSIDE in 40º weather. In the rain. With 35+ mile per hour winds. Yep. Only in Wisconsin.



Even Brice had some sliding action. Woo hoo! Perfect for a dark cold Friday.

Happy weekending everyone!

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doldrums schmoldrums.

As soon as the holidays end many people start talking about the winter doldrums. I say doldrums schmoldrums. I love winter. There are so many things to appreciate, enjoy and which inspire this time of year. Sure, some can be enjoyed year round, but there is something special, simple, and particularly fulfilling about them when it is bitterly cold outside. Here are a few things that caught my eye today that made me think...I love January.


trays of sprouts, piles of books, crunchy snow underfoot,


sunshine streaming in the windows, the smell of the cold clean air as it blasts into the house when the door opens,


wheatgrass, hot tea, birds, how the previously chilly house feels steamy when we come in from outside,


seed catalogs, garden planning,


knitting and crocheting, music,


baking and cooking from our winter stores...home.


As the cold settles in and the holidays are over and days become more peaceful, these things make the winter a comfortable warm place to be.

In fact, my list goes on and on (and on). ;) I think I'll be doing more of this throughout the 'winter doldrums'.

"Hear! hear!" screamed the jay from a neighboring tree, where I had heard a tittering for some time, "winter has a concentrated and nutty kernel, if you know where to look for it."
~Henry David Thoreau

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What inspires you in January?

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weekending.

Ahhh, we are home from a staycation weekend. Having an angora rabbit, a cat and a fully loaded garden makes it tough for us to get out of town for more than a night (and we just enjoy being home). So, we like to get away to a local hotel every once in awhile - close enough to still come check often on the spunky huffy rabbit, feed the cat, and water all of the pots while we get out of the house for a few days!

The boys decided last week that we had to get away!! They looked online with me and we narrowed down the hotels and called to ask about pool temperatures. From there they wanted a 'tour' so we went to visit the top four hotel picks close to us to see the lobby, dining, and most importantly, the pool. They made their final decision on Thursday and we made a reservation for Friday.


Even though we stay only a few miles from home, it feels like a special vacation. We go out to eat, spend a lot of time in the pool, hang out in the hot tub, play board games on the bed, and watch a movie in the room.


In our few days at the hotel, A spent hours in the pool swimming and snorkeling and even started diving down to collect things on the bottom (!). G and I swam a bit and spent time in the hot tub (ahhh). Just what they wanted. Lots of fun and a nice little break.



Of course the best thing is that no matter where we go or how long we are gone, we really love coming HOME!

it doesn't get much better than this.

Brothers. Best friends.
I love these guys.

I had two sick boys on the couch all day today - cuddled together,
snuggling, comforting each other. When I downloaded these photos from my camera from yesterday...well, my heart is full.

geocaching fun.

April and early May usually brings a lot of cold and rain to Wisconsin (and iffy trails), but this year we have had a remarkably dry spring. For us, this means we have been able to hit our favorite trails and parks several times a week for hiking, bird watching, and plant identifying.


With the warm dry weather we have also been able to spend time with our GPS and compass. Geocaching is something we have found that combines a lot of our favorite things--hiking, nature walks, orienteering, navigating, and especially for my guys, gadgets and technology. :)



With the popularity of geocaching, we can usually find a cache (or several) to hunt in pretty much any one of our favorite parks, towns, or trails. We find a good family cache, enter the coordinates into our GPS device, and we are off! The boys check direction and trail maps, determine the best path(s) to take (confirm we are heading in the right direction with their compass), and guide us to the coordinates by following the GPS. By solving a clue we usually can get the final hint to lead us to the cache.


We have had the perfect weather to get out this spring and go geocaching...last weekend we tracked three! It was nice to get outside, visit a few state parks, wander and explore, and swap some treasure.


You can search for geocaches in your area at geocaching.com.


Lots of fun!

New Beginnings...

Enjoy Life Unschooling is hosting it's first blog carnival, with the topic of New Beginnings. Two of the questions she asked were what are some favorite spring activities, and how do you celebrate new beginnings in your life?

We tend to flow with the seasons - and spring is a time of new beginnings. For us, spring is about finishing up all of our winter projects, spring cleaning, and preparing for the next season. Right now that means planting seeds, cleaning garden beds, prepping the soil, re-connecting our rain barrel, and sketching all the plans for our garden ideas.


It also means thinking of what we want to do next, as each new season means new opportunities, ideas, and activities. One way we kick off each season and put to rest the old is by creating a dream drawing. We sit down together and brainstorm all of the things we want to do, places we want to go, and ideas we want to explore for the next few months. Fresh ideas, goals, dreams, interests...we always feel refreshed and jazzed again looking forward this way.


One way we like to do this is to cover the dining room table with a big piece of paper. We pull out markers, pencils, crayons. We start to draw images, write ideas, and color it all in as we go. What do we want to do? Where do we want to go? What have we been wanting to learn more about? Each of us (kids and parents) expresses what we are interested in and dreaming of doing, and we think of new ideas as we read and look at each others drawings. At the end, we have a big list of all the things we want to do as a family, plus we have it all written down so we don't forget!



Our lists include all kinds of things. Seasonal/holiday activities and family traditions. Themes and topics we want to learn more about. Places we want to visit. Activities we want to do. Museums we want to visit. Projects we want to work on together. Community service we want to volunteer for. From robotics events to a family ceramics class to animal tracking - we put it all out there, and talk about what we dream of doing, learning, seeing, exploring. And yes, there are new ideas every season!

From our list, I can go look up things online and find out about dates for events and activities in advance. I can also get books and supplies and research where we can go that has the kinds of things we are looking for. This doesn't mean our next season is set in stone (we do pursue ideas & interests as we go, of course), and it doesn't mean we always do every single thing, but it does mean we are all excited by our ideas, we have each had a voice in the family plans for the next few months, we have some activities planned to look forward to, and we have talked about it and know what everyone is interested in! All good!


So for now, new beginnings for us means laying the winter to rest and working this spring so we are ready for the nice weather when it arrives. We have some great ideas for what we want to do this spring and summer - I can't wait! Happy Spring!

losin' it.

It is amazing that while years can change an appearance so little, simply losing a top tooth can change an appearance drastically! My little guy is going to be 7 (!!!!) in about a week, and with the loss of his first top tooth over the weekend he just seems so, well, big.

He has been changing a lot this winter. He is deep into his make believe stories and scenes, and is excited by tales of magic, wizards, knights and mythical creatures (they used to just scare him). His karate is moving along and he is now in a class with mostly bigger kids, which has charged his focus. He is reading super fast, drawing comics, and loves games of logic and strategy. He is building and programming his Mindstorms, amazing us all with how quickly he picks it all up. He has so many fun interests and we all love exploring them with him.

He is such a funny, warm, quirky, interesting kid - and while I can't believe that almost 7 years have now passed, I'm excited to see what the future brings. He is quite a force!

Wisconsin Winter Day.

Ah, the sun! Just in time for our sledding outing, the sun returned. Cold but bright blue sky and glorious rays. We visited farm friends who live near a rural sledding hill ... and a big one at that! The sun and cold after a week of crazy weather meant that the hill was pretty icy. Before we even could start sledding, one girl was launched out into the middle of the highway at high speed. A few minutes later another girl shot off into the woods and hit a tree *head* on. Her shrieks could be heard all the way at the bottom of the long steep hill. But, the boys wanted to do it. After that intro, though, they were relieved that we brought helmets for them...they could come down pretty fast without being too scared (although it was icy fast and they were a bit intimidated). The trick was to dig in the heels 2/3 of the way down to slow down and stop before being launched into the street at something like 35 miles per hour. We stood at the bottom to jump and catch the kids before the road if their heel brakes or the ROLL OFF THE SLED NOW!!! didn't work. They figured it all out after a run or two. Needless to say, the kids had a blast, and I didn't get any photos of everyone sledding. ;)


After a fun but exhausting hour or so of sledding (that is a long hike up!), we went back to our friends for some hot cocoa and play time. From there we stopped by one of our favorite cafes for an afternoon snack and a game of chess.


After a full day spent enjoying the winter weather, we headed home. The snow in the fields was so shiny it looked more like waves than frozen fields. So beautiful. Tired boys, good day.

Happy Winter!