...to long weekends.

I love long holiday weekends with perfect weather. Don't you? This weekend was so busy, but all good busy. And I mean good busy in that I didn't have to touch tomatoes but to make a salad all weekend! ;)


We had family in town, so lots of cleaning and cooking to prepare. And then of course a lot of visiting and catching up!


I had both of my sisters in town on Saturday - at the same time. The three of us haven't been in a room together at the same time in years (my family has 4 siblings living in 4 states). And the boys had some aunt catching up to do.



Sunday was more family time, walks, ice cream and botanical gardens. The boys were happy but exhausted after so much.



So for Monday we knew we needed a laid back day, but wanted to get out in the perfect weather. We headed to Old World Wisconsin, which is one of the largest living history museums in the world (almost 600 acres). So much room to roam!



We walked and wandered and visited all the animals and looked at the gardens and went into each farm. We took tram rides around the farms and through the woods.



We played games and watched wild turkeys. It was a perfect day to be out - pants and fleeces and sunshine and blue skies. I love the cooler air and happy boys who could walk and run and play without worrying about prickly heat, heat rash or sun blisters. SO wonderful!


I'm back to the tomatoes and red raspberries, but that is OK. A little quiet kitchen is good after so much weekend! Happy Tuesday!

weekending.

We took a day trip this weekend to a museum in Iowa that we visit usually once a year or so. The boys have been wanting to get back there and so today we hit the road.



This trip the boys really just wanted to see the aquariums...we spent hours going from aquarium to aquarium to touch tanks and back again. FUN!

(yes, this is a BIG catfish!!!)

We made it home exhausted but happy. A great trip.

Hope you had a nice weekend!

it's all about water.

Last weekend it was c-c-c-cold outside, so we took a day trip and visited our favorite science museum in Milwaukee!


We walked on water,


Under water,

Through water,


Dipped our arms in water,


And measured how much water our bodies contained.

We operated remote control under water cameras. We saw ships and boats, water recycling and sanitation, and water gardens. We created art in water bubbles. We looked at aquariums, the Great Lakes, and saw how sound affects water. While there were so many other things to look at - the day was definitely about water!

It is warming up - today will be 25º, and by Thursday a balmy 34º is expected. So we will head outside to enjoy this heat wave while it lasts. Have a great week!

Sssssssnakes!

We have been hanging low, working to keep G (asthma boy) virus free. November is always his first big month of ER/Urgent Care visits, nebulizers, and breathing problems. This year we are being extra (extra, extra?) careful. Last weekend was Snake Day at a museum in Milwaukee. The boys REALLY wanted to go, so we all made an exception to our 'crowd' aversion and went. I'm so glad we did!


Snake Day is an annual event - but this year they expanded it quite a bit. There were dozens of volunteers there with so many types of snakes, lizards and other reptiles. So cool.


The boys were in awe. We spent hours going around and around over and over again.


They got to handle snakes, ask questions, see so many types and learn a lot. They were so interested and gentle with these creatures - and admired their beauty.


I am sure this was a day they will always remember!

sunday, sunday.

Today we headed to our favorite science museum to see their new exhibits. The boys always love seeing the familiar, but definitely love exploring the new. The water cycle exhibit was pretty cool. They could see where rain goes - from your roof to the water treatment plant.


We saw how much water weighed, and how far many people on the planet must carry their water every day. We read how much water people use in this country daily (ouch). We compared showerheads for water usage. We saw how plants and fish work together in aquaponics to filter and grow in a beneficial dependency.


We walked through a green built house and compared different types of insulation, paints, flooring, and windows. We looked at different light bulbs, read about fiber optic solar, and saw how much electricity a live eel was generating in a tank (cool!). The boys even got to run and produce kinetic energy...by running in what really was a gigantic hamster (uh, human) wheel. They lit up light bulbs running and running.


We explored wind turbines, hydrogen cells, nuclear power, solar power...they felt good about how much they already knew, and excited to find out more about a few new interesting things (electric eels).


A nice break from our intensive gardening efforts of the past month or so. Tomorrow more rain - the boys won't mind though, as we have a new fun game...Earthopoly...and we have some research to do on those electric eels!

From hot to snow.

I can't believe it is already Monday night! Last week we had several days of weather getting warmer and warmer until peaking at 74º and sunny on Saturday. The boys were so happy - they rode bikes, played basketball and soccer in the yard, made up funny games, helped me dig and rake the beds, and played with all the neighbor kids in our busy family friendly alley. We even had a mini bonfire in our yard on a warm weekend night, and made s'mores with all of the neighbor kids.

In the garden we hardened spring seedlings and planted out all of the early spring plantings - peas, early cabbage, greens, radishes, kale, and more. So much garden work, all with the help of my sweet husband - the weather was just right for it all. On Saturday we visited an Earth Day Celebration to pick up our new humongous rain barrel (yay!) to add to our side yard.


And then Sunday came - full of cold and rain. We finished some yard work and headed down to visit a Natural History Museum in Illinois. Dinosaurs, rocks, wigwams, and a great kids room. Just what we needed to enjoy the day.


Today? More cold and rain and a lot of fun indoor play and books to read. Tonight and tomorrow? Snow! We are good with it, though. After a long cold winter we can't take on the full force heat and sun right away - it is too much (and I'm one tired mama after all that planting and garden clean-up!). We need some up and down, some cold rainy days. That is how we start to get that green grass, those vibrant green buds, and what brings our trees a burst of spring foliage. So, tomorrow? Some new fun projects inside, a big stack of new books from the library, and some baking (G wants to make cinnamon rolls). Sounds perfect.

museum exploration.

This was the first year that my boys were ho-hum about going to the annual train show - kind of the same'ol thing, after a few years of attending. Yesterday we had a big snow and stayed close to home, but this morning the boys jumped at the idea of heading east to visit the Milwaukee Public Museum instead of going to see trains. The museum is so huge there never seems to be much of a crowd and we can wander and explore so many interesting things - insects, dinosaurs, ancient peoples, Asian art, geology, rain forests, Native American culture and history, and life through the ages.


It is such a big place that G my little asthma boy has to 'stop to catch his breaf', and so we walked a bit and then sat and people watched our way through (G also got a lot of shoulder & piggy back rides! :)). As the boys get older we can stay longer and longer and made it many hours today as the boys wanted to stop, read, and explore so much in each section this time.


A really loves science and all of the little details. We have been to this museum many times, but the trip today started many new conversations and sparked new questions from him. I love seeing what new things he notices each time we go. He is getting so big. I can't believe he is going to be six in only a few weeks. Wow.


With the snow and the museum, it was a nice weekend with a little home and a little exploration. We also visited a great local garden store over the weekend - and found several eco-friendly options (non-peat) for seed starting mediums. Can't wait to try them (more on that soon!).

I'm ready for a week of Mardi Gras kid fun, frenzied garden sketching and plotting, bread baking, insect research, science projects, basement seed station organizing, birthday planning, snow shoveling, and more! Hope you had a nice weekend!

1800s for a day.

Today we had another field trip - a visit to Old World Wisconsin. We have been wanting to go for awhile and this weekend was a great time to visit - it was not crowded and the weather was great.


Old World Wisconsin, as you can probably guess, is a group of period settlements representing rural and town Wisconsin during the late 1800s. Each building was carefully moved from its home in some Wisconsin town and re-constructed on site at OWW. Quite a wonder. Several settler populations from this time period are represented - German, Polish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, African American, and Yankee.


We started in town and visited the shoemaker, blacksmith, church, general store, and the inn (the boys even played croquet!) before heading out to the farms.

The boys had a blast riding the tram from village to village (the entire place is over 600 acres, so while walking is nice, the tram is wonderful). Each farm had something interesting and different - summer kitchens, baking, food preservation, weaving, farm animals, smokehouses - many manned by volunteers in period costume who chatted with us and showed us around as they went about their day. We also visited the one room schoolhouse - the boys liked the school bell. A lot.


Each farm had a large food garden and farm animals - which the boys liked a lot - cows, sheep, pigs, chickens. The chickens liked us too...


In addition to the tram there were many hiking trails connecting the villages - it is so lush and forested there - great place to hike. At the end, we visited the town hall - which had all sorts of games for kids as well as weaving, quilting and spinning.


The boys don't think rural Wisconsinites had it too bad back then - except for the tiny farm houses...but when they heard about the cold Wisconsin winters and keeping everyone warm only via the wood stove, they thought cozy made sense on the farm and having a bed in the main room was a good thing! ;)


What a great day! It is so much fun learning about history through a living museum. It makes it more real, more fun and interesting, and kids take away so much from it. We already have some questions A and G want answered, so we will re-visit some of our Laura Ingalls-Wilder books and have some fun. And I think we will go back for their Autumn Harvest in October - the leaves will be amazing by then!

I took so many pics that I'm posting some at Flickr...