pond fun.

My boys love casting. You read right. Casting, not fishing. They don't really want to catch fish. They don't like trying to pull hooks out of mouths and tossing fish back...


But they love heading out to ponds every single spring as soon as the ice has melted and using their fishing poles. And the best part is of course the process, the ritual.


They really enjoy going out to the pond on a sunny day to listen to frogs, cast the line and reel it in (we use practice casting weights, not hooks), see who can go farthest, who has the best aim. Watch birds. Look at the clouds. Feel the breeze. Try to figure out what all the plants are. Sit in the grass and feel the warm sunshine. See if they can find any garter snakes. Have a picnic.


They like to find new ponds or streams. Explore the water to see what is living in there (their easter baskets will have water testing kits - can't wait!!). They call themselves the "litter patrol" and clean up whatever paper/plastic we find when we visit our favorite spots. It is all such a nice way to spend a sunny spring day. It isn't about the catching, it is about the fishing.

Many men go fishing all of their lives without
knowing that it is not fish they are after.

~Henry David Thoreau


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outside days.

There are some places we go where we all just feel so calm and happy and grounded. While we spend a lot of time OUTside, some places are just ... more. Devil's Lake is one of our favorite places - it is so beautiful. Due to too much road construction for awhile there, we haven't been as often as we like. Yesterday we headed up for the afternoon. It was a perfect afternoon - not too hot, not too cold, sunny, and with practically empty beaches and trails. The water is even still warm!




My oldest, A, has a hard time living in his skin sometimes - for lack of better words to describe it. But get him outside in a big empty beach, park or forest, and he is happy, relaxed, and focused. He and his brother spent hours in the lake, stacking stones, building rock sculptures, skipping stones and trying to capture little fish in rock rings to observe them. Pure bliss.



Of course we also had a picnic under a big purple tree, went on a hike, looked at the orange leaves falling under some of the trees, collected black walnuts (G is collecting tree seeds/nuts), watched animals and studied plants and moss, looked at of the amazing purple and pink quartzite rocks (created by a glacier 12,000 years ago), and just had a wonderful afternoon.


I know that having something like that in our backyard, far from close together houses, hard pavement and urban busy'ness would be so wonderful for all of us, but especially for A. Some day we hope to move out of town a little for acres and space -


Until then we will always go to find the places that make us feel happy and calm and grounded as often as possible. We are all happiest there, after all.

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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!