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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weekend adventures.

Often, the weekends with the fewest plans find the most adventure. This weekend was one of those happily wandering, busy but not obligated ones...


...full of playing with neighbors in the alley, board games, 3-D glasses, 'pick your favorite' take out...


...World Cup Soccer, reading, playing, gardening...


...picking lots of strawberries in our own yard, park visiting, tree climbing...


...baking, making syrups and jams, creating new ice cream flavors...


...small towns for shoes, parks, baked goodies...


...interesting Main Streets, reading plaques, learning about the history of these small towns and the railroad going by...


...finding interesting spots to stop for lunch (we found one with a running model train!), local organic seasonal produce, 'old fashioned' playground equipment...


...a picnic under a tin roof in the rain, bird watching, snuggling on the couch, laughing, exploring. My kind of weekend.

Happy Monday!

happy, happy birthday!

A is seven! To celebrate his special day, he and his brother wanted to visit a water park. While we just spent just one night at the resort they picked, we packed a LOT into the time we had.

The boys went down water slides (a LOT of water slides!), surfed in wave pools, sat in a special kids 'warm tub'.


In the arcade they played games, rode speed bikes, and played a lot black light air hockey. They stayed up late in our room watching movies, eating birthday treats, and putting together birthday gifts.


They waved magic wands, completed a magical Quest, and slid down 2-4 story high slides. They played and ran and swam. Happy and exhausted boys.


A had a fantastic time and a great birthday. We were so happy to spend it with him, having fun together as a family.


Happy Birthday sweet boy!

to sunshine.

While I am dreaming of colder weather, the boys have really been enjoying this burst of warmth and sunshine in November.

The past week has been nicer, it seems, than most of the past 6 months. Such ups and downs with the weather this year, but we'll take this last gasp before the cold arrives.


Ahh, sunshine.

beaches & waterfalls.

Another week, another State Park! We have our favorite places to hike, but decided that this fall & winter we are going to explore parks we haven't been to before. My boys don't like long car rides so we usually stay fairly close to home - but there are many new places to explore within an hour or so of us, so we are on a mission!


A few days ago we visited a popular park - but since it is mid-September we had the whole place practically to ourselves. We started at the beach...while September is usually pretty cool, we have been having hot dry weather all month which is perfect for playing in the lakes. The boys both love digging and splashing - they play for hours!


After heating up at the beach, we cleaned up and headed into the forest. We heard about a cool trail leading to a waterfall. The boys were VERRRRRRY excited to see it. As we hiked down steep stone steps the temperatures dropped...suddenly we were in a moss covered wonderland full of rushing waters, a big cave, and pools of crystal clear water.


The massive rock is split, so some of the water falls in front, and some behind, leaving a little nook behind the waterfall. We stayed there a very long time - both A & G were really interested in exploring all of the interesting rocks and caves and landscape. Such a cool place.

From there we hiked a beautiful trail called the Lost Canyon. The whole trail followed along the creek from the waterfall, weaving through massive rock crevices. We saw birds, frogs, tadpoles, water insects, and animal tracks.


Even though it has been hot it is mid-September so the leaves have already started changing and falling. As we hiked the trail went from mossy dark mysterious woods to a glowing golden wonderland of falling leaves and bubbling brook. A said he wanted to build a little cottage and live right there in the woods by the creek. I think that sounds like a great idea.


We love getting outside together - to play at a lake, hike, wander and just look for things. We also love exploring the different programs offered by our State Parks. One is a free "Wisconsin Explorers" program for kids - we picked up booklets at the ranger station and as we visit a few parks the boys can work on the projects in the booklet - once completed, we just mail it in and they receive a patch (they have been really into collecting patches lately)! Many parks also offer ParkPacks - backpacks for families to check out which are filled with interesting items to explore the trails and lakes and learn more about relevant topics such as water, forests, and prairie. Most states have programs with the State Parks Systems, so even if you are not from Wisconsin, check out your state DNR website to see what they have.

While summer is a popular time for camping and getting out to parks, we really love fall and winter. Cooler temperatures, no crowds, and gorgeous changing scenery excite us - and we love spending all of those hours as a family outside together exploring. I can't wait for the temperature to drop and see what the next season brings.

weekend wanderings.

We like mini-adventures. It is a good way to wander with boys who don't like riding in the car for long. On Saturday we packed up and headed out. We had a few destinations in mind for a loop, but also wanted the boys to look out the windows and let us know when they wanted to stop! With GPS in hand, the boys followed our route as we drove.


Our first stop was to a cheese factory. A loves his cheese. We toured their aquaculture wastewater treatment area and saw a cool way to take wash/wastewater, treat it using microbes, aquaponics, and algae, and finish with clean water!


We also picked up some yummy organic cheeses - a few we've had many times, and a few A wanted after sampling. From there we stopped a nice small town park to play and swing!


Lunch was at one of our favorite small town cafes...and while there we visited their organic/eco-friendly general store and found a few goodies to take home.


We couldn't pass up a nature walk and scenic overlook with amazing views of farms, bluffs, hills and woods.


Even though this area is tourist central and usually filled with visitors from surrounding states, wherever we went it was quiet and peaceful. A perfect day for wandering.


We even found organic farms, farm stands, odd little tourist rock shops and other quirky spots.

And who can pass up visiting some horses at a stable? The boys yelled out when they saw that sign and we knew we had to turn around and stop for a visit! :)


After a fun afternoon of wandering we drove back home, tired and happy from a long interesting day!

Hope you had a nice weekend!

corner view :: wisconsin

This week the corner view is "out your back door or window"

We live in a 'green' neighborhood, which is designed to have small yard spaces with houses close together to minimize the stereotypical American wasteland of chemically induced water sucking unnaturally green untouched lawnscapes ;) and promote community. The plus is we get to know our neighbors -  people naturally congregate and children play in the carriage lane every evening during decent weather -  and we know just about everyone on our block.

Sooooo, out the back we have a small hill to a carriage lane (with garages)...and our small yard is on the side in between the houses. We have torn out a good percentage of our limited grass to grow flowers, vegetables, fruit, and provide habitat for our urban wildlife friends.

The top image is of our deck with a gazebo to give us some shade. We spend a lot of time there...and grow many herbs and veggies in pots. From the deck we have a square garden plot, tiered down to lemon balm and spearmint bushes, and a raised bed full of strawberries and raspberry canes next to a mini rain garden.



An up close view of what we see out our back door? So much is blooming right now - lilacs, mock orange bushes, viburnum. Raspberries are starting to fruit, strawberries are ripening, tiny tomatoes and peppers adorn the small late spring plants which will expand to take over all available space, garlic and shallots are getting so big, carrots are looking ferny, and birds bathe and eat and sing all day long.




The robins love our strawberries as much as we do, so every morning we go out to see if we can pick the ripe ones before they do!

Too see all of the other backdoor views around the world this week, visit:

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie, esti, sophie, cele, modsquad, caitlin, joyce, ani, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t., jeannette, outi, schanett, ritva, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana,denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, ruth, dianna, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy, jenna, skymring, elizabeth, audrey, allison, lise, cate, mon, victoria, crescent moon, erin, otli, amy, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa,britta, virgina, april, rebecca, b, kyndale samantha, karen, kristina, angelina, dorit, goldensunfamily, sophie, janet, mcgillicutty, desiree, di, travelingmama, aimee, sunnymama amanda, ali, jenell, guusje, britta, juanita, pamela, inna, daan, myrtille, cris, ibb, susi, jodi, lily, gillian, doobleh-vay

corner view wisconsin:: beach

This weeks Corner View is Beach. While we do have beaches here in Madison, Wisconsin, they are of the small lake variety! We are surrounded by lakes, and so do often visit beaches - mostly in fall, winter and spring, though, as we like the cooler weather and no crowds.


In the summer if we head to a beach we like the spring fed lake variety outside of the city - the cool water and clean beaches are lovely. A few things we watch out for in our inland beaches is bacterial counts, algae blooms, swimmers itch...we read the beach reports before visiting to be sure it is safe for swimming! There are many great swimming lakes within an hour or two of us...we could visit a new beach every week all year and not make it through the list!


About 80 miles away is Lake Michigan. I lived in Chicago for many years right on the lake front, and miss that never ending horizon of water. 

The Great Lakes -- Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario -- and their connecting channels form the largest fresh surface water system on earth.


They are a treasure, and we love to visit.

I will admit that none of these photos are from this week - but from my iPhoto archives. We have had a week of cool cloudy days and wind - but perhaps next week we will be back to the beach, throwing rocks, digging with sticks, and looking for fish!

To visit the other corner views (full of lovely beaches!!!!) visit:

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie, esti, sophie, cele, modsquad,caitlin, joyce, ani, couturecoucou, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage,trinsch, c.t.,jeannette, outi, schanett, ritva, dongdong, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana,denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, ruth, dianna, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e,janis, kari, jgy, jenna, skymring, elizabeth, audrey, allison, lise, cate, mon, victoria, crescent moon, erin, otli, amy, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa,britta, virgina, april, rebecca, b, kyndale, desiree, di, travelingmama, aimee, sunnymamaamanda, ali, jenell, guusje, britta, juanita, pamela, inna, daan, myrtille, cris, samantha, karen, kristina, angelina, dorit, goldensunfamily, sophie, janet, nicki, ruth, mcgillicutty,

color my world.

It happened. Today was that day that marks the beginning of the next season in our minds. Today went above 80 degrees. Today we went to a local botanical garden and everything was SO MUCH.


We visit the gardens often, but today was amazing with so much in bloom, brightly colored, and almost fluorescent in its freshness. Intense colors, fragrance, textures, movement, life. Turtles, birds, ducklings, crabapple petals fluttering onto our heads, and flowering something every step of the way.


The colors, after a long winter and drab early spring, were so intense it was almost too much! A total assault of the senses.


We made it to this hot pink poofball flower and we all actually laughed out loud together at how monstrously amazing it was that a flower could be SO bright and fluffy and humongous. It was almost ridiculous! It was almost as big as G's head!


As we wandered through a flowering wonderland A said, "Everything looks like sorbet, even the trees!"


And G, right behind him shrieked "NO, GELATO!". :)


A wondrous day.