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!

hatched.

It is that time again! You may remember we hatched a mantis egg sac last year for our garden and watched them all summer long. This year we got another sac, and have been excitedly waiting knowing they would hatch any time now. When I heard the rustling late last night over by the canning jar, I knew they had arrived!


From the egg sac hundreds of little mantises hatched and this morning we took them out into the garden and put them in safe spots throughout. The boys were so excited to gently put one at a time on their finger and relocate it to its new leafy home.


While we start with a lot of them, most will be prey until they are big enough to be the top predator in our garden insect hierarchy. The few mantises that make it to full size will feast on the bad bugs in our organic garden...and we love that. And, of course, they are just plain cool to watch.

light.

Every day is an adventure.

Every outing is a parade.

I cherish every moment with these amazing people. They are so full of life, creativity, energy, light. Transit umbra, lux permanet.

privet.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
~Lao Tzu

big views.

After almost a week of working together to get ready for our yard sale, and of course the day of yard sale mania (all all allergies associated with sitting out in our yard half the day), we were just all d.o.n.e. The yard sale was great, and it was nice to get everything out, but whew...we needed some down time!



So, Sunday we needed a day inside, to wander and relax. We visit this science museum often, but the boys never tire of it. We love to explore, learn, read, look, and listen and get some Lake Michigan and city views for a fresh perspective.



A nice way to re-charge our batteries.

And, wow, is it Tuesday already?