Summer vacation

I have not blogged in a long time and I wanted everyone to know we are still out there!

We have been taking it easy to say the least over the course of the last month.  We are doing very unschool like behavior.  Flopping around everyday like a bunch of rabbits.

That being the case I have no school related news I just wanted to share some of the highlights from our first real vacation of the summer!!

My mother and I took the kiddos up to Duluth, MN for some R&R.  We stayed in a hotel for a couple of days and thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality(aka pool).  We did venture out a bit though.  We did some hiking at two Wisconsin state parks I had never been to and they were gorgeous!

We went to Pattison and Amnicon.  They both boast some of the most beautiful waterfalls I have ever seen.

Hiking around the parks!

We also went to canal park in Duluth to show the kids the huge ships as they arrive in the harbor.

They love it.  

We climb on the rocks and eat ice cream and donuts.

After, Duluth we headed over to my dad's lake place about a half an hour away for more fun in the sun.

But, not until we hit the Accordion Museum!!

That's right mom your dreams have come true :)

~For those of you who do not know my mother is a very accomplished accordion player

spending all of childhood and adolescence performing the instrument.~

Surprisingly the kids didn't touch anything or complain.

We had a great time.  

It was a very enjoyable vacation I will keep you posted periodically 

about our summer adventures.

Until next time

~blessings

Last week (and a half) of school!

This was the very last week of our kindergarten year! 

I had no interest in tackling any new subjects so, we had a fluffy week.

Trying to transition from a pretty structured day into more of a relaxed summertime mentality.

Plenty of outside time...

We finished planting our garden 

with the help of Aunt Burp and our chickens.

Then, the boys found this lovely snapping turtle.

He was huge.

The next day we went exploring around our own town.

 

we went down to the river and played at our parks.

We crossed the lift bridge into Wisconsin for our big end of the year field trip.

We went on a huge hike exploring Willow river state park.  

This is one of our absolute favorites.  It is really close to the metro if anyone 

would want to check it out.

To celebrate miss Tillie's birthday we really took off on Friday and went to the pool!

Happy Birthday baby girl!

We continued to observe our butterflies.  

It was a big subject for us and we stuck with it for the rest of the week.

They changed into chrysalis

Daddy put them into our butterfly holder 

and we awaited further transformation...




And then it happened!

They became butterflies.
We feed them oranges and watched them for awhile before release.

We finished everything off with another huge hike to our other favorite park.

Interstate park in Taylors Falls.

They love being rock climbers.

We had a lot of fun exploring and enjoying our laid back days.
I will do a reflective post next week to recap our year.  As for now
thank you to everyone for following us through our days of
me attempting to homeschool these little rascals!


Thank you!

Until then
~blessings

Butterflies

Spring goeth all in white
Crowned with milk-white may:
In fleecy flocks of light
O'er heaven the white clouds stray.

White butterflies in the air;
White daisies prank the ground;
The cherry and the hoary pear
Scatter their snow around.

~Robert Bridges

This week we studied butterflies.  

We read many books from the library.  We read about life cycles.  

We read about which plants attract caterpillars and which attract butterflies.

As always I think I am learning more than the kids!

On painting day we made coffee filter butterflies.

First, we used watercolors to paint our coffee filters.

Once they dried we added pipe cleaners to make a body.

Very cute!

The boys colored pictures of what they had learned about life cycles, anatomy, and symmetry.

To surprise the kiddos I ordered painted lady larve from insect lore.  

It takes a couple of weeks but, soon we will be the proud owners of painted lady butterflies.

Here's what they look like so far.

We watch them every day for changes.  

as of now they have molted two times and are getting pretty big.

We spent time talking about the migration of the Monarch.  This is one of the most unusual migrations on Earth.  Scientists still do not understand many aspects of this flight.  I usually do not allow T.V.  In this case I wanted them to see how it looked when millions of Monarchs arrive in the mountains of Mexico at the same time.  So, I allowed a show it was very good.  Nova is one of my favorite programs. 

On craft day we made butterfly nets!  

All the kids loved them.

We got the directions from a cute crafty website called skip to my lou.  

Of course we went on a lot of hunts to try and find them.  

It is still a little early for the butterflies.  They found box elder bugs though.

We also tried to identify plants in the wild they would consume.  

We found milkweed!

Still no eggs or caterpillars:(

We decided to make our own butterfly garden.

We already had some of the plants in place that attract butterflies.  

This time we did some research and added more from Axdahls.

While wearing a butterfly headband no less.

We planted patunias, zinnia, and cosmos.
We already had purple coneflower, blackeyed susan, aster, and many more.

Hopefully the butterflies will grace us all summer.


Hopefully, butterflies will grace all of your gardens as well.



Until next week
~blessings

Turtles

This week we talked about turtles.

First, we took it easy.  For my sanity I guess.  Monday was my last day at my second job.  I had been working two jobs outside the home for the last couple of months.  I was very burnt out.  Monday was my last day of a stretch of fourteen continuous days.  I am so elated to just have one job and be able to concentrate on my kids again.

So, Tuesday we went to the park...

and we got ice cream.

We relaxed, planted flowers, and played in our yard.

 Then, we started our week on turtles.

We of course needed to find a turtle to really examine them so, we went on a hunt.

We got on our bikes, scooters, and strollers and we were off to turtle pond.

That's what we call it because there are so many turtles there.  

Except for this particular day.

We found lots of birds nesting and fishing.
Not as many turtles as we were used to. 

Then, we spotted a huge snapping turtle just below the surface.

We did not want to take that guy home.

We left feeling sad.  

Matthew really had his heart set on a new pet for the afternoon.

just then on our ride home he saw one crossing our path!!

It was amazing they were so happy.

We played with him all day.  

We read stories about all different kinds of turtles.  

The boys did turtle drawings.

Wesley's sea turtle

Matthew's turtle

For baking day we made rhubarb bread.  Yummy!

Here's the recipe if you want to give it a try.
I got it from all recipes.

Rhubarb Bread

• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh or sliced frozen rhubarb
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• TOPPING:
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon cold butter

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, combine brown sugar and oil. Add egg, mix well. Beat in buttermilk and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into brown sugar mixture just until combined. Fold in the rhubarb and nuts. Pour into two greased 8-in. x 4-in. x 2-in. loaf pans.
1. For topping, in a bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon and butter until crumbly; sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350 degrees F for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Cut with a serrated knife. 

 

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We kept the turtle for a day 

then, we marked him with nail polish to see 

if we would ever find him again.

The boys watched him swim away (quickly!)

They also befriended a neighborhood cat named Solomon during the release.

Next week is about butterflies!

until then,

~blessings