And Another Thing...

To the water!

All of the sudden, the weather here in southeast Michigan has been beautiful, so we decided to start taking full advantage and head to one of our favorite parks to play inthe water and get reacquainted with spring.

We played in the water, got pulled around by dogs chasing birds, found huge branches and set them sail, built fairy houses, laid in the sun and listened to all the spring sounds around us, discovered a huge swan convention, practiced sleeping with one leg up like the swans, and had a group of swan thugs intimidate us (and our dogs) away from them.  Then we stopped at the playground on our way back out of the park to wring the last bits of energy out before we headed home.  It was a great day!  We're all looking forward to going back in a few weeks to visit the little signets that are sure to be hatching soon.

Love at first snow...

We sure had a lot of fun playing in the first snowfall of the year! 

Sunday Dinner

What could be better then homemade waffles, scrambled eggs and watermelon for Sunday dinner outside in the cool evening breeze?  Maybe the massive watermelon fight started by a certain Mama and ending with one boy up in a tree while his Dad waits on the ground, hose in hand.  Yup, that's how we roll here at the Eikenberry Nuthouse.

Boy Scout Camp

The boys went to Camp Frontier at the Pioneer Scout Reservation in Ohio last week.  Wednesday was Parent Night, so we went down with another scout parent to check things out.  This was the first experience either of them has had away at camp.  Although they were very excited to have this adventure and were having a tremendous amount of fun, they were both very glad to see us on Wednesday.  I'm very happy to say that Ben hugged me so hard, it hurt!

Ben was dubbed "The Kid With the Hair" by his fellow scouts.  You can see why they'd think that.

We got to eat dinner with the boys and after they consumed enormous amounts of food we had a lovely conversation.  As I watched nearly every boy go back for seconds and thirds, I deduced that 90% of the cost of camp was for the food.

Braidon participated in the Root Beer Cantina which I gather involved drinking an unhealthy amount of root beer in a very short period of time.

This is where the boys learned all kinds of stuff like lashings, rope tying, survival skills, first aid, etc.  The fenced in area on the right side is a human foosball table.

This is the tent where Braidon did some of the work on his fishing merit badge.

I may be biased, but I think these were the two best looking boys at the whole camp.

On a serious note, the boys had great time all week long.  This is including, but not limited to: each of them earning 3 merit badges, passing the swim test on the first try, learning a bunch of new things, eating as much food as they wanted at meal time and  surviving a tornado by hiding out in an unfinished latrine.  All in all, a very good week.  They're already talking about next year's camp.

Outdoor Living :: The Laundry Room

 

As soon as the temps get above freezing for a good length of time, I start hauling wet laundry outside to hang on the line.  I love just about everything about hanging laundry to dry from the physical act of hanging, to the crispness of sun-dried clothes and linens to the huge savings we see on our gas bill.  I love that it gets me outside numerous times each day.  I love getting up early and sneaking outside to hang the laundry while the rest of the house is sleeping in blissful silence.  I love that I am utilizing the awesome power of the sun, which is free by the way, to dry clothes instead of using gas and electricity.  I love that I can do my laundry, for the most part, in the open air rather than the dank, dark basement.  I feel like our clothes and linens get a little more love during the warm months and in return, they give us a little more love.

Do you hang clothes outside when you can?  What about it do you love?

New additions...

Our cat had three kittens last week!  We were very lucky because we got to see 2 of them being born.  That was quite an experience, let me tell ya!  These kitties are so sweet, we can't wait to see them grow.

How does our garden grow...

We decided on the spur of the moment to plant some corn this year.  The kids are really anxious to see how it goes.

After Olivia and I read Jody's Beans over and over again, we put in our own bean tee-pee and I am ardently hoping that we don't somehow get a baby at the end of our story!

A lovely shot of our very full garden.  We didn't get very much last year due to the mild weather we had, so we're hoping that things heat up a bit more this year.

Rainbow chard is so pretty!  It's almost a shame that we're going to eat it.

I can't tell you how much I love walking outside just before we sit down to a meal and picking my greens right out of the garden.  There is definitely something wonderful about the burst of flavor and satisfying about the crunch of a very fresh salad.

This is my version of the upside down tomato planter.  I used this tutorial to make them and decided to paint them in ROY G BIV.  Some of you know how  much I adore arranging things in rainbow color order. 

I planted 3 strawberry plants last year and this year we are actually seeing a few berries!  I know I should make that little beetle go away, but he was so happy perched on the berry that I had to take a picture first!

These are the twenty strawberry plants that I planted this year, so we won't get any berries until at least next year.  I'm planning to purchase 40 more at the plant sale next year which will hopefully make our strawberry jam free in a few years!

Spring at the zoo

We went to the zoo yesterday and found wonderful, beautiful and inspiring signs of spring everywhere!

Dandelions in April ?!?!?!

I have to say that the brightness of these photos is astounding to me.  I'm just giddy about all the beautiful colors and smells that are popping up everywhere and the intensity of the sun is wonderful!  It was such a beautiful day and I am fervently hoping that there will be many more in the near future.

Unschooling :: Gym

Olivia learned how to climb the tree today.  Her gym teacher, why Braidon of course!

Tale of the Tree: Part 3

Oliver is struggling with the gigantic tree that is putting up a huge fight.  Well really, would you want to leave your nice, warm, safe home if you knew you were getting dragged out to the burn pit to provide entertainment to two pyromaniac men a bunch of kids?

  All the Christmas decorations, safely ensconced in pretty little storage boxes.  I love these fabric boxes, they just make me happy!

The Christmas tree has been subdued and is now awaiting conflagration in the burn pit.