Our Old Stomping Grounds

I got really lazy by the end of the summer. No creativity. Whereas last summer we tried out all sorts of new hiking spots in Kentucky, this summer we stuck to the well worn path, mostly because it was close and I was . . . well . . . I was lazy. Didn't I already say that?

Hey, at least we got out of the house and into nature. Why do I feel like I have to justify myself to myself?

Raven Run it was, then, for most of our hikes. Week after week, we returned. Fortunately, there are numerous trails at Raven Run, so we tried to do something new every time, even if it was just a small section of the hike.

On this hike, we took a new section of trail (very underused and overgrown) on which we saw a deer and her fawn. Nice to try new things, especially when they are embedded in old ones.

Last Friday, the kids had a day off of school, so we gathered up some friends and headed back to Raven Run.

We hiked to a spot called Evan's Mill where the trail lets off at the top end of a small waterfall. The kids had a blast building dams and small pools of water and generally getting soaked through.

I'm so grateful for a nice hiking spot close to town and for kids who will go with me. I love a kid who will hike. I love these hiking kids in particular though.

Boca Raton, FL

From St. Augustine, we drove the last stretch of our Spring Break road trip down to Boca Raton, FL. Only four more hours (whew!), making about 19 in all. That's just crazy! (We cut three hours off on the way home by taking a different, less-exciting route, and not stopping nearly as much.)

We stayed with our good friends, the Pattons, in Boca and hung out there for a few days.

On Tuesday morning (our first full day in Boca), we took some water, scrub brushes, and cleaning materials supplied to us by Kim and headed to the Boca Raton Cemetery to clean Sela's and Catalina's headstones. The mold and algae had gotten into the letters and engraving, and it was a tough job scrubbing it out (I doubt it will last long). When we were finished, the kids laid down some of the shells they had gathered on the beach in St. Augustine.

Kim had also given the kids some bubbles to blow at the cemetery, and the kids thought that was a grand idea.

I never would have thought of something like that, but it turned out to be the perfect thing. Leave it to Kim to remember a detail like that.*

After the cemetery, we drove the mile or two to Red Reef Beach in Boca. The water was lovely blue and WARM, and the Phoenix stayed in the ocean for the rest of the afternoon.

Phoenix learned an important lesson that day . . . how to do a surfer's change.

 I couldn't resist taking pictures. So stinkin' cute. These are the kinds of things a father can teach his son.

* Kim was recently hired by Hospice by the Sea, the same wonderful Hospice that worked with us for a year with Sela, as their social worker overseeing child bereavement. So great!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas and All Through the Bowling Alley . . .

Day 24 of the Advent saw us at the bowling alley for our annual New Year's Eve bowling fest with friends.

Full disclosure . . . as a family, we are really bad at bowling.

But every once in a while, even the worst of us can get a strike. (Actually, Phoenix did the best of us and got a few strikes and spares).

 

 

Strike!!!

 Fortunately, we don't need to be good at bowling to have a good time.

We can do that all on our own, thankyouverymuch!!

* Such bad pictures, I know! It was a bowling alley with low indoor light. Ok, I'll admit, I'm not really great at photography either. Better than at bowling though.

Kids' Book Club ~ Warrior Games

 

Since school begins tomorrow, I had better get a move on with all these summer posts!

This was a good summer for our kids' book club. We had a meeting at the beginning of the summer in which we decided on the books and scheduled the rest of the meetings (the moms scheduled; the kids played), and we had a meeting at the end of the summer in which the kids each shared a favorite book or two that they had read by themselves this summer (bingo was also involved, and it was a rounding success). The books the kids read for the other book club meetings are as follows:

The Olympians, George O'Connor
The Candy Shop War, Brandon Mull
The One and Only Ivan, Katherine Applegate
Into the Wild, Erin Hunter

 

We, of course, hosted the Olympians book club, and we also hosted Into the Wild, the first in a six-part series based on warring cat clans. The kids have not only read this entire series, but also the subsequent 2-3 series. Erin Hunter is freakishly prolific. Despite the kids' familiarity with the Warriors books (as they are called), I had never read any of them, so this was a good chance for me to be inducted into all things warrior.

For the most part, the kids came up with the enrichment ideas and activities that we used at the book club. We started out by giving all the kids special "cat" names (as per the trash can message above). Each child drew the first part of their name from one bowl and the second part of their name from a separate bowl. Hence, we ended up with some quirky combinations, such as Sparklebadger and Bananakit. Not everyone liked their names :). Ah well.

Next, everyone took an elaborate quiz designed to determine which clan most suited each of the kids. This was fun to create, and the Lutece and Phoenix helped me make up most of the questions. Honestly, I was amazed at how smoothly it went considering we included 19 questions and had a pretty wacky scoring system. What were we thinking?! Anyway, it worked out surprisingly well, and it was fun for the kids to think about their own preferences.

After our more cerebral activities, we broke out the crafting supplies . . . beads, of course. The majority of our little book club members are now old enough to do, well, older things. It's been fun to see the progression of our kids' book club over the years.

Everyone designed and beaded his or her own mouse using a pattern we found online (Lutece and I made a couple of model mice ahead of time).

All the kids got into it, and I think everyone had a good time.

For the treat, we had ice CREAM (cats love cream, don't they?) with lots of sprinkles. I even got the whole crew to pose for a picture with their mice in tow (see top picture). Hooray to another good summer of kids' book club!

Hiking with the Pattons

The day after we arrived home from our east coast wanderings (DC, Boston), our good friends the Pattons drove into town to visit. How lucky are we?! Not only have we gotten to see all of our family this summer, but we've had the chance to see some of our closest friends as well!

I wanted to show Kim and Adrie a little slice of Kentucky while they were here for a few days, so on Saturday, we took them for a late-afternoon hike at the Kentucky River Pallisaides.

By the time we got on the road, the already gray skies had started to drizzle, then rain pretty solidly. It looked like the storm was moving north (I hoped!), and although I didn't think a hike in the rain sounded very fun, I couldn't bring myself to tell Kim to turn the car around, and she didn't suggest it either, so we just drove south in the rain with the whole gang of us in tow.

As it turned out, the rain had petered out by the time we reached the trail head. There were a couple of sprinkles left, but within a couple of minutes, the sun was shining overhead. It was a hiking miracle!

However, just because the rain had stopped, didn't mean that it hadn't left a trail of mud and slimy sludge in its wake. We were all covered in a certain amount of mud by the time we finished the hike (some of us more than others . . . see Phoenix above).

Still, if we wanted to show the Pattons a typical slice of Kentucky, I can think of no better way than the perfect trifecta of trees, rain, and mud.

We were so sad to see them go on Monday. Thanks for visiting us Kim and Adrie!

Boston with Lutece

The Taylor House B&B where we stayed our last night in Jamaica Plain. Our lovely room was the second floor window on the left.

Lutece and I had a fun time in Boston. It's Lutece's third time (!) visiting Boston, which is pretty good for a nine-year-old from Kentucky. When you go to a familiar destination, especially with children, you have to find the balance between seeing/doing familiar things and experiencing new things.

On Sunday, we took Scott's car and found our way to Church in Belmont, MA. Ellen, an old friend who lives in the area, meets in the building adjacent to the Boston Temple, so we were able to attend church with her AND see the temple and grounds. Double bonus.

She took this lovely picture of us after Church (which I stole from off her blog . . . I hope that's alright Ellen :).

After Church, and on Ellen's recommendation, we drove to Concord, MA to visit the Louisa May Alcott home. It was a fantastic tour--one of the best I've done--and Lutece and I determined to read Little Women together in the near future. Louisa May Alcott was a woman after our own hearts. 

Sick of pictures.

On Monday, Lutece and I went downtown (pictures to follow) and then came back to JP for Thai food. Of course, interspersed with our sightseeing was lots of time spent with Scott, Irena, and Oliver (since that was the reason for the visit), but it's always fun to see a little of Boston while we're visiting family.

Kids' Book Club ~ The Olympians

Every summer for the past three (four?) years we've done a kids' book club with the same few families. The kids love it; they were already talking about it in China.

Our family took the first turn hosting book club this summer and we (read: I) chose these fantastic graphic novels by George O'Connor based on the Greek gods. I thought they would be perfect because a) we've been studying Greek mythology, b) these books are gorgeous, and c) the graphic novel is a highly underrated literary form, and I thought this might be a good way to introduce the genre to other families.

We decided to center the bulk of our activities around various demi-gods' exploits, which are discussed heavily in the graphic novels and which provide good fodder for exciting antics.

The first activity was a more thoughtful one (not pictured). I typed up a short (but colorful) description of each of Heracles' twelve labors and put them in a bucket. The kids each drew one out and discussed how they would accomplish the task. They could tell us how Heracles solved it (most of them remembered from their reading of Hera), or they could come up with their own creative solution.

Then we moved on to the FUN stuff!

The kids and I created three tasks, taken from the lives of Greek heros, for everyone to accomplish. The first task was to "blind the Cyclops" (Odysseus) by putting a beanbag through his eye. Lutece helped me design and create the Cyclops, hence the cavities shaped like various plant-life.

Then the kids had to "cut off Medusa's head" (Perseus), or rather, "pin the sword on the Medusa."

This game got a little chaotic, but the kids had a lot of fun.

Finally, everyone had to practice their spear-throwing skills so that they would be prepared to "spear the Minotaur" (Theseus).

The boys did much better at this task than the girls. Go figure.

Phoenix is still dressed up as Hermes, but by this time, Lutece had divested herself of her (dress-up) clothing. I forgot to mention that all of the kids came dressed up as one of the gods. In addition to Hermes, we had Artemis, Apollo, Hera, and Athena (Lutece). We also had a Spiderman :).

After completing their "labors," the kids headed back indoors to design their shields. We had a table full of crafting supplies and "shields" that I had cut out the night before. We didn't have any spare boxes (having thrown away all that stuff before we left for China), so the kids and I had to scrounge for cardboard the day before. Cardboard boxes are not as easy to find as they used to be. Darn conscientious recyclers!

I made Lutece and Phoenix pose for me yesterday (right before we went to the pool) so that I could snap a couple of shots of the shields. Lutece actually created hers the week before book club as part of her Athena costume. As you know, Athena's shield is graced by Medusa's head. During book club, Lutece decorated a sword instead.

To finish off book club, and in keeping with all things Greek god-ish, the kids enjoyed refreshments of nectar and ambrosia (aka pink lemonade and . . . well . . . ambrosia). Yes, I actually made a large batch of "ambrosia salad" circa 1970s.

Marshmallows, whipped cream, coconut, mandarin oranges, and pineapple. Let me tell you, our moms had something there. That stuff was TASTY! All in the name of a Greek god-themed book club.

Photo credit for all the action shots goes to Erin Bylund, who took pics on her iPhone.