New

Spring has been full of lots of new for us. New friends, new adventures and new responsibilities.

We've ventured further from home than usual, through thunderstorms and chilli Michigan spring weather, to explore towns and cities we've never been to. It is so very wonderful to have adventurous new friends who don't let a little
(or a lot) of rain ruin our plans for exploring.

And, we've been exploring our own back yard in ways we never have before, thanks to those same amazing, adventurous new friends. (Who knew jack-o-lanterns make great pond scoops?) After a year and a half homeschooling and living in this home I feel like we are finally finding our community.

And finally, we've welcomed these little cuties into our home. My middle girl was so thrilled that, even the strangers at the feed store were excited for us and, thanks to these little gals and my girls enthusiasm, our circle of friends keeps growing. Strangers no more, they have been a source of advice and reassurance, on more than just raising chicks.

Finding Winter!

We took out a seat, loaded the van, bungied the boards and squished in.

It took a couple hours heading north but eventually. . .we found snow!

There were lots of giggles, plenty of sunshine, delicious food and drinks, puzzles, sledding, a little shopping,  lots and lots of snowboarding (for all of us, yay!),

and a nice little snowstorm giving us some delicious powder for our last day on the slopes leading to. . .a bit of tree climbing? (oops!)

 No worries, she immediately popped up, hands in the air exclaiming, "I'm alright! That. Was. Awesome!" I realize one ending up in the tree is probably not the best way to illustrate it, but these girls of mine, and my sis, are becoming amazing little boarders and, with only this one trip, this one week each year, that's really saying something.

The boy loves his board too, of course, and is doing great as well. He likes trying to hop as he's speeding downhill. Oh how he wishes he was ready for those monster jumps his uncle likes to fly over. Not yet little man.

I realize there are some people who think kids shouldn't start off snowboarding but, if your littlest ones want to snowboard, there's really no reason for them to ski first. My four year old was able to stop herself and was running up and down the bunny hill unassisted by the end of our trip.

We all snowboard and, of the 6 of us, my husband is the only one who was ever a skier before learning to board.

This post is a few weeks late, I'm having trouble getting photos onto the computer right now. Issues with USB ports I believe. As I hit publish on this the frogs are making a ruckus in the pond and I woke this morning to the quacking of ducks. At least we were able to find a little winter before it arrived but, it's official, Spring is here!

Searching for Winter

Winter here in southern Michigan has not been all that we expected. It's not that we don't appreciate all the extra sunshine, it really is lovely. But, all this brown mush instead fluffy white?

 Oh we've had a few snowfalls, and we celebrate, thinking it's finally here!

And then, it all vanishes as quickly as it fell.

This calls for some drastic measures. I mean really, short sleeves and roller skating on January 31st!? I think we may just have to go out and hunt down winter this year.

A Fall Tour

Mushrooms discovered along a deer trail leading from our yard. It appears the deer have been munching on some of these and pretty much all the wild apples that had fallen from the trees around them. The deer thankfully, however, did not disturb our garden even once this summer.

It's a good thing fall has such beautiful color, because I'm not really ready for summer to be over or for the cold wet months ahead. Although I am excited about our winter sports this year, with the youngest being old enough to join in.

The kids "secret" hide out tucked just behind the garden. I love that they have hide away, a place all their own. They take their friends and cousins back there, climb the trees and dream up BIG plans for a small castle in the branches.


One last little surprise in the garden. What a sweet bitty pumpkin. The kids have all claimed it as their own, but I don't think I'll be letting any of them carve up this little guy. Welcome fall.

Inspiration

We finally made a trip to "our lake" last weekend. Camping under the stars, brrr the nights were chilly, at one of the many beautiful state parks along the coast of Lake Michigan. The water was cold, but that didn't stop our brave bunch from a quick swim and lots of running and splashing on the waters edge.

While there, we attended a festival and had front row spots for one of our favorite bands, Scythian. We even got to meet them after the show.

The kids showed up to their first music classes on Monday excited and inspired and, since bringing their instruments home, the music making has not ceased :)

My Computer is Back

Ahhh, that's better. It's so nice to have my computer up and running like new. What a crazy few weeks we've had here. Computer issues, car trouble, big car trouble, like, 2 transmissions on the same morning car trouble. Really!? How does that even happen? Luckily the truck was under warranty still so, hubby is back to work in style but, me, not so much. Still, amidst all the hassles and set backs we are truly enjoying our hot and humid Michigan summer with friends, old and new, and family and lots and lots of water.

Spring is

 Mud puddles and cousins,

 Misty evening walks,

Misty Morning walks,

 Tutus,

Homemade doughnuts from my oldest girl,

Ducks in the pond,

More mud,

Time with my boy exploring,

No more paper blinds,

Baseball,

And. . . Did I mention mud.

School on the Road

The hubs has had a few out of town jobs the last couple of weeks and so, we've been able to fully abuse the freedom homeschooling gives us and tag along. It has been fun checking out some parks and museums in cities we would not have otherwise visited.

The Children's museum in Flint was a hit with the littlest ones, but a bit of a disappointment to the older ones. It is a fairly small museum without much there to keep older kid's interest, but still very nice.

 At one park, we discovered some naturally occurring whirlpools in a stream bringing up some great questions to explore, and inspiring us to find some fun experiments that we can't wait to try out. Not to mention a wonderful afternoon throwing stick and leaves into the water and watching them swirl and whirl and some even disappear down those little vortexes.

We visited a local art gallery in one town, my oldest really enjoyed seeing the works of some real artists. And we even ventured to the east coast of the state one day to explore the beautiful, still frozen shore of Lake Huron. 

And to entertain us during all of that time in the car, we have been enjoying The Sister's Grimm series on audio disc. I'm am, of course, missing my camera terribly. All of these photos were taken with my phone and then touched up a bit. They don't do justice to the beautifully sunny days we enjoyed or the gorgeous Michigan scenery.

Catching Up

 Hi. I've started half a dozen blog posts, but just can't seem to finish them. I'm not sure why. We have been thoroughly enjoying our beautiful Michigan winter. I love the snow, especially with our new, amazing back yard. I feel so lucky to be here in this wonderful home. Seriously it's beyond perfect and I'm still not sure how we ended up here. There were so many variables, everything just fell together, or truthfully apart, perfectly and here we are. There is this great tiny stream out there that we hike to occasionally, it's breathtaking in the snow, but I doubt we'll be able to get to it come spring. I think it's mostly swamp all around in wet weather.

We had an amazing time on our annual snowboarding trip, thanks again mom and dad. This year we opted to go for an entire week and rent a big house so we could all hang out together. It was lots of fun and the kids are really becoming decent boarders, thanks to Unkie. He is so very patient with them. Not to mention quite talented. Since we got back the snowman/snow fort building has ceased and kicker construction has replaced it. Of course the kids are just as happy to ride their snowboards like sleds once in a while too.

Sadly though, I did not get many great photos and my camera met it's demise at the top of the mountain. Yes, not only did I unknowingly drop the camera, I then proceeded to jump on it a few times while strapped into my snowboard completely burying it in the snow and smashing the screen. It will still take photos, but they all have this one weird fuzzy spot off to the side and the viewfinder and screen are toast, so I have no idea what exactly I'm photographing. At least I have a decent phone for once so I'm not completely without a camera.

I hope to be back soon with a kitchen table makeover that we did before we started packing up last summer and maybe even a sewing tutorial, if I can figure out how to get some halfway decent photos.

Shredding Season is Here!

 Our baby girl has inherited her big brother's mini board.

And she is rockin the mountain! Well, the sledding hill in the back yard anyway.