Finger Lakes Road Trip

Scenes from our road trip to upstate New York...

Creepy animatronics at Howe Caverns.

One of the many beautiful waterfalls in the Buttermilk Falls State Park, NY.

These gorges really are "gorges", as the saying goes :)

Cool rock formation in the gorge.

Peaceful Lake Cayuga in Ithaca.

I don't think they wanted to have their picture taken.

Willow's campground spider "pet".

Shores of Lake Cayuga.

Our favorite ride at Six Flags New England amusement park.

Loving the Tea Cup ride.

Spring

Spring has definitely arrived here in New England!  Today is supposed to be 85 degrees!  Unfortunately, the early spring blossoms also mean a big reaction from our little allergy girl :(.  She is home now... with a nebulizer and orders to keep windows closed.

Feeling lots better after steroids and nebulizer treatments

Enjoying the rare opportunity to watch television for hours nonstop while eating Os in a comfy hospital bed.

March

What a weekend we had! 
The girls were super excited for St. Patrick's Day, which is evidently celebrated with much more enthusiasm on the East Coast than in the Midwest or West.  School and friends had been getting the girls excited all week for a visit from the leprechaun. We didn't realize just how excited they were until the night before, and we had nothing planned.  Luckily, Jay came through, leaving lots of leprechaun mischief for the girls to find.  They were as excited as they were Christmas morning!

Overturned chair, a handdrawn shamrock and tiny little bits of green paper everywhere?  Must be leprechaun mischief!

He also made a mess in the sun room, including a mysterious display with all of the girls' green toys and a rainbow slinky.  The girls were in awe (nice they are so easy to impress at this age!).

Today we headed to the Natick Community Organic Farm for a walk out to the home of the Forest Gnomes, a Waldorf style preschool program located on the grounds of the farm.  Not only is there the cutest gnome cottage, where the kids have the indoor portion of their classes, but there is also an amazing outdoor classroom.  The girls loved exploring the stations.

Balance beams made from small trees.

Indigo practicing her technique.

Proud to have made it to the end all by herself.  The gnome cottage is in the background.

Cool play teepee

Outdoor mud kitchen.

Kid Art Part 2

More art from around our house, made by my two favorite artists:

Handprints traced and colored in oil pastel

The girls used a box from our last IKEA trip to create a big triptych.  Each took a side and then they collaborated on the middle section.

I pulled out the watercolor paper and oil pastels and the girls immediately decided that they would make self portraits.  So, I was surprised to see these when they were finished.  When I asked, Willow said that her she had drawn a portrait of herself as a potato (on the right).  Julia had drawn a portrait of herself as a monster (on the left).  Love it!

Sweet drawings on the refrigerator.

I began this large painting and then realized that the kind of primitive style looked a lot like the way the girls draw now, so I invited them to add their special touches.  Julia Indigo added the drawing of the person on the center left and Willow added the bird flying in the sky.

You can see another person and bird in this detail.  Love making art with my girls!

Elm Bank

The weirdly awesome winter continues!  Yesterday, I took the girls to a favorite spot-- Elm Bank Reservation.  We went for a nice hike and dreamed about the trails we'd explore this Spring and Summer.

Indigo hanging out in the nests in the natural children's playground.

Checking out one of the many petrified stumps ringing the children's playground.

Peeking in to one of the buckets collecting sap to be made in to maple syrup.

Willow enjoying a quiet moment along the Charles River.

Willow spotted this tree and thought it looked like a face in profile.  I think she is right!

The girls were dramatically exhausted at the end of our hike.

This is February???

Not only is this a holiday weekend, but it is also the start of the dreaded (for me) February school vacation.  I wouldn't mind so much, but we just finished winter vacation and have spring break in only a couple of months.  Plus, it is usually too cold at this time of year for us to have any outdoor fun over the break.  Luckily, that is not the case this year.  We have no snow on the ground and temperatures have been consistently above normal.  So, today we headed to Marblehead, a pretty town on the North Coast of Massachusetts.  There, we played on the beach, oohed and ahhhed over the mansions lining the coast, and went for a little hike in Marblehead Neck, a Mass. Audubon wildlife sanctuary.  What a great way to spend a sunny Sunday!

It was a little chilly at first.  It felt a little like a visit to the Oregon coast!  Luckily, the sunshine warmed the day nicely.

Chandler-Hovey Park was pretty but the lighthouse looked more like an oil derrick than the pretty New England lighthouses we are used to seeing.

The view East of the very tip of Marblehead Neck.  Not a cloud in the sky!

Happy Valentine's Day

Julia's valentine for her classmates at her little preschool.  This idea wasn't my idea-- it is all over the blog world.  I think it turned out cute, though.

On the back of each valentine, we attached a little note with a heart and signature hand drawn by miss Julia Indigo, herself. 

One of Willow's valentines.  She really wanted to hand draw a unique one for each classmate and teacher.  She was so sweet, creating the perfect picture for each of her friends based on what she knows their interests to be. 

I hope the kids like their home made cards.  She worked so hard on them!

In their hearts

As we head into February, the girls have been eager to begin valentine art projects.  Yesterday, inspired by the always awesome blog, The Artful Parent, we drew and painted hearts, filled with drawings of people and things that are in our hearts.

An example of J's stream of consciousness thinking-- spirals led to snails...

I asked Willow why none of her family members made the list and she told me that there wasn't room for us!  Love that Roly Polys (yes, the insect) and the African Savannah (??) made the list but not us :-)

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Boston Museum of Science

Last weekend, Jay and I took the kids to the Boston Museum of Science.  I can't believe this is the first time we have made it there (Actually, I can. Admission costs $22 for adults and $19 for children.  Thank goodness for library passes that got us in for $5 each!!).  The museum really well planned.  The displays are fun, interactive  and interesting for all ages. There was so much to see that we barely scratched the surface in the 6 hours that we were there.  We'll definitely go back...soon!

View of Boston across the Charles River.  Taken from the museum restaurant

The kids were SO thilled to see dinosaur bones.

Another favorite was the butterfly room.   It was full of all sorts of amazingly beautiful butterflies and moths.  Indigo especially loved this little speckled one.

This is a real Atlas Moth!!  It is nocturnal, so it just stays in one place, sleeping all day.  It is bigger than a lot of birds!