Thursday, September 27, 2012

Hike!

Although this summer we spent most of outdoor exercise time biking, we still haven't forgotten our love of a good hike. The kids were so excited at the prospect of a hike Tuesday afternoon that all of their school work was finished before lunchtime and attitudes stayed positive!
By popular demand, Schramm Park was chosen as our destination of the day. The hiking trail at Schramm Park is short- 1 to 3 miles, depending on the trail one chooses. Today we chose the one mile trail. While the boys are old hands at hiking and can easily go much further, Isabel is still working on her endurance. We haven't hiked much since she outgrew her carrier. So glad the weather is cooling down. We're looking forward to many more trips this fall!

Benedict takes his nature observing very seriously.

A tree had fallen across the path and was begging to be climbed on!

Isabel drawing in the dirt. She thought that was the coolest thing ever!

Watching the fish in the canyon pond. I remember doing the same as a kid.
 


Monday, September 17, 2012

Birthday Girl!

Today is Isabel's 4th birthday! We usually let each child pick what activity they'd like to do as a family. This time that wasn't an option so we spent a quiet day at home. Isabel had a very happy day though. She's so glad to finally be 4!

Since Isabel loves to bake I let her make and decorate her own birthday cake today after lunch. I think that was the perfect birthday activity for her.





 
A beautiful cake, custom decorated by Isabel!
 
Make a wish!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

September Picnic

We were feeling a little housebound today and decided that a picnic dinner at the park would be just the thing to cheer everyone up. It did!



Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Indian Cave State Park

On Thursday we took a day trip down to Indian Cave State Park as a family. It took a couple of hours to get there, but we were listening to Redwall by Brian Jaques on CD and no one minded the drive.

The scenery was beautiful! The weather was perfect! Not too hot, not too cold.

The boys found the perfect location for a lightsaber battle.
 
 
 Hiking the bluffs along the Missouri River.
 


A beautiful, scenic view of the Missouri River. Lewis and Clark camped here on their journey upriver in 1804.


Monday, July 16, 2012

Toga Party!!!

This summer the kids have been learning Latin. We've met weekly with our friends the Larsons to watch the video and work on the exercises in the Prima Latina workbook. Since the dads of both families had the day off today, we decided to celebrate what we've learned so far with a toga party! As with all proper Ancient Roman parties, we made sure there was plenty of food for all. Since it was important to the Ancients Romans that everything look impressive we made sure to have a nice setup.

We made sure everything we ate was something the Ancient Romans would have eaten. On the menu were artichokes, a delicious bean salad, fruit salad made of apples, pears, dates (replacing figs which I couldn't find!), prunes and walnuts, and garlic bread made with olive oil. Corrine and I made an excellent dip for the bread out of olive oil, chopped Spanish olives, feta cheese and minced garlic. MMMM, I could eat it everyday!

Instead of songbirds, we ate grilled turkey breasts. For dessert we ate honey flavored yogurt topped with walnuts and cinnamon rolls. The adults drank wine, but the kiddos were content with grape juice. Since we had no slaves to send to the mountains for snow, we had to forgo the slushies.
We forgot to bring our own forks, as is only proper when one is a guest at another Ancient Roman's feast, but our hosts kindly overlooked our faux pas and let us use some of theirs. Everyone enjoyed the meal!
After a dip in the Romans baths,
everyone put their togas on and prepared for a game of Latin Pictionary!
The competition was hot as everyone guessed, "Regina?" "Laudo?" "Nauto?" "Stella?" "Caelum?"



So yes, we are doing a bit of school in the summer, but I think everyone agrees: Latin is fun! Valete! Goodbye!

Monday, September 12, 2011

More self portraits

These were just too funny not to post.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Foreign Language Comes Naturally to Ben

Ben: I know that "wee-wee" is French for "I have to go to the bathroom."

Me: How do you know that?

Ben: Oh, I just know these things.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Hair!

Isabel’s hair is finally growing! She has enough for a couple of cute pigtails, so the boys distracted her with books while I styled. Then we chased her around the house until we finally got a sort of decent shot of her new hairdo. Right before she rebelled and pulled them out.

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