Alice's Art

Sometimes I think Alice just spends all day at school drawing and coloring...

Bug Fest

I took the kids to bug fest at the science museum downtown. They spent a lot of time doing chalk drawings.  They also really liked the mud crabs at the end.

That evening we had Andrea, Glenn and Murphy over for supper and a fire.

Simon biking down the driveway

Pirate Fest

Zac took the kids to Pirate Fest. We just so happened to have gotten these pirate costumes as hand-me-downs over the summer.

Portraits from the Butterfly House at Durham

Simon's bedtime routine takes a turn

Simon's Art

Simon created these decorations by nailing pieces of bark to wood.

From my Facebook post about this:

Simon nailed bark to pieces of scrap wood and set them around our house as decorations. When I look at one, I think it’s postmodern art making an ironic statement about our problematic relationship with nature in a capitalist society. Then I have to remind myself Simon is six and just likes to nail stuff together.

I can't stop obsessing over this. I mean, he pulls bark off a living tree and then nails it inside out to a tree that was killed and turned into lumber. Is it so the dead tree can feel alive again, to remember the safety of being encompassed by a protective layer of bark? The contrast between the beautiful, natural bark and the bland human-crafted board is stark and must be significant somehow. Is the artwork a reminder that this wood used to be a living tree, but it was killed for human consumption and is then discarded as scrap? Is re-purposing it as a decoration an honor or a mockery? Is it a warning that we're all mortal and death is inevitable? "Sure, you have all that nice bark now, but this is what awaits you...the lumber mill." What can it all mean???

Alice and Anna at the Skating Rink

When we were at the campout last weekend, Anna's mom, Jess, mentioned taking Anna to the skating rink with Alice. So this Saturday we met there. Alice and Anna did a pretty good job getting along--except Anna had birthday money to burn so they spent a lot of time playing the games and getting tickets to buy junk at the little gift shop. I hate the skating rink, actually, because there are no windows and it's just awful inside.But I could put up with it for two hours and I had a fun time visiting with Jess while the girls skated.

The Workshop of Simon and Ellie

Simon and Ellie love to work in their garage workshop, come rain or shine.

One day they decided to move it to nearly in the neighbor's yard.  We make them move it back to the garage.

The Great Labor Day Camp Out

This was our fourth year camping at Jordan Lake as a family, and the third year doing it with the whole daycare friend group.  The weather was stunningly beautiful, and the kids had a blast playing with fire, riding bikes, swimming, boating, and running around with their friends. We couldn't ask for a better group of people to hang out with!