August 22

Our homeschool co-op doesn't start meeting until after Labor Day, but we started easing back into the school year today. The first big change: I started waking up earlier. Boo. But the mornings are much more pleasant when I'm up earlier, rather than later. Today, for example, I had time to read with Eli before our morning adventure. He is totally in to books now, especially ones about trucks and machines.

He brought this book to me (Mighty Movers) and when we got to this page, he patted the motorcycle and said, "Papa!"

He knows that Grandpa rides a motorcycle, and he thinks it's super cool.

Is it just me, or is he not a baby anymore? I'm issuing a decree that as long as he wears zip-up footie pajamas, he is still a baby.
He will be wearing footie pajamas when he is 18.

I've been doing a lot of planning and imagining about what our home school year will be like, and one of the things I really want to make a staple of each day is outdoor adventure time, with nature journaling. Today we got to join up with some other moms and kids for a hike through a local conservation area, which was so much fun! The area was surrounded by neighborhoods, but was still pretty woodsy, with mulch or dirt paths through forests. 

Perfect!

Blurry action shot, but you can tell that we were having fun.

There was just one weird part. 

When we got home, I asked Caleb and Daisy to spend time drawing the most interesting things they observed on our hike. Here is Caleb's summary:

He drew:

1. The sign at the entrance to the park.

2. A empty, broken sign that used to be a bulletin board.

3. A blue wildflower

4. A fallen tree with wild roots going everywhere

5. Orange fungi that looked like carrots wearing hats

6. A little hole at the base of a tree

7. The weird part. Can you figure it out?

There was a part where the path ran alongside a neighborhood, and all of the yards were fenced. One yard in particular had a wrought iron type fence, with little black spears. Inside the yard, there was a bush in front of the fence. Some poor young buck got into the yard, tried to leap over the bush to get out of the yard, and ended up getting impaled on the fence stake. 

By the time we happened upon it, the poor thing was recently deceased, and its head ran right across the path. It was pretty horrifying to see, but Caleb was fascinated. At first, I tried to keep him away from it, but then I realized that it's part of life, and so I let him get closer to examine it. It's not something any of us will forget soon.

We got home in time for lunch, but then I checked my email and saw that a bunch of homeschool workbooks that I had sent out for printing were ready, so we headed to the office store to quickly pick them up.

It was not a quick trip.

It was not an easy trip.

It was awful. 

We left 45 minutes later with out the workbooks and copies, and we were all hungry and tired. Plus, I was so angry and frustrated and annoyed that I was shaking. The rest of my day was a waste, but at least we had a great morning and I had book club in the evening. Hooray for that!