More Egg Drop Designs

Egg Drop Designs

Egg Drop

We hosted an egg drop at the Flying Monkey today. Here are the 'vessels' that were constructed by Alex, Emma, Owen, and Kurt. We ended up having a hard time getting an egg to crack, and discovered that most any contraption with a parachute was destined to succeed, even if the egg had no protection as the bottom picture illustrates. We are thinking that the tarp we put down to protect the space outside from getting 'eggy' at the Flying Monkey gave a little cushion, and then also the fire escape we dropped from wasn't as high as we could have used. But it was a lot of fun, and there were lots of creative designs. Most of the kids that came made three and four drops, weren't ready to stop when our time slot there was up and enjoyed dropping a final raw egg at the end. I'll post photos of the other designs on the next post.

Creative Towers

Alex and Owen made some creative towers today. Alex mainly used Jenga blocks, he wanted them to all be the same size. Owen made his towers out of all sorts of "blocks" and other things. Then they started making the towers on top of other things in the house....boxes, the castle, the scooter, etc.

Equinox Events

There were several things we did this week that welcomed Spring into the world around the Spring or Vernal Equinox on the 2oth/21st, when we now know for certain that it will be getting warmer...The light and dark are equal and more light is on the way! I definitely am a creature of the sun, and enjoyed warming in the sun several times this week while it was quite windy outside. Someone found the kids sunning on top of the couch this week, which they often do in the winter, as the sun comes in there in the morning. They look like lizards spreadout long and low on the top edge. While I was at work one night Kurt and the kids dyed eggs at Emma's request. It can pay to have a Dad with lots of spare restaurant equipment, as it looks like it was quite an organized affair. I knitted some little chicks in honor of the eggs/chicks that we are getting in a week or so to watch hatch and give us and our neighbor some eggs. We are getting Dominique eggs from our friends the Ferrantes in Georgia, and then we will send all the roosters back, as we can't have roosters where we live right now! There was a bird nest that had fallen in the yard and it made a perfect home for the little chicks. My parents took the kids up to Burritt Musuem for an Egg Hunt. I went along and it was more like an egg VACUUM! But the Burritt Bunny was fun to watch...There were several kids that didn't get an egg in time and it was nice to see Owen and Alex offer one of their eggs to those kids. There was a long-haired rabbit there, a lamb named Shamrock born on St. Patrick's Day, and the regular ponies and goats. We had that bonfire the evening of the full moon after the equinox, and I would say that felt the most like spring to me all week. Emma has bypassed spring altogether. She is in beach mode. She has set up a bowl full of seashells that has one shell for every day until the beach, today we marked 81 days!

It was a Good Friday!

We had a "good friday" today! My mom didn't have to work and we met at the State Park for a picnic on what we could scrounge from both of our empty fridges, it's amazing what you can create when you put food together. We had leftover stirfry, soy butter balls, apples slices "thin as paper" as the kids wanted or "thick as cardboard", oranges (which we have learned how to figure out how many sections are in an orange before you peel it! This was from a website this week my mom shared http://www.krampf.com/ ...lots of fun exploring there this week. It was no shock to me that all the experimenting the kids wanted to do had to do with fire and water balloons, those are Alex's personal favorites. The surprise at the park was a stick fort someone had started against a tree. The kids wanted to insulate it with leaves and added more sticks to make it "more livable." Alex said he could live here forever! They are looking forward to the fort that is being planned with their dad in a tree in the backyard, so this was something they are into right now. In the afternoon we went to an electronics demonstration at the Flying MonkeyKids Coop. I mostly played outside with Owen and the other younger kids, so I haven't gotten the full scoop on what happened, but Alex has shown me what he learned about led's and the power they needed as well as he came away wanting to build a 'robot' for the recycled art contest out of electronic parts. It sounded like he had a plan to build something with his friend Takoda. The moon was Full tonight, and rose bright orange in the eastern horizon, wonderful to watch at dusk! We had friends come over to play after being at the flying monkey, and some of them stayed last minute into the night and enjoyed a bonfire and sushi with us, as kurt ended up having friday night off, another bonus of this "good friday"!

Cistern with Sister

Alex and Emma went to a day at Burritt on the Mountain today about leprechauns, irish food, recycled ideas with "Hector the Collector", irish games, etc. Maggie and I were pretty much done with the things we wanted to do in the garden, so I asked her if she wanted to hike on the trail behind our house that she had told me about recently that I didn't think that I had ever been on. Wish I could remember the name of it, but it is either a State Park Trail or a Land Trust trail. Owen did a lot of walking, threw rocks in the Natural Well, took a lot of rides on our backs, did a lot of talking, and I think had a generally good time! Although I am sure I was tested on this at some point (bwg), I learned the difference again between lichen and fungi. There were some really beautiful ones on the hike. There were also lots of wildflowers coming out. My favorites were the trillium, these white ones I haven't found what they are yet, and what Maggie thought was commonly called a Trout Lily. They were not flowering yet, but they look like all the photos and information I have found online. I would love to know when they might bloom here, as they were everywhere in all directions in the swamp-ier parts of the forest/trail. I also loved equally a vine and it's name--these vines we saw have the common name, "supplejack." It is such a perfect descriptive name of what they are! The way they twisted and were woven, it was as if someone had orchestrated it. The end of the hike (before I ran up the hill to go down the street to get alex and emma so I wouldn't be late!) was the item we were hiking to see, the historial cistern. I never had hiked this trail before. I still can't find any more information about this cistern in the middle of the woods, I am intrigued. If anyone knows anything about it, I would love to hear/see the information. I hope to take this as our next hike with Kurt and the other kids when we have a day to do a three hour hike. If you haven't been on this trail, I recommend it! We had a fun evening wishing my dad, Gramps, a happy birthday, Happy Birthday Dad! Alex and Emma got us all playing "Knock on the Door" outside in the yard, which as best as I can tell is similar to Kick the Can, but without the can...

Taking the Path Less Traveled

The weather was so nice today. We all went on a bike ride. Thank you Libby and Maggie for helping give Mom and Dad bikes this year. I think they are really enjoying them, and we enjoy biking with them! We detoured from the bike ride to show everyone the waterfall we had visited earlier in the week. It doesn't look it from here, but it had a lot of water running. I actually had the camera, but the battery died after one photo, so i don't have the photo of the best thing about the day...So as we left out on the trail, Alex said, "I'm going to walk back to the bikes in the creek instead." He had his pants rolled up ankle deep in creek sediment and icy water and a huge grin on his face. I smiled inside at how he always adds adventure and a different path to our days than I would ever think up, he just makes things in life better, you know? Just as we were quite a bit ahead of him, he yelled, "Turtle!" Sure enough, there was a very large snapping turtle in the creek. He was beautiful--long tail, triangular head, unique shell... And such a treasure that we all got to enjoy, all because Alex took that path less traveled!

Grateful Colored Glasses

Reading something on a yahoo list made our whole day go a certain way. I am grateful for the internet where others thoughts and days go through a seive and wonderful things get through into OUR lives. I was reminded to notice all the little things I was grateful for. We were grateful to wake up together and start our day without being in a rush, without anywhere to be, just here to explore together. I am grateful for the fruit salad that Alex made me...love in a bowl. I am grateful for this person growing inside me that reminds me to go slow and stop often to savor yummy snacks. I am grateful for the sun and how it warmed me and all our laundry today on the line. I like how it makes the towels crunchy and exfoliating if you leave them long enough...Not all our family members are grateful for crunchy towels (Alex and I love them, Kurt and Emma prefer them softer wind blown), I wonder if the baby will like crunchy towels? I am thankful that my children are used to being in each other's company, that they are often best friends and can find imaginative things to play and explore together even at their different ages...After some cold days, I am thankful they are getting a week of outside playtime together. I am thankful for Kurt who did the dishes for us all last night and went to the grocery and met us today at the store on our errand. We are glad he can join our days in someway even when he is working. I am grateful to the lady at the ice cream counter who honored Emma and Alex's request to break their 'one' scoop up into different flavors, she met their need without missing a beat! Unprompted she scooped out of new clean barrels, and extra washed the scoop for Alex's peanut allergy. I am grateful for how Owen encouraged me as we raced at the park, "come on momma, you can get me," we all need this type of REAL HONEST encouragement. I am grateful that Emma came and asked me to read the comics with her tonight, I love how she snuggles next to me and rubbed my stomach as she laughed and asked questions. I am grateful that Owen wearing all his clothes backwards and my huge sunglasses upside down as we went into a store today makes me proud that he is FREE instead of embarrassed! I am grateful that Alex's mind is always creating and that he had us make marshmallow shooters this week. There is something quite satisfying about pelting each other with mini marshmallows, like tiny thump, thump, thumps of love on my back. I am grateful before it has happened that my sister maggie has come to town and will help us ready our garden to fill our tummies and yard all growing season. As we laid in the dark, the kids all with their rice filled hearts that Alex warmed in the microwave, we were grateful for our warm covers, Alex's bearded dragon's crickets chirping us to sleep and for the little voice that said into the dark, "I love you all." Life may not always be smooth like today seemed, but it is true that we can always find what to look at, or how to look at things, to go through life grateful and with a smile on our hearts even on a really dark day....may you wear grateful-colored-glasses!

Pool Waterfall

Thank you to my friend Candice for asking us to go with her this afternoon to the waterfall behind the community pool. We had such fun exploring all the various levels of the waterfall, racing things, getting wet, seeing salamandars. I remember coming here often as a teenager, but the water didn't run as fast in the summer. We will be visiting here again, especially as spring approaches and there are going to be tadpoles in the stream at the top. There is a creek downtown that the kids call "tadpole city" that some friends of theirs named it, we hope that we have discovered another tadpole city just down the street. Waterfalls are so peaceful, I could sit next to one all day.

Grapes & Marbles

Emma tried to make a structure with toothpicks and garbanzo beans, but the beans kept falling apart! So she had a better idea to use grapes instead. Owen and Kurt played Chinese Checkers. Owen likes to play games. He is really good at Mancala, Othello, and this Wild Seeds game at my parents. He has always loved marbles or other tiny similar objects like the mancala pieces. He likes to make patterns with them and manipulate them. Imagine the loss he would have if we really kept him away from all the things that say they are not for three and under! Watch out, he beats me at Mancala often. It is important to him to win right now and he will let you know with a high ten that he won and you lost. :)

TWO SURPRISES!

Look what our eggs did this morning in the bowl? How can life not be grand with that starting your day! We had another surprise of another dusting of snow this morning. This is the storm I was talking about that followed our week in shorts! Kids had fun outside and then it was gone by late afternoon.