Sink or float

Find a good friend..

gather some treasures...

head down the trail...

and find some water.

Which treasures will sink and which will float?

Happy experimenting!

Nantucket Mothers Day

This post is a little late....but being one handed, left handed, has slowed some things down a bit!

We ALL headed to the island for the weekend, a two hour ferry ride, which is part of the fun.

The weather was beautiful.

We started by just playing in the garden. While Zach and Sam visited the The Cisco Brewery.

Scout did some push-ups

Stopped to smell the flowers

and some yoga at our good friends beautiful home.

Scout gets her first art lesson from the master, Ritch Leonie.

The home of an artist is a fun place to explore. This is one of his lightship basket frames. The only person in the world to make them.

A arrived at our egg hunt party with this little basket for Scout. Such a lucky girl!

We drove to Sankaty lighthouse.

And were excited to discover one of the two days a year it is open was Mothers day....the other is Columbus day.

The lighthouse was moved about 100 yards because the beach is erroding away.

The original spot.

On our way up!

Can you tell we are excited!

They even let little Scout make the climb.

The original whale oil light, now an automated light has replaced it.

Rose, with some landscape in the background.

Foggy days like this are why you need a lighthouse!

This is the complete skeleton of a 46 foot bull sperm whale that washed ashore on New Years Day 1998. You can find it inside the Nantucket Whaling Museum.

Heading home

I HOPE YOUR MOTHERS DAY WAS AS AWESOME AS MINE!!

May garden

Spring is here and we are spending time each day in the garden. Today we had a treat...a chickadee liked the colorful house we put up and started building a nest!

The little bird is perched on the hole.

It's holding some fur from Satinka, one of our horses.

Partially complete.

This bucket is full of rain water. We are using it to water the strawberry plants that Zach put in yesterday.

A little helper has much more success and satisfaction when tools that fit little hands are available. We found these, as well as all the others, at the mall (aka the dump).

Later in the season she will be coming back here for a delicious snack!

A child's garden is an important aspect in our yard. But we have child elements all over the garden, which is spread out throughout the yard. We placed a slide on this hill to provide a slower ride for the tiny ones. A big pot holds flowers, it will be more lush later in the season. The best part is "potman". Right now he is planted with pansies and Scout enjoys watering him. He will get new clothes as the summer progress's.

We have her approval

We experienced something amazing with Scout. Something all children feel but unfortunately many may suffer because adults don't consider it.

It was appreciation for our empathy for her. It was powerful for all of us.

The background for this story is that she has been potty trained since she was 19 months old, 10  months now. Also, she is not a girl who passes out kisses.

We have NEVER, even once, scolded her or even shown dissapointment in her if she has had a potty accident. We have always been supportive and assurred her it was okay.

The other night she wet the bed in the middle of the night. I can't even remember the last time it had happened (even when she was real little it rarely happened). She was very upset. We cleaned her up, changed her jammies and changed the sheets. All the while she was upset with herself. We continued to assure her it was okay. We worked as a team, as we always do, to get her back together.

We all snuggled back into our big bed together. Lights out, saying our good nights and I love you's. Scout rolled over and gave me a kiss. She never does that. She was so appriceative of our supporting her. I was amazed. I am so happy we chose this radical unschooling path. That we honor and respect and trust our children, no matter how young. Life is Good!