Travels and Friends

We've been very busy for the past few weeks. We went on a trip which started out in Plymouth, MA at an Unschooler's Camp Out. Where Ryan met a new friend, Mauve, and found she shared his love of sticks.

Ethan, Declan, and Will discovered a sunny place to relax.

I managed to get all the kids in one photo. This was Ryan's fire, but he decided to share. He built lots of fires on this trip and learned "black smithing" which is, apparently, the art of blacking one end of stick so that it can be used to write on rocks.
Next we went to Grammy's cabin in NH. The fun with fire theme continued there. Grammy liked the fires.
Ethan built his first fire with a little help from Ryan and Mimi.
In honor of In spite of it being Learn Nothing Day, Uncle Gareth showed Ethan a how to use a bow and arrows.
Mimi and Ba took the guys for a canoe ride. Of course anyone can ride in the canoe. It's much more challenging to get pulled along in an inner tube.
Ethan spent hours following the ducks in the pond. He quacked at them and they were very accommodating. He got really close to them. After a few hours, he announced that being a duck was great, but without feathers it gets pretty cold even if the lake is warm.

Water always looms large in our family, so went to Jacob Riis Park last Tuesday and caught some gnarly waves.
There were a few wipe outs, but both Ethan and Ryan are ready to go again tomorrow. They say this is the best beach in the world. I have to agree. It has been my favorite beach since childhood.
Amazing water fun continued at Jean's wonderful potluck. The food was yummy and there lots of cool unschoolers. Jean lives mere blocks from the ocean, so naturally, everyone headed there for an afternoon swim. It was a great time to catch up with friends, old and new.
I couldn't resist posting in this photo of Kim. Gotta love a girl who knows what to take to the beach.
Finally, we went to see the new Harry Potter movie on Sunday. Ethan wanted to wait to see it at an Imax with Ryan, all 3 mommies, Aunt Jo, and Uncle Joe. We met up in New Rochelle, NY and while we were walking to the theater, Ethan decided to pause to let Wolverine hang on a tree.
All in all, a very satisfying and refreshing few weeks.

What do you do all day?

Well, I guess that all depends on the day. Most days start with some television: Sponge Bob and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and then there's some DS playing. Both Ethan and Ryan like some quiet time when they wake up. Getting up going anywhere only happens when there's something we really want or have to do and can't put later in the day. After that, some breakfast is in order. Once all that is done, the day is wide open.

We might want to get dressed.

There might be an aluminum foil ice storm.
It could turn out to be day that calls out for body art.
Some days we go to kids' museums, like Kidcity with friends. In this case we went with Gabe and Justin. Ethan likes to keep things in balance.
Ryan is more into getting a different perspective.
We go to festivals, like the Arts and Ideas Festival in New Haven. I'm not sure if this counts as art, ideas, or both.

It's a safe bet that some of our days will include lots of water fun, like going to an indoor water park.

If it's your birthday and you are finally six years old, you could have a celebratory light saber fight with your brother.
Or you just just kick back at Ba's desk and watch some Star Wars videos on YouTube.
There has a been a lot woodchuck trap and release happening lately which looks like this:

This one wasn't the brightest of the 7 we caught. It took him a while to figure out how to get into the woods by going under the plastic fencing.We might even go to see the mayor during his monthly Mayor's Night In and get to sit on the special mayoral couch.
We unschool. Every day is its own adventure.

End of the Summer Fun

Our days have been very full lately. I thought August and September would be relatively open months, but they filled up with lots of fun. We cleared out some boxes we had on the third floor and found that we had lots of old financial records we no longer need. We put them in boxes and asked Ethan if he wanted to learn to shred paper. At first he wasn't interested because he was busy on Webkinz. Once he found out it involved a loud machine that wreaked mayhem on hapless sheets of paper he was all over it.
I love the outfit he put together that day. The shirt ("I do all my own stunts") is from his Nan-nan (godmother) and the hat was on its way to Goodwill when he intercepted it. He made the earrings and the necklace himself.

Water still looms large in our activities. Ethan adores going to Hammonasset Beach. I really like this photo of him hanging out there. It was taken on 21 September 2008. We went to the Guilford Fair and Ethan wanted to go to the beach afterward. The water as warm, but the air was too cold for Ba or Mimi to want to get wet. That didn't stop Ethan. Nothing stops Ethan from going into the water. I have no doubt he'd say yes to skinny-dipping in Fargo in February.

Ryan declined to go to the beach. He likes the water well enough, but his passions are his DS and his Webkinz. He's not with his Webkinz here. This time he's sharing his DS secrets with Chiquite. Chiquite is a travelling stuffed monkey. He goes from homeschool house to homeschool house hanging out and having fun.
Ryan is also a big fan of lollipops. We went to the New York Renaissance Faire which is not lacking in the lollipop department.

Chiquite came to the Ren Fest as well. That monkey just cracks Ryan up.

New Hampshire, New Fridge, New Haven

July was quite the month, but I'm going to start out with today because it's fresh and amusing. Ethan and Ryan stayed home with Mama Jeanne today while Esther and I set out to get a refrigerator. The old downstairs fridge died a horrible death last month and we had no choice but to get a new one. We got an amazing deal since Sears was having a sale and we had a $50 coupon.

While we were in Sears, we got a phone call from Mike Alumni Cruises. We just booked our rooms for the Unschooling Adventure Cruise in October of 2009. In order to talk to him, Esther wanted to sit down. We ducked into the nearest dressing room and sat down in a stall. While she was talking, I listened for a while then looked around the stall. I noticed a very large pair of shorts hanging on a hook.I thought it was odd that they were men's shorts. Then I looked at the other clothing in the stall. It was all men's clothing. She finished the phone call and left. The sales associate outside looked very confused. We just smiled and walked away.

In other news, we spent 10 days in New Hampshire at Kim's cabin. The first two days Esther and I had to work. If you've ever wondered what we really do at work, here's a picture of breakdown. Mike is one of the show producers and the girl pushing him is Georgia, child of one of the other vendors.



Back at the cabin, there was lots of game playing,

and hanging out by the pond.
There was also a day of bowling. We won a free game of ten-pin bowling last year at the Firemen's Auction and cashed it in this year.

We got to spend with Kim and she got to spend time with Croydon.
Ryan loved having s'mores each night. It was even better the night we had the fire, s'mores, sparklers, and fireworks.

Of course all that fun in one night can make you very tired.
Ethan liked getting up early and waiting near the dock for anyone else to get up and go swimming with him.
Both Ethan and Ryan liked having Uncle Stephan's and Uncle Gareth's friends come up. Callen played guitar and that was very cool.

Now we're back in New Haven and looking forward to a day at Lake Compounce on Monday. Right now though, we 're having fun playing Webkinz and Puzzle Pirates.

Gymnastics, Water, and Spy Birthdays

So, what have we been doing? Well, playing with the digital camera is always involved.


Ethan just finished up his Spring gymnastics session. He has been pre-team since January and is ready to move up to team in the Fall. The problem with this is that the boys who are in his class and who would be his teammates aren't very nice to him. They tease him about having long hair and being home schooled. He mentioned it on and off over the time he's been at this gym, but when I asked him if he wanted to stop going he always said no. Finally a few weeks ago, he started to cry on the way to gymnastics. He said he just didn't want to go. We pulled over and said that was fine. He said he couldn't take the teasing anymore and that there was no one at the gym he liked. We asked about his coach and he told us that he thought the coach was rude and unsympathetic if one of the boys was tired or sore or hurt. We asked him if he still wanted to do gymnastics if we found him a new gym. He said absolutely. We told him how proud we are of him for telling us what was going on and for just being him.

We've since found him a new gym a little further away from the house. He started there today and loves it. The coaches there don't tolerate any name calling or teasing. If it happens, a warning is issued, and ultimately, if it doesn't stop, than the person isn't allowed to attend the gym anymore. Ethan is on the team at his new gym and he was laughing and smling and talking with the other boys during practice yesterday. I never saw him engage with the boys at the previous gym, so this is definitely a step in the right direction.

Other than gymnastics, water has been a theme over the past few weeks. Even if we spend the day at the house, water is involved.

Once a week we go up to Petersen Park in Wolcott to hang out with a group of very cool home schoolers. The park is really neat. It has a small waterfall.
I had never walked up to it even though I'd been going there for weeks. Ethan and Ryan had walked up there with other mommies and kids. They said that in addition to the waterfall, there was a swimming hole. When I walked up there, I was surprised at the rocks and roots in the path. I thought it would be a level flat path like the other ones in the park. It was only about half a mile to the waterfall, but it was a little difficult in some spots. Peg had never walked to the waterfall either. She isn't very sure-footed, so it was great fun walking up there with her and seeing how happy she was to finally get there.

I love how her daughters are looking admiringly at her.

Ethan and Ryan said the water was cold, really cold, but that didn't stop them from going in.

Nikki opted to look at the water instead of going into it.
Along with the waterfall and the swimming hole there is an interesting tree. Piper just fits in it.

We went on a boat ride around the Thimble Islands. It was organized by and for homeschoolers. Ryan and Ethan enjoyed it a lot.

The islands have some amazing houses on them. This one is Cut-In-Two Island.
It was cut into two parts by the 1938 hurricane. Now it joined by a foot bridge.

We've also gone to Lighthouse Point. The water there was too cold for me, but, once again, nothing keeps Ethan and Ryan out of the water.
It helps that a dry towel awaits them when their teeth start to chatter.

Finally, we celebrated Ryan's actual natal day. He wanted to get his family presents the night before his birthday. Who could say no to a birthday eve? He got a lot of spy gear. No surprise there.
All the gear came in a briefcase (a brand new real leather briefcase we got at the thrift store for a dollar) along with the following note:

Important Memo From Spy Headquarters

Super Spy Guy Ryan
Agent Number 12345
25 June 2008

It has come to our attention that you are about to turn 5 years old. You have hereby been promoted to Super Spy. Be careful! Super Spies need to be even sneakier than regular spies.

We have entrusted this case to your mommies. In it you will find several important tools that you will use to be a better spy. Do Not let these items fall into enemy hands. More Super Spy tools will be sent to you next month. Our lab is still testing them.

Happy Birthday and Good Luck!

Highest Chief Super Agent Spy

Oddly, he didn't find the note as amusing as Jeanne, Esther, and I found it. Ah well. He is only 5.