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This is the first time Silas and Levi have celebrated Halloween. They are both excited and a little cranky, perhaps from a bit too much candy already. We attended an afternoon Halloween parade in the park and the boys are looking forward to some trick or treating this evening.
Influenced by his cousin Ben, Silas has become a huge fan of Michael Jackson. He has some pretty good dance moves to go with his fantastic outfit.
The boys were thrilled to see their cousin Oscar as Bamm-Bamm.
In addition to hanging out with the family, we've spent time at the National Aquarium and at the Maryland Science Center.
Perhaps our best adventure in Baltimore was on board the Urban Pirate Ship which sails the Inner Harbor. This was really fun.
On board the Fearless, the crew had to prove they were worthy pirates by dressing and speaking appropriately, singing and dancing, tying knots and fending off an attack by a rival pirate, Mad Dog Mike, by firing the water cannons before earning a share of the pirate treasure.
There were a lot of very cute pirates on the ship.
This was so fun, I'm thinking Portland may need a pirate ship of its own.
Happy Birthday!!!
This past weekend we attended a house raising party at the Betts. We helped frame several first floor walls of their new home. We didn't actually raise the entire frame, but we got a pretty good start. This house, designed by Danielle, is going to be super-insulated, passive-solar, energy-efficient and affordable! Framing was a little complicated because the exterior walls have staggered 2 x 4 and 2 x 6 studs on 1-foot centers resting on a 2 x 8 plate.
Before:
Notice the beautiful, freshly poured concrete floors in the above picture. They were an added challenge because they aren't completely cured yet - while working we had to be very careful not to drop or drag anything as that could damage the floor. We were very careful but ... Luckily, on the 3rd day of work, Danielle had the great idea to cover the floors with wall sheathing. That made things much easier.
After:
It was hard work but a lot of fun. Everyone helped out, well everyone but Garrett, only because he missed his ride.
And just in case you don't know the Betts, they aren't Amish, just frugal, do-it-yourself type Mainers. They hope to have the house closed in by winter, so I'm sure this won't be the last house building party of 2009.
You can see more about this house plan at Danielle's work blog.
Mark, Silas, Levi and Bob ready to enjoy crab for dinner.
Our friend Simon recently delivered a load of firewood for us.
Who could have guessed what fun this pile of wood would bring! Not only will it help keep us warm this winter, it has provided hours of exercise, learning and playing opportunities. While hauling and stacking the wood, we've discovered so many things - salamanders, caterpillars - one in a cocoon, snails, even an old mudflap!
Thank you Simon!
We've known for a couple of years that we were going to be a homeschooling family, but now it is sort of official, as Silas would have just started kindergarten if he wasn't a free-range kid. This official status hasn't changes our lives very much. For us, learning happens as we live our days. For example, the boys and I recently spent a day weeding and mulching our strawberry garden. We were working hard and having a great time together, but our work stopped abruptly when we found a cute little frog. The frog generated a lot of questions - what kind is it, what does it eat, where does it live? We did some research together and the boys spent a lot of time cuddling the frog (a wood frog, we discovered), then Silas decided he wanted to record this information in his nature journal and that is the way the rest of our afternoon went. We all learned a lot about frogs and had fun doing it together.
What is different now is that Silas is trying out some of the many classes that Portland has to offer homeschooled kids. He is taking a weekly gymnastics class and a monthly Mad Science class offered at a local library. Here he is at his first science class where they talked about matter and polymers:
Silas on the far left.
So far he loves both classes, but he has mentioned that he doesn't really like a lot of talking, he'd rather be doing.
Today Si & I took an owl class at the Maine Wildlife Park, where we listened to a talk about owls, then dissected owl pellets, which are the coughed-up indigestible remains of whatever the owl has recently eaten (basically bones and fur, in this case from mice). It was so interesting!
Because Silas & I were our own "class", we didn't have to share our plate of pellets with a table full of other kids. After the class, while the kids that attended from local public schools had to scurry around filling out worksheets, Silas and I spent two hours leisurely strolling the park, checking out whatever creatures we were interested in - another fantastic day. We love homeschooling!