The Binker Files

Nature boys

Checking out a polyphemus moth.

Fiddle Camp

We had a great weekend at Maine Fiddle Camp in June.  Silas loved the opportunity to perform on-stage and signed himself up to play alone during the Saturday afternoon camper concert.  He did a great job playing a "Oh Susanna" unrehearsed.


Levi took the penny whistle workshops and learned two songs, "Mary Had a Little Lamb" & "Have You Been to Ireland".


Arlo had a great time just playing and making new friends, like Super Sid.


Mark's Mom Marsha (aka Nenny) came to camp with us and learned the ukelele!

A short clip of her group performing "When the Ukes Go Marching In":

 

Silas & I both took advanced beginner workshops and we learned the same song, so we were lucky enough to perform on-stage together.  It is a lot easier to be on-stage with cute kids!

 
When people ask the boys what they liked best about fiddle camp, they always mention the food, especially the blueberry-rhubarb crisp we had for dessert one night.

Marching Against Monsanto

The boy's first protest march.  After a rally in Monument Square, we had a police escort so we could march in the street. 

Frog catching

Winter recap

I just downloaded a memory card full of winter pictures, so here is a look back on some of our winter fun.  This winter was very special for our family, one of the highlights was backyard sugaring:

For the first time, we tapped maple trees and boiled sap.  We tapped about 18 red maples and produced a little over 5 pints of maple syrup.

It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup, maybe even more from red maples, which have less sugar content then sugar maples.  Spending afternoons outside watching the sap boil while sipping mugs of hot sap and toasting marshmallows on beautiful winter days turned out to be a lot of fun, with free syrup as a bonus.  This will definitely become a late winter tradition for us.

We tried to make syrup while spending very little money for supplies, we used water or milk jugs to collect the sap and Mark made a custom stand for filtering:

The boys did a lot of sledding in their front yard terrain park.  It was there that Arlo sustained his first injury:

 

Silas became anxious for spring and started biking in the snow:

We celebrated my birthday by skating, snowshoeing and cross country skiing at Mt. Blue State Park:

Arlo started helping out in the kitchen:

Our sweet baby turned 2! 

He is becoming very silly:

We took a trip to Boston to celebrate Levi's 7th birthday.  We didn't see much besides the Museum of Science because the hotel had a pool.

We wrapped up a  great ski season on Easter Sunday, we got in about 30 days this winter. 

Levi still spends a good amout of time naked:

Arlo has become very interested in making art:

Beach day

Just weeks ago we were skiing, now we're spending our afternoons here:

Another ski day

It snowed all day yesterday.  Today we were supposed to be in Portland for various reasons, but instead we headed to Saddleback Mountain.  It was a good choice, a perfect winter day.

We are all having such a wonderful winter, but Silas is having what may be the best time of his life, he is obsessed with skiing.  Today he skied for over 4 hours straight, but said later "Mom, it just wasn't enough, maybe that is just the way I am, but I could have skied for 10 hours and it wouldn't have been enough."

He is now skiing double diamond trails, loves skiing glades and taking big jumps.  Silas is always so positive and enthusiastic, but right now he is really loving life.

More Winter Fun

Si & Levi's first day snowboarding:

Arlo's first day skiing powder:

At Sunday River with friends:

Just off the gondola:

Playing with cars (Arlo calls them cwaaahs):

 

Lots of sauna time:

Where is Si-Si?

 

What we did this summer

Somehow an entire season has almost passed since the last time I posted.  Here are some photos of what we did we did this summer:

~ Lots of gardening

Arlo loves to "smell" the flowers, he does this by blowing on them!

We built five new garden beds and overstuffed them with veggies, herbs and flowers.  We also planted an old bed with 25 asparagus plants, which we'll get to enjoy in three short years!

Levi's cherry tree yielded only one lone cherry this year, but he made the best of it and topped a couple of rhurbarb muffins with his harvest.  

Arlo loves to help in the garden and graze while working.  Here he is with a purple carrot, but his favorites are broccoli and green beans. 

~ We tended the bees.

These bees kept us busy!  We had robber bees visit, trying to steal honey, and our bees almost swarmed.  We split the hive to prevent the swarm and now have two hives with two queens, both doing well, we hope they survive the winter.

Can you see the queen?

~ We travelled and explored.

The highlight was a 5 night camping trip down east.  We camped at Cobscook Bay State Park, which was wonderful despite its very large mosquito population (a trip here in the fall might be even better).

~ We hiked.  The boys like to do it barefoot.

~ We visited state parks, historical sites, lighthouses and forts.

~ We beach-combed, treasure-hunted and boogie-boarded.

~ We ran.

Silas, Levi & their friend Sophia ran really fast in the one-mile race at the Wilton Blueberry Festival.

~ We swam.

~ Arlo grew lots of new teeth.

And Levi lost two (his first)!

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall!