Quiet Days

These are the sorts of things we’ve been doing recently, on the days when we’re “not doing anything”. 

                      
I put Logan’s Legos away for a while and brought these out instead.  I’ve discovered that when we get to the point that the toys are just dumped but not really played with, it’s time to rotate.  After I did that, I came in to get Logan at the end of his quiet time to find him busily playing with this “airport” that he’d created out of the magnet set.  Then he asked me to help him set up a marble track and we played with that for nearly an hour (Naomi even joined us).

                          
In the garage one day, the kids figured out that they can give each other rides on the tricycle.

Naomi has really just started pedaling, so she’s making better time on wheels now.

More playtime in the garage.  A late Christmas package occasioned the re-introduction of the sensory bin; all those packing peanuts were just too good to let go to waste.

              
Crunch, crunch, smoosh, squash, snap!

Introducing trucks, teddy bears and other accessories to the mix.  What happens when you . . . ?  How many peanuts fit into . . . ?  This is good science going on here!

I adore it when the kids get quiet and I find them tucked away somewhere like this!

                          
Time to go for a walk around the neighborhood.  On a side note, if you look closely, you can see where one of Naomi’s teeth is still a bit gray.  The grayness seems to be receding though, so I think the tooth may actually hold!

                    
On my run earlier that morning, I had suggested that we needed to bring binoculars to look at a colony of sea lions that lives just off the beach.  That afternoon, the kids, of course, had to bring their binoculars with them, which they used (or not) to keep a close eye on a neighbor washing their car (Naomi) and to spy out some kids throwing a frisbee (Logan).

The recent rain has brought out all sorts of flowers!

                    
Back at home, Naomi sings “Rock-a-bye Baby” as she puts her teddy bear to bed; nearby Logan rows his boat merrily down the stream.

So that’s us.  What have you been up to?

From the Mountains to the Sea

We hit these on separate days, but one (the mountains) was only a 15 minute drive and the other was walking distance.  The geography here is fun!

A hiking we will go!

With bonus wildlife viewing!  This is more rare that it appears on the blog; we don’t tend to be particularly quiet when we’re out on this sort of adventure.  At least our noise level keeps the mountain lions away.

                         
We’re also rather slow.  Think in terms of hours-per-mile.

But that’s okay, really.  There’s a lot of learning that happens when we stop along the way.  

Just look at those two happy faces—see how much they love all this!  Actually, they are smiling because Daddy is pulling out the pb&j.

   
Yummy!  Post-lunch, Logan plots out his next attack on the cactuses. 

Side-note/rant: Cacti or cactuses? sneaked or snuck? dived or dove?  It seems that I was taught that the irregular form (cacti, snuck, dove) is the right one in these cases and many others, but my kids’ books ALL use the regular forms (cactuses, sneaked, dived) and when I look it up, dictionaries and grammar websites tell me that both are correct!  So I’ve stopped editing the books as I read them, even though I internally cringe at every “dived”.

Woodpeckers, at least, aren’t intimidated by our noise.

A few days and only a few miles away . . .

All photo credits for this adventure go to Jake.  Mommy was home being peacefully productive.

      
Sand fun.

On the border.

      
Water fun.

Home again, home again, jiggity jog.

Thus Far

Here’s a sampling of activities engaged in around our house so far this year.  I expect this will probably be fairly representative of what we’ll be doing most of the year.

Engaging in a little creativity and dramatic play.

  
Visiting playgrounds.  (This should NOT surprise you.)

Reading.  Lots and lots and lots of reading.

 
Chore training.

Adventuring!

   
This time around we chose a small petting zoo located just up the road in San Juan Capistrano.

                                   
The kids got on very well with the extremely friendly (hungry? curious?) rabbits, chickens, goats and other animals.
  Yes, and extremely tame too.

They had just received a number of baby animals, including this calf, more chickens (who were at that awkward stage of half feather-half fuzz), a young alpaca, and a new colt.

                           
We were the first customers of the day, which probably contributed to the animals’ willingness to be fed by small hands.

They also had a “sand”box full of feed corn that Naomi thought was spectacular.

             
A small playground completed the experience and sent us all home happy.

What do you expect your year will look like?