Camping at the Cape

After spending quite a bit of time loading up the car with tents, sleeping bags, extra blankets, bikes, Kayaks, food, pillows, knitting, games........we were going car camping after all and I intended to be as comfy as possible......we drove the 3 and half hours to the Cape (Cape Cod for those who don't know) and promptly unloaded it all and set up our temporary home away from home. David did the manly thing and got the raging camp fire going .This was after not being able to start our wee camp stove on which we were supposed to cook...we could of course have been really lazy and gone to the camp store 2 mins walk away...but no we were toughing it out in the wilderness!



Sage doing some quiet contamplation by the fire...a rare moment!











Once some other fellow homeschoolers arrived we headed down to one of the lakes for a quick dip.....the weather was amazing the whole weekend which was fortunate as the weekend before and after it was bucketing rain! The park we were staying at (Nickerson State Park) was very attractive with 7 ponds and bike trails all over. Most of the kids (there were about 14 or so) spent a good deal of time on their bikes visiting one another and yelling for help once in while ( the yellers were the ones who hadn't quite mastered the bike riding thing and were getting frustrated being constantly left behind by the speedy older kids)! The picture of Maya eating in camp with her bike helmet on gives you an idea of how seriously the biking was being taken!

Most of the group arrived late in the night and stumbled into tents with cranky kids, trying to avoid the rampant poison ivy around the camp..poison ivy is a fairly innocent looking green plant that blends in with all the other green foliage but which causes much discomfort if touched! Thankfully we were all up on our indentification skills and kept yelling at the kids to stay away!

Saturday was the day of activities and after a yummy breakfast of eggs in tortillas David and I dragged our Kayaks down to the lake...not a short walk....and did I mention the poison Ivy! We made it down there and the children got straight in. David was excited to see that Maya has a natural paddling ability...she was very good with her strokes and did an amazing job of keeping the boat straight! Sage ...not so much! So they had a gay old time with the boats which ended up becoming surf boards instead and we eventually managed to drag them (the boats and kids) back to camp for lunch and then head for the ocean.

Unforunately I didn't take enough pictures at the beach but that was mostly because I was keeping a watchful motherly eye on the kids to make sure they didn't get sucked away by the ocean during their body surfing games. It was great to see them so happy and comfy in the waves as the last time we were at the beach they were too little to go into the waves with such enthusiasm. David also caught some waves in his kayak and I was totally lame and sat on the beach warming up children in between their dips....I didn't have swimming attire having ordered something on the internet to have it arrive and hey surprise surprise not fit me! After a few rotations under the waves and water and sand up the nose etc we all trekked back to the campsite for a nice refreshing shower and some 'steamers' ..not a turkish bath but clams....the kids sampled and sampled some more...... David is glad to have some keen shellfsh eating kids!

A great time was had by all!

Strawbale plastering

Maya and I attended a strawbale plastering workshop yesterday learning a little about strawbale construction and getting some hands on experience with the clay/straw mixture that gets put on over the bales. Maya very delicately helped out with little splodges of clay here and there but mostly watched and ate all the food I had brought along! I however did get stuck in there and after a brief 'how to' was plastering the bales with many other hands. To keep up everyones's enthusiasm there was a DJ complete with turntables blaring some cool reggae music. This paticularly helpled out the folk making the clay mixture which involved a lot of dancing with bare feet on the clay and straw until the right consistency was achieved.

This is a studio space that has been built with a post and beam construction in an ecovillage called the Sirius community in Shutesbury... along the lines of Findhorn in Scotland. All the materials were found locally including the wood which was from their property ( apparently most of the wood used in house construction gets trucked from 3000 miles away). It was really interesting to learn a little of the process and encouraging that people are doing it here in the North East. I'm keen on the idea of David and I doing a small strawbale studio on our property perhaps next year. This of course would involve some bale raising and plastering parties! I'm now on a strawbale buliding focus and plan to learn what I can in order that we can do as much of the work ourselves ( with local help) and save some money.

The Kittens Much Bigger!

Maya wrote:
Today Panther licked Sage and after, Daisy hurt Sage on the shoulder. Silky owns a bookstore. Daisy ate the first piece of food. The kittens are so cute!

Mum wrote:
The kids continue to nurture and train their little kitties. Sage thought it necessary to teach Daisy how to somersault as all good kittens should be able to do! Food and litter have been introduced now but I'm not sure that the kittens can tell the difference yet! We've moved them into David's office and now they have a lot more room to explore including behind all the books....David however has taken refuge in our bedroom!

Maya Says: I Lost My First Tooth!

Mum wrote: Yes finally Maya has joined the rest of her gappy mouthed peers! However that tooth fairy has gotten a lot more generous it appears... I was informed that she even leaves presents in exchange for that enamel! Luckily we got the old fashioned kind at our house and Maya got her coins.

Dad wrote: Looks cute, right? Watch out, though, there's a behemoth of a tooth breaking the gums behind that jagged front row! Could make for some interesting dentistry soon...