Highlights

I have been such a slacker lately about blogging, but wouldn't you know it life has happened even if I did not record it for you. So... I'll give you a synopsis of our past few weeks since we returned from the conference.

In the midst of recovering from the conference trip, I had work to do. I had less than a week to send in my article for the Connections ezine so I of course put it off as long as possible and then in a moment of inspiration, whipped it out and sent it to the editor. After a round of editing and revising, it was good to go! I was very excited to be asked to write for the zine, and look forward to contributing more in the future.

One of our big days lately was our Annual Talk Like a Pirate Party for the Life Learners. The girls and I were happy to host the party in our home this year, since we felt more free to really dress up. Last year we had it at Red Rock and climbing took precedence over pirate fashion. I think our costumes turned out pretty good, even if we did throw them together from stuff we had on hand. They added lots of jewelry to what you see here, including hoop earrings. No pictures of me, but I was all dressed up, too. We went online to the pirate name generators and all got ourselves a proper pirate moniker. I was Cap'n Jezebel Slaughter, A was Cap'n Scurvaceous Faye Sparrow and E was Cap'n Sara Hook.
For food, we had moldy hardtack (sugar cookies with green icing) , dried meat (beef jerky), lots of tropical fruits like we'd find ashore in the Carribean, and other stuff I forget right now.

It was a grand party! One of the moms brought blank flags for the kids to decorate, and much fun was had playing with our treasure chest full of coins and beads and jewels. I believe our trampoline became a pirate ship and they all got seasick bouncing around in high seas.

This week our Life Learner event was a day out at Red Rock. We usually go to this one spot that has picnic tables by some cool rocks with a spring coming out. There are trees and wildlife all around and it is really nice. The weather was gorgeous, cool and a few clouds in the blue sky, and we had a nice time. The kids crawled all over the rocks and us moms had fun chatting and watching the kids explore. Many of the kids, A and E included had fun climbing up this tree that was growing out of the top of the big rock they played on.

The kids found tiny snails and leeches in the pool of the spring. Oh, and little black water bugs swimming under the water. We saw a huge blue wasp-ish bug with orange wings, pretty black and orange and yellow butterflies, and some kind of bluejay. At the end of the day when it was just us and one other family, we heard the quail, but they did not come down to drink with us there, like we have seen in the past. A came out of the bathroom and scared a lizard so bad he dropped his tail! Or so she says. He certainly lost his tail, but I think she stepped on it. There was quite the ruckus over what to do about that lizard. They ended up putting him back near where they found him, but away from the bathroom door.This is a picture of A with one of the tiny snails on her finger. She really liked the snail, she was just making a face because I needed her to hold still for the photo and she wanted to go play!

At the end of the day, when driving home, we had to stop to see this wild burro. I have never seen one this dark! They are usually a lighter gray. He was with another normal colored burro and he really stood out. Seeing him was a cool ending to a cool day!

Today, we had some friends over for a playdate. Actually three families, with a total of ten kids from 11 down to 2 years old. Chaotic fun was had by all! I'm amazed I'm blogging at all. C has the next four days off, so we should have some good family time coming up. I promise I'll be better about blogging....