Ending the Summer

Everybody is in "back to school" mode but it's business as usual for our always learning family. We had such a busy summer but Fall may become even busier with all of our micro-farming efforts.

Here's what we've been up to:

End of Summer

Lots of swimming and water fun!
We visited lake George tons this summer with packed picnic lunches to spend the day and hike the little trails nearby.

The kiddos so enjoyed playing with water balloons this summer. We purchased a little water balloon hand pump and biodegradable balloons so they could learn to fill them all on their own. So much fun having water balloon fights for the whole family!

We played with slip and slides, sprinklers, and even just the hose filling up buckets and containers.

One of A's favorite activities is making a swimming pool for her my little ponies.


Visiting the fair!

We visited two end of summer local fairs - The Skowhegan State Fair and Common Ground Fair.

A had a blast at the State Fair! We toured a lot of the livestock barns which she found interesting. She saw a camel there which she also found very interesting but has even rode one in the past, making it even more special for her. We visited the 4-H barn as well. A has been interested and mulling over the prospect of joining the club.

The main attraction for A was pushing her limits with the rides! She blew me away with how much courage she showed at getting on rides that she would have been terrified to ride in the past. I even rode a few with her that were alost scary for even me but so, so fun for her. She has become a little dare devil!

We recently visited Common Ground Fair but the kids were not overly impressed with it. It was a whole lot of what we do day in and day out! So they were a little bored. But they did have fun playing in the kids area for a while. They hula hooped, jumped into hay, and played in the woods. They also really enjoyed helping to make a paper mache tree which is the one thing that we had yet to try. So that will be on the menu of fun new crafts to try!


Fun With Friends
Lots of play dates, play groups, skyping, and playing online with friends on Xbox Live.

Making new friends with neighbors and meeting new people at various groups and meetings, the farmers market and more.


Fun on the Micro Farm
We have some new additions to our tiny farm - angora rabbits and potbelly pigs! The kids are learning to care for and handle these animals.

The angora rabbits will be for fiber to make yarn and enjoy knitting.

The piglets are our new little garden tillers, helping to expand our garden to a much larger size.

Our chickens are growing large and the rooters (we have 3!) are beginning to crow!

We are also preparing for a new pregnant doe to come live on our farm. She will be here next week. So we will be planning for babies in early spring and once again raising them indoors with the help of the children.

 Indoor Interests
 A really loves to make screen casts! She has been making cute little screen casts of her favorite games and things. She had dozens of videos from somewhat informational to completely off the wall silly.

She has begun moving on to making videos with the video camera and is delving a bit into video editing. Her aim is to begin making more creative and story telling types of videos. 

MLP Modding
A has been super hard at work modding her my little pony dolls. We have experimented at taking the paint off of them so that she can repaint their colors, eyes, and even try to change their hair. We had kind of a hard time with paint removal but she has fun recoloring them using sharpie markers and giving hair cute.

The USUAL - things we are doing on an ongoing basis

The library, and reading books

drawing and crafts (almost daily)

baking and cooking - from bread and donuts to casseroles, soups and pies.

taking care of all of our animals (dogs, cat, fish, goats, pigs, chickens, rabbits)

livestock pen and shelter building (getting ready for winter)

starting fires in our hand built fire pit and roasting marshmellows and hot dogs by fire

playing Minecraft on our family Minecraft Realm

watching movies and documentaries

Youtube research on various topics

lots and lots of discussion on all kinds of topics from math studies down to human health. We do a whole lot of talking :-)

digital art making

playing games (Animal Jam, Club Penguin,  and a couple others)

exploring the yard and nature, fields and forests around our home.

observing the moths, butterflies, and insects around our home

feeding grass hoppers to chickens :-)