One Crazy Summer...

This has been quite the crazy summer shifting back and forth between lazy summer days of hanging around the house, BBQ, and running through the sprinkler hose, to long crazy trips and busy days full of fun and adventure...

We Raised Ducks!

An unfortunate thing happened... The very last of Audrey's pet Silkie chickens were found by the fox that lives in the woods behind our house. We said goodbye to the cutest sweetest rooster who ever lived. And due to the occurrence we were gifted three little ducklings from our farmer friends next door.
We raised the ducks indoors at first from our pantry and it was the cutest and messiest thing we'd ever done concerning any indoor animals. Audrey helped feed, water, and clean their little cage. We even transported them to the bathtub once or twice a week for a little swim and bath time.
Eventually they moved outdoors to their own little pen where they flourished.

The entire affair became a lesson in compromise when the ducks grew bigger and then very very loud. And they became guard dogs. They would erupt in loud fits of quacking over any little move - a blade of grass in the wind, a bird flying over... Which made our neighbor very unhappy.
Audrey decided that it was a fun experience but the ducks would find a new home with a vegetarian friend of ours who has a stream running through her yard and agreed not to eat them.

Farming/Gardening

Lots of things going on always with our little homestead. We decided to scale back on animals yet expand the garden. And Audrey had her hand in the work when possible.

We used our little potbelly pigs to till up the earth and expand our vegetable garden. Which also involved moving pens around and transporting the pigs to and fro from pen to pen where they would dutifully eat all of the grass and dig and till the ground.
Audrey experienced first hand the easiest and hardest ways to move the pigs. The easiest? with a trail of marshmallows!

One of Audrey's favorite things is to visit the piggies and give them a good belly scratch and a snack.

We planted a garden! Audrey did help a bunch with weeding and of course harvesting the fruits. We planted tomatoes, kale, broccoli, green beans, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, celery, lettuce, onions, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, and a number of different squash. We also planted several herbs and bee loving plants.

We grew and harvested our very first meat birds this year. It was interesting watching how different they were from our egg layers, and how fast they grew. Audrey came with to lad them into the car and bring them to the butcher. She even decided to come inside and watch some of the process. A very eye opening process that also sparked quite a lot of discussion on our food supply and small farms versus factory farms. In the end Audrey decided that raising our our chicken was the best way (she'd been vegetarian in the past) but is still unsure about whether she will eat any of these particular chickens.

The same week we were o experience death on the farm we also experienced new life once again. One of our hens hatched herself four little baby chicks. One of the chicks is unfortunately not thriving very well. But they are all very cute and Mom is doing a fantastic job with them. It's very fun watching her teach them how to be chickens.

Volunteering At The Animal Shelter

At the start of the summer Audrey decided she'd like to work at the animal shelter. So we headed on down and signed up to volunteer. We went through an orientation process and have been official volunteer shelter workers for quite some time now. Audrey loves it!
We go once per week for an hour or two and help out in the cat room. We refill all food and water bowls, clean litter boxes, do laundry and dishes when needed, sweep, and best of all, play with the cats.
We even adopted one little kitten who we started out as foster parents to. Her name is Alaska and she is 4 months old.

Digital Art

Art and being creative is Audrey's obsession. She has been doing a real lot of digital art this summer. Fortunately I have loads of books on hand for this already. But she has also been watching a lot of speed painting digital art Youtube videos. And she is really progressing in her skill set!
She likes to use Photoshop and Painter Essentials to create her artwork which she starts from a mere sketch that she scans and uploads to her computer. I have set up an art desk and creative corner in her room for her, and even brought in her own printer and scanner combo.

Fixing Laptops

We had a lot of mishaps with broken computers this summer. But I managed to fix the computers myself and Audrey was along for the ride. The laptop she is using now is one that, at one point, would not even start. We disassembled the computer and managed to wipe it completely clean of all data, reinstalled indows and all software and got it running again!

What we've been doing in a nutshell:

Reading and Language Arts
Books (reading and being read to), Library, websites, games/learning games, emailing with her "penpals", role playing on Roblox, creating stories, messaging friends.

Math
Games, discussion, cooking/measuring, shopping on Ebay, shopping with her own money, helping grocery shop, Math Games (made up games with her brother quizzing each other on math problems - and asking me for new quiz/problm ideas), building on Minecraft, telling time.

Science
experiments with ice (ongoing experiments with putting different things in the freezer), using our microscope, watching the night sky, observing the many insects and spiders in our yard and garden, Nights in our yard with the glow-bugs, gardening and raising farm animals, composting, exploring the woods in Maine, Starting camp fires in our back yard, fixing computers.

Exploring
We are always on a quest to explore more places in Maine. The most beautiful recent trips was to Houston Falls! A beautiful short hike through the woods only to emerge on a gorgeous waterfall. We were able to wade in the water and stand close enough to the falls to feel the mist resting on our shoulders. There was a lot of steep hiking/climbing as well. A eally fun trip.

We also were on a quest for Moose safari in Maine. We had some locals tell us of a few places where moose cross regularly if you just show up at the right times. So many nights we just go on rides looking for the places and for the moose, and just see what we see.

And More...

Trips to MA on several occasions to visit family, friends, and family parties.

Swimming in the lake behind our house, Lake George and a couple others we have found on our travels.

We got a new trampoline which the kids are jumping on frequently.

Playing in the hose and sprinkler.

Climbing trees in the yard.

We visited the Artisan Bread Fair where the kiddos made their own pizzas in a wood fired oven.

We visited Skowhegan State Fair and stayed the day looking at ll the agricultural exhibits and riding the rides.

Visiting the farm next door and the dairy across the street.

Cooking, baking, and making snacks and smoothies.

Watching documentaries, Youtube videos, and going to the movies. (the kids rarely watch TV shows anymore).

Playing online games such as Animal Jam, Minecraft, and Roblox. Several other games and apps they find online (new and different ones all the time! I can barely keep track!)

Visiting friends and inviting friends for visits.

Building an online Minecraft world together complete with a zoo and amusement park.

Learning to sew on a sewing machine.