Buddy!

The boys caught a big fat blue belly lizard the other day and after taking it to school for show and tell, it was time to let it go. We actually have a 24hr rule regarding creatures- we only keep whatever is caught for 24hrs....that way we don't end up having to feed or take care of the many bugs, lizards and critters the small men have caught.

Monkey Boy really wanted his photo taken with "Buddy" before we let him go.

And of course Little Man had to have one, too.
After the photos it was time for Buddy to be free and we set him loose in our flowerbeds. I'm pretty sure that the boys will catch him again. Last year we caught and released the same lizard about four times!

Giant Candy Corns!

Supplies:
Styrofoam cones in various sizes (5 inch to 18 inch)
Yarn in yellow, orange, and white (I used cheap Red Heart: $2.50 each giant skein)

Gather up your supplies under the watchful eyes of your supervisor:

"Get to work already!"



My styrofoam cones were green so I asked Monkey Boy to paint the tops for me. We used white acrylic craft paint. This way the very tip of the cones wouldn't show up green against the white yarn when we wrapped it.




My supervisor is making sure the yarn is all there...



Then comes the tedious part: starting at the bottom, wrap the yarn around the styrofoam cone:

It's not difficult but make sure you occasionally turn the cone to cover all the green. When you're done with the yellow, go on to the orange, and finally the white.


"Hmmm...you need to wrap more..."

I didn't use glue or anything to hold the yarn on...it sticks pretty well to the styrofoam so I just wrapped it up to the top and tucked under the last piece.
Here are the finished products:

This is a super easy project- in fact Little Man did the front piece all by himself and it turned out wonderfully.

Though....it's a much easier project if you don't have this kind of 'help'....

Library trip.... !

Photo dump!

Yes,I know it's been FOREVER since I posted....we were super busy with camping toward the end of August...then school started (and kids are in two different schools now)... and I have been teaching yoga a lot. All that equals very little time to blog!

So in an effort to catch up, I am going to dump a bunch of photos in the post and let them speak for themselves! (click on any photo to embiggen)

Camping in Big Sur with our good friends:

Stopping on Highway 1 to take a sunset photo

sun setting in the fog

kids on the big sur river by our campsite

Monkey Boy on the rope swing

Little Man and his pal on the floatie

Monkey Boy was fascinated by the water skaters and caught a bunch!

The kids loved jumping off this log into a pool

We camped at Big Sur for three days and then headed up the coast to Monterey, where we got to visit Cannery Row and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

MB said his favorite fish were the sharks, and LM liked the sunfish the best.
They both enjoyed petting the batrays, too.

We got home just in time for Labor Day weekend, then it was back to school!

How did they get so big?!


LM walking to school...


Thumbs up for his new classroom


MB as a first grader!


walking into his new school...

We are finally settling into the new school year routine so hopefully I will have more time to post. There has been a lot going on in our house besides camping and school....!

homemade whipped cream is way better than storebought!

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