Spring Break 2017: DON'T POKE THE BEAR

The beach proved a smidge chilly for Spring Break last year, so this year we decided to camp at Garner State Park. It was a little damp and cold, and the Frio was, indeed frio, but we didn't let that get in the way of a good time. The bird watching was splendid. Here's the list:

1. Eastern phoebes (they started singing VERY early. Good morning FEE-bee)

2. Eastern bluebirds
3. Vermillion flycatcher (he was so handsome)

4. Carolina chickadees
5. Goldfinches
6. Carolina wren
7. Great horned owl!! (I saw this handsome fellow sitting on a fence post)
8. ladderbacked woodpecker
9. Golden-fronted woodpecker
10. Rio Grande turkeys
11. black crested titmice
12. tufted titmice
13. Great Blue heron (swooping across the Frio. It was HUGE--looked like a pterodactyl!)
14. Vesper sparrows
15. chipping sparrows
16. sedge wrens
17. kestrel
18. nighthawk
19. roadrunners!
20. cardinals (soo many)

The turkeys were hilarious. There were lots of females who would wander around in an utterly disinterested clump as these three males would spread their gorgeous tail feathers and strut nearby. There were also some juvenile males who would go full fan as long as the older toms weren't around, but as soon as the older toms came back the younger males (they are called 'jakes'--just looked it up)  would quickly skulk away with their feathers lowered, and start pecking under the feeders like they were just super cool and sulky, and not afraid. You'll get your turn next year, young jakes. The females will ignore you just as assiduously as they did those big toms.




Hudson got a pair of Carolina chickadees to follow him around by playing their call on the bird app on my phone, like a chickadee pied piper. With a smart phone. And a happier ending.

 I named these spider web beauties 'fairy hammocks.' Sometimes magical things happen when you wake up early.

The Daddy sprained his ankle on this hike. But we also saw road runners! So, worth it?

We hiked, we found a bat in a hole in a cave (headlamps=finding reclusive mammals in tight places),
we saw a baby porcupine! waddling around behind the bird blind, and we made s'mores.


The kids skipped rocks in the Frio, splashed in the Frio, dropped small boulders into the Frio, and generally delighted in river life, just like Rat and Mole and the gang.




Everyone got along pretty well, until the third day, when the Daddy was packing up, it was misting rain, and the sibling quibbles reached a fever pitch. One sibling in particular was being extremely prickly, so I said to the other siblings, in a loud and growly voice,"DON'T POKE THE BEAR!" and it broke the tension nicely. It has since become a reliable giggle-inducer when things get tense. Even The Bear laughs when it is invoked.

We also spent a few days with my parents, including an afternoon at the Stark Museum in Orange (the kids thought they might have an Iron Man sighting. Alas, wrong Stark), and an evening at the Nederland Heritage Festival. It was a good week all around.

I went to a homeschool conference and all I got was a book of Supreme Court paper dolls

Oh, Scalia. What would you MAKE of this?

Last weekend I attended my first ever homeschool conference, which is noteworthy, perhaps, because I have been homeschooling for six years now. I actually had attempted to try one back when we started, but got so overwhelmed and dismayed by the exhibit halls that I decided to leave. This conference had my husband in the exhibit hall, so I decided to stay. Also, we had taken the kids to my parents' house for 3 days, which meant I didn't have to think about feeding anyone other than myself for 72 glorious hours. Here are some thoughts on the whole experience:

1. I got to hear really great talks from what I am calling the Andrew Triumvirate: Pudewa, Peterson, and Kern.

2. I went to three different sessions with Sarah MacKenzie (Teaching From Rest, Read Aloud Revival) and while her first talk was basically a summary of her book, which I had already read, her second one ended with her having the whole 250 or so of us stand and sing the Doxology. Even in a bland conference hall, it was transcendent. I love it when there are all these crazy beautiful harmonies when a bunch of Jesus folk bust out the acapella. It's why I cry every time I watch one of those flash mob videos. And yes, indeed, I cried through the Doxology.

3. On a related note, Andrew Kern ends all his talks with this benediction: "May the Lord remember you in His Kingdom. Thank you." He also reminded me of this essential, excruciating truth: "Be what your child needs to imitate." He somehow manages to say hard, challenging things with an occasional line of deadpan humor that makes it all very encouraging.

4. There were kids everywhere, in all the sessions. My favorite brood sat in front of me on the floor while I listened to Pudewa warn me against The Four Deadly Errors of Teaching Writing. The 7 year old had a pile of fabric squares that she arranged and rearranged inside this wooden paperdoll template. Her little sister sat quietly beside her building castles out of dry sponges cut into geometric shapes (GENIUS. The mom told me how to make my own), and the littlest brother gave his mom kisses every few minutes while also sorting a deck of playing cards. The were completely silent, the entire hour. Take that, smart phones.

5. In what should have been #1, were this list in order of importance, my husband made all of this possible by standing in a booth, on a concrete floor, recruiting for his college, for 21 hours over three days. He is a good man.

6. I got to eat at Mi Cocina with a dear, long-time friend on Thursday night. We talked nonstop for almost 4 hours. It was so delightful that the husband and I went back and ate there again the next night, AND again the next. And I don't even technically LIKE Mexican food.

7. We got to spend a little time with S.D. Smith, author of The Green Ember, and his brothers. What a great bunch. The only regret is that the oldest brother, who is named HAMLET! was not there. The second brother, named Will Smith (father of 6, seller of Sea-doos) seemed to enjoy my joke about someone needing to keep things running in Denmark while the rest of them gallivanted with the homeschoolers.

That isn't everything, but it is all I have today. I came home from the weekend all excited and inspired and then promptly got a bad cold which brought me right on down from the mountaintop. Also, it has been raining and dreary. And Helena just brought home her solar system science project assignment. It seems like Hudson just did his maybe a month ago. Apparently it has been an entire year? Did I ever even post a picture? He got points off because I misread the thing and told him he didn't have to put Pluto in there. He is still a little upset with me about that.