Adventures On a Rural Homestead

Snow Adventures

The kids and I spent over 3.5 hours outside together yesterday, on wonderful snowy adventures. First we spent over an hour tracking in our back pasture. We tracked rabbits, a cat, and what we think are coyote tracks. I sent photos of the tracks to our neighbor friend, and she said they have seen foxes and coyotes down by the spring next to our property. 

We came inside for some lesson time, and looked up the tracks in our nature books. The boys drew the tracks and animals while I read aloud. Then we bundled back up to go outside to play. While Alex chopped down an invasive Bradford Pear tree Eli rolled gigantic snowballs and we made a snow lady together. 

The snow lady is on our new land (not so new anymore, it was almost one year ago that we bought it!), and the boys decided they wanted to make another one closer to the house. The second one got so huge and tall that we had to make a board ramp to roll and heft the torso onto the base! By the time we were finished we were so exhausted we didn't make it look very uniform, but it was lots of fun. 

We had such fun adventures together, I am so thankful for this time and this space. We're off now to explore tracks on our adjoining lot! 

Snow Fun

We woke yesterday morning to 4" of snow, and got more throughout the morning. We had such a fun snow day together~ including sledding on the hill behind our pond. 

Eli surprised us by going down the hill standing up on his sled, he just silently glided down with amazing balance! 

The boys had fun standing to sled, a challenge that made us all chuckle! 

We had such a fun time together, followed by wood stove smores to warm up after our sledding. We enjoyed homemade pizza and chicken wings for a delicious lunch. 

The college was closed today so Nick had another snow day, more fun! I'm so glad we got a nice big snow. It's the first time in our 3 winters here that we could use our big snowblower to clear our driveway. We're all hoping for another big snow, the Farmers Almanac predicted a big February snow then an early March snow. 

Our Week

This week seemed to last about a month, but the individual days were mostly good. We spent lots of time outside, doing fun things like having a winter picnic and flying kites with my parents. 

I had good walks in our back pasture with our sweet pup.

And there was lots of fort building. The boys tried to make a tree fort but didn't want to screw or nail into the tree, which proved to be too tricky.

Nick and I worked to help the boys build a neat two-story pallet fort in our woodsy area. 

Next to the boys pallet fort will be a "mama hangout," a big floor with pallets around three sides. This has been such a fun project. We'll work later today to finish closing in the pallet fort, and to secure the pallets around the mama hangout. We picture the mama hangout will be a great family picnic spot and wonderful outdoor lesson spot. I think we'll all spend lots of time out here! 

I'm looking forward to another good week with my sweet boys. Alex has a Valentines block carved and ready to print on cards, Eli is working on re-arranging his room, and I think we'll try to hike with my parents again mid-week. 

Christmas 2020

Christmas was different this year, as I'm sure it was for many. We really missed our pre-Christmas visit with Nick's mom. Instead of an in-person visit we video chatted with her on Christmas Eve. We did get to enjoy our traditional sushi Christmas Eve dinner, at home instead of in a restaurant. 

The boys were up at 4:30 on Christmas Eve, but thankfully they slept until 5:30 on Christmas morning. We got the wood stoves going then gathered to open our stockings and presents. 

Instead of making our traditional ham and tons of side dishes and pies this year we made veggie lasagna and steamed shrimp. I made the lasagnas on Christmas Eve, and we had cookies frozen that we'd made earlier in December on National Cookie Day. So I was able to enjoy time playing new games with the boys on Christmas day, and even had time for a windy walk around the pasture. It was the most relaxing holiday I can remember! 

My parents joined us for lunch and we had a lovely afternoon visiting with them. We truly go no where (I have not been inside a store since March!) , so that we can be in a bubble with my folks. It was so nice to have their company. We had a most enjoyable holiday! 

 

 

First Snow of the Year

We had our first snow here last week, and it was just enough to sled on the back side of the pond. Our weather had predicted as much as 12" of snow. We only got about 3", but it was perfect. We woke to a winter wonderland of ice crystals coating the trees and plants. 

The boys spent hours and hours sledding, we are so glad they discovered a sledding hill here! 

I had fun sledding too, I'd forgotten how fun it is to go whizzing down the hill! I hope the Farmers Almanac winter prediction is correct, and we get more snow than the past few years. We're ready for more sledding fun! 

Boy Fun

The boys spent several afternoons last week disassembling their backyard pallet fort. They made new forts over in our new lot, in a little woodsy area. They made two separate forts and have materials left to make one more. They're pleased, and like sitting over there to soak up the afternoon sun. 

The boys are both working on secret projects with Grammy. I'm not allowed to see what Alex is making, but I helped Eli with his project. He wanted to sew a cardinal for Alex, one of Alex's favorite birds. Grammy drew a wonderful pattern and got him started sewing on the wings, then sewing the faces and sewing the body together. We stuffed it with a bit of wool. Eli is very excited to give it to Alex, we'll see if he can actually wait until Christmas. Our little gift-giver has already given Alex two Christmas presents!

While we were at my folks yesterday we got to help decorate their Christmas tree. It was fun to see ornaments from my childhood, and to show the boys ornaments made by my great grandma. The little tree looks perfect in my parent's front window. 

Alex signed up for Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Project FeederWatch last week. He enjoys doing a morning and afternoon bird tally twice a week. He's built new bird feeders and has quite an elaborate bird feeding area set up outside our living room window that he refills every few days. 

The boys are very excited for snow today, there's a few flakes coming down now, and they're outside in the dark playing. I am looking forward to a quiet-ish day at home. Alex will do his bird tallies today and we'll make granola together, and work on some cards for family birthdays. 

Hike with Grandparents~ Hone Quarry

It was a beautiful warm and sunny afternoon yesterday, and the boys asked to go for a hike. We invited my parents to join us, and met them at Hone Quarry in the George Washington National Forest. Nick stayed home to rest his back and feet, which were sore from painting the family room beams. My sweet mom carried our backpack for us, since my shoulder can't do that weight yet. 

The boys had fun exploring some frozen springs off the trail. As he scrabbled up the hill Eli announced "Now this is my kind of terrain!" 

They enjoyed climbing the face of exposed sandstone, one of Alex's favorite places.  Alex walked along the top while Eli climbed some and explored the little stream at the bottom of the cliff. 

We hiked up the forest road to the pond just beyond the sandstone, then stopped for Eli to take some photographs on the way back. 

I spent lots of time at Hone Quarry in college~ hiking the Cliff Trail and camping. It's so fun to explore it many years later with my parents and children! We all had a lovely time soaking up the beauty of the woods, rocks and creeks.

Into the Woods

We spent almost four hours in the woods at Paul State Forest yesterday with my parents. The weather was unseasonably warm, but perfect for being outside. We ate a picnic lunch together, then set off down the trail.

We climbed fallen trees:

Explored rotten logs:

And even found a hibernating Eyed Click Beetle:

It was such a fun time of connection to the woods and each other, and something we hope to make a regular thing! We came home and worked on a list of places to visit with my folks. Here's to many more hiking and exploring trips!

 

 

First Snow

We had our first snow of the season this week, it was so beautiful. The boys had a great time playing in the snow, throwing snowballs, and exploring ice at the pond.

The chickens didn't want to walk in the snow, but they sure did love eating it, which amused us greatly. The boys are already wondering when we'll get more snow, and if we can find somewhere nearby to sled, they miss the great sledding hill at our last house. 

Christmas 2019

We had a lovely Christmas. Our day started quite early, Eli woke up at 4:00. After getting the woodstoves and hot tea going we gathered to open our stockings and gifts. The boys got gifts for Levi and Petey, and had fun giving them new treats and toys.

The boys had such fun picking out gifts for each other, and keeping them a secret. 

They also got a Star Wars Lego set for Nick, Alex was so excited to give it to papa.

We all got new books, I'm looking forward to some quiet days of reading. 

We went into town, where the boys loved playing on the football field while I ran three miles around the track. 

My parents, brother and Lizzy joined us for a delicious Christmas dinner. 

We enjoyed delicious food, good conversation, games and exchanging gifts. It was a lovely day.