Sea Fever

Psalm 100

Beach Pictures and Poetry

On Monday we made a trip to Sandy Hook, NJ. We hadn't been to the ocean in I think 4 years so we were all excited. Sandy Hook is the northern most beach in NJ, so from the beach you can see Manhatten and lots of close ups of planes coming in to the three local airports. It was a beautiful day. Temps in the 70s and breezy. When the tide came in we had a lovely sand bar and the water that filled in between the beach and the sandbar was about 18inches deep and made an ideal swimming hole for the two little ones that were far too scared to even put their feet in the ocean. We had a wonderful day and will definitely go back next year. Since it was after Labor Day the beach was largely empty and parking was free. Ideal time to visit.

don't worry we are going for a hair cut TODAY

my three bathing beauties

we hadn't even changed her into a bathing suit because she wouldn't even leave the beach blanket.  But once the tide came in creating the little pool she was in the water before we even realized.  She made the drive home in just a diaper!

Ok we have a memorized poem backlog here. So first is Anna reciting "The Owl and the Pussycat". Next is Ben reciting, "America For Me". And last is Anna reciting "Stopping By The Wood"
mmmmm lll

10 New Little Birds

So, to add to our 6 laying hens Claudio picked up 10 new chicks (our running joke is "Hey, I just picked up a bunch of chicks.....at Tractor Supply"). We are raising these for meat. It is our first venture into raising anything meat related. We have butchered a chicken when one of our layers got hit by a car and was injured. We were able to get it in the freezer. But now we will have ten to process.

We have five red rangers and five cornish. One type is a typical meat bird and one type is good at foraging. I don't remember which is which. Right now they just all look cute and fluffy and are living in their box in the basement until they are big enough to rough the elements outdoors.

Beatrice is Ready for the Warm Weather

Piano Recital

Ben had a recital a week or two ago for the residents at Grace Park assisted living. The recital was to function as a rehearsal for the piano festival he will be taking part in this coming weekend. At the time of the recital he still had a few kinks to work out and to finish memorizing his music. Last year he received Superior rating at the festival and we are hoping for good marks again this year.

Ben's Pollination Comic Strip

This was an assignment Ben completed for science today. Just thought it was too cute not to share.

the boy has no problem with the use of exclamation points!

Not generally amused by potty humor but this cracked me up!

Parish Talent Show

Ben and Anna performed in our parish talent show a few weeks ago. This was Anna's debut solo performance and the third time for Ben to participate.

 It was a great show with some many wonderful acts!

Ben's Cursive Handwriting

We used Memoria Press cursive handwriting program this year and Ben really enjoyed.  He finished the book a week or so ago and looks forward to starting the next book next year.  We highly recommend it. (PS ignore the spelling mistake)

Snow Dump

So, just like most of the people I know we were effected by Winter Storm Jonas. Or the Blizzard of 2016. We are at the very northern limits of the storm so it seems almost ridiculous to say this, but we "only" got a foot of snow. A foot of snow at any other time would be quite respectable.  Twenty miles south of here got 2-3 feet of snow.

Anyway, here is a photo dump of the end result of a pretty big snow storm!

This was Lucy's first venture into snow.  Once she was bundled up not only could she not walk but she could barely stand unassisted.  I tried to get a video of it but I messed something up on my camera.

So she sat in the sled and we took turns pulling her around until she said, "Cold....in house!!"

view of our front yard

Sasquatch or Claudio?

always love the curl of smoke coming from the chimney.