Once again, I'm relying on Craig to create a video memory of our vacation. Not only does he capture the spirit of the week, but he uses the James song we are all wearing on our RU Fun shirts for the music:
May your mind set you free
May your heart lead you on
May your eyes be opened by the wonderful
Thank you Craig, for making the movie and sharing it with all of us!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
The Wonderful Happened
We spent a week with Effie, Fergus, Gillian and Craig at their wonderful house in their own private woods (or in other words, paradise). It was really so lovely, the kids got along so well they were fighting like siblings at the end, so I think we can safely say that we all bonded. After two straight weeks together (the first at RU Fun and the second at their house), I still cried when we left them, so I guess that is good.
That's the problem with those amazing unschooling conferences. You fall in love with people who are inconveniently located.
We spent a mostly quiet week about the house, but it felt like we did so much that I don't even know how to begin to sum it all up. I'll try anyway.
We saw so much wildife...
An owl, bald eagles, a turkey vulture, a whole family of quail.
A garter snake (Gillian almost caught it).
And just as advertised, we saw deer, babies and mamas coming right up to the house.
We went oot and aboot...
We had dinner at the Red Robin, Effie made a root beer float, and we got helium balloons for everyone.
The kids ate giant chocolate lollipops from a Canadian Chocolate Shop (I'm sure this has a name I should remember, but I don't).
Editor's Note: Gillian just emailed me to tell me that name of the shop is Rogers, which I also realized because we unpacked the gift that they sent home for Martin (so lovely of someone to remember to get him a gift!), and it was a box of those delicious chocolates and two more chocolate lollipops for the boys. Yum.
We toured a big and fancy hotel covered in ivy (also with a name I should remember but don't).
Editor's Note: Gillian also reminded me the hotel is The Empress and mentioned that it is apparently sinking because it was built on reclaimed land from the bay.
We walked along the harbor.
We saw a fire juggling, unicycle riding street performer who Max thought was absolutely hilarious (and so did I, actually).
We played games...
On the Wii, mostly Indiana Jones and Mario Kart.
We figured out that yes, our Gamecube games do play on the Wii and so we introduced Fergus and Effie to the Cars game and Super Mario Sunshine.
And we discovered that even with four computers in the house, sometimes there still weren't enough to go 'round.
We made friends...
Friends visited us, and we visited friends.
Craig and Gillian are little socialites! (I guess I should have guessed as much.)
We met Jeni and Steven and Jen and Heather and all the kids attached to these parents.
And we twice again got to see Helen and her family (who were also at RU Fun).
And we just hung around the house...
We roasted weiners and marshmallows and popped Jiffy Pop in the clay fireplace.
We made concoctions, indoor and outdoor variety.
We took big hikes through the large and gorgeous property.
We jumped on the trampoline.
The kids roamed freely around the paths and built playhouses out of sticks.
We collected bones from a deer skeleton found on the hill. Max and Effie were, as they said, "very interested" in this and so excited we could hardly break to find them a proper drawing of what a deer skeleton would look like, assembled. They laid out the bones and tried to put together the puzzle.
And we spent one evening lying on the trampoline and looking at the stars. We saw a couple of shooting stars. And planes. And satellites. And spotted the space station.
We had a picnic on the beach (largely prepared by Effie) and sat and talked and soaked up the perfect weather (only dampened by the fact that Gillian had to stay home from a stomach bug that seized her in our last days). We built houses for our Playmobil toys, searched for clams and big sticks, saw herons and geese, tried to unearth a giant wooden pole, skipped stones, and got ice cream from a Canadian ice cream truck.
On our very last afternoon, we hiked to the harbor and looked at the boats at the dock, indulged in even more ice cream, played in the stones, and watched a crew fillet a newly caught salmon. Two seals came right up to the feast (although one of them dominated the meal). And we saw jellyfish! And more clams and mussels. Max was over the moon about it...and after a morning of being a bit cranky and ready to go home, he suddenly didn't want to leave.
As we were walking back to their house, through the grassy woods, Otto said something like, "They have so many cool things in this world. Maybe we should move here."
And we said tearful goodbyes.
Craig, Gillian, Effie and Fergus...thank you.
Wii Are Home
I am not sure what I was thinking when I booked our return flight home from Canada, but we flew out of Vancouver on a 11 pm flight (which was delayed until after midnight), flew about 4 1/2 hours and arrived in Chicago at 6:15 in the morning. The kids were amazing and I am so grateful to the universe or whatever stars aligned themselves to enable them to stay awake until the flight (well, Otto fell asleep 20 minutes prior or so for our delayed flight) and then sleep through the entire flight, giving them each about 4 1/2 hours of sleep (not much, but somehow it seems to be working for them). Max was barely holding on for the last 15 minutes—we kept getting further delays, and he was almost asleep several times, and I wondered how in the world I would carry both him and Otto and all our bags onto the airplane. But instead, he rallied, and he even helped me push the cart of baggage while I carried Otto. And then he slept, and so did Otto.
I was not so lucky, however. Word to the wise: do not book your overnight flight in the very last row of an airplane. The seats do not recline, the toilet is directly behind you and seems to be in frequent use, even in the most quiet hours of the flight, and the flight attendants are very likely to have a noisy discussion about fellow flight attendants who arrived in a drunken state to their flights and what routes are the best to work and what passengers do that really annoys them and who had matched up with whom and other things that you don't really need to hear about in the middle of the night when you would like to be sleeping. I did not even sleep for one minute, although I did close my eyes and try to rest for about 30 minutes. Instead, I watched "My Name is Earl" and saw a fairly good bad movie, in the best sense of airplane movies, a sort of suspense movie called "Flawless" about a diamond heist. I watched it with interest, thinking it might actually be a non-animated movie that Max would enjoy. But then I remembered how much explaining I would have to do about each moment and its somewhat complicated plot, and I was really glad he was asleep. I was definitely too tired for that sort of thinking.
Martin was waiting for us outside the gate . He took us home, where we discovered a crew of tree cutters, who were just embarking on tearing down the neighbor's five giant trees so they can start construction on the new house. By 8 am, they were chainsawing, and big limbs were crashing down and the ground was shaking our house. Not good for sleeping. So we gave up entirely, and we all headed to Lula for breakfast (largely due to the offers of food in the house, which I will discuss in further detail).
Here's a "before" shot of our house and the neighboring lot. We didn't document it very well, but there were at least five trees there this morning. And a lot of nice shade for our sandbox.
And here is an "after" shot (or during, I should say, as it is still happening. Everything will be gone in the next couple of hours.)
Still operating no sleep, and probably largely b/c of this, we headed to two different Targets, where we purchased a Wii console, a Wii Fit, a Wii Play, Indiana Jones and Mario Party 8 (? Otto just HAD to have it, I have no idea about this game). I think the kids look very depressed here mostly because they are exhausted. They were definitely excited about it in the store. !!
With all that excitement, I am still somehow awake. I did treat myself to a cup of coffee this morning, which might explain some of the energy, but I am expecting a big crash tonight.
Update: Max just fell asleep on the couch, waiting for Martin to set up the Wii. Otto is nursing and seems to be heading in the same direction. Otto is nursing and will soon do the same. Oh look, I guess I am showing signs of no sleep. I wrote that sentence twice. And Martin and I can explore the Wii Fit and make our very own Miis. I am so happy I know what these things are and can actually do them now!
I was not so lucky, however. Word to the wise: do not book your overnight flight in the very last row of an airplane. The seats do not recline, the toilet is directly behind you and seems to be in frequent use, even in the most quiet hours of the flight, and the flight attendants are very likely to have a noisy discussion about fellow flight attendants who arrived in a drunken state to their flights and what routes are the best to work and what passengers do that really annoys them and who had matched up with whom and other things that you don't really need to hear about in the middle of the night when you would like to be sleeping. I did not even sleep for one minute, although I did close my eyes and try to rest for about 30 minutes. Instead, I watched "My Name is Earl" and saw a fairly good bad movie, in the best sense of airplane movies, a sort of suspense movie called "Flawless" about a diamond heist. I watched it with interest, thinking it might actually be a non-animated movie that Max would enjoy. But then I remembered how much explaining I would have to do about each moment and its somewhat complicated plot, and I was really glad he was asleep. I was definitely too tired for that sort of thinking.
Martin was waiting for us outside the gate . He took us home, where we discovered a crew of tree cutters, who were just embarking on tearing down the neighbor's five giant trees so they can start construction on the new house. By 8 am, they were chainsawing, and big limbs were crashing down and the ground was shaking our house. Not good for sleeping. So we gave up entirely, and we all headed to Lula for breakfast (largely due to the offers of food in the house, which I will discuss in further detail).
Here's a "before" shot of our house and the neighboring lot. We didn't document it very well, but there were at least five trees there this morning. And a lot of nice shade for our sandbox.
And here is an "after" shot (or during, I should say, as it is still happening. Everything will be gone in the next couple of hours.)

Still operating no sleep, and probably largely b/c of this, we headed to two different Targets, where we purchased a Wii console, a Wii Fit, a Wii Play, Indiana Jones and Mario Party 8 (? Otto just HAD to have it, I have no idea about this game). I think the kids look very depressed here mostly because they are exhausted. They were definitely excited about it in the store. !!
With all that excitement, I am still somehow awake. I did treat myself to a cup of coffee this morning, which might explain some of the energy, but I am expecting a big crash tonight.
Update: Max just fell asleep on the couch, waiting for Martin to set up the Wii. Otto is nursing and seems to be heading in the same direction. Otto is nursing and will soon do the same. Oh look, I guess I am showing signs of no sleep. I wrote that sentence twice. And Martin and I can explore the Wii Fit and make our very own Miis. I am so happy I know what these things are and can actually do them now!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
RU Fun, The Last Days
Thursday morning photo of the lake and its new raft.
The secret society of stripes calls their meeting to order.

Stunt kite.

Field trip to Ruckle Park. We were late and trying to find our group.
We found a pretty cool tree.
And some mussels.

And a purple starfish.
And finally our group. Here's Beth with a crab.
A trip to the lighthouse.
Orange starfish.
Big ferry wave. (Somehow when I first heard this term I pictured a fairy wave, which I would still quite like to see, but this was pretty cool too.)
Barnacles! This brought us great joy, since one of the boys' favorite things to say, a la SpongeBob is, "Barnacles!" (along with "Tartar Sauce!") to any situation that brings them dismay.
Boys with sticks.
Back at the campground, Max spent some time just lying on the warm sand.
More inner tubes.
Still lying in the sand.
International Freezie Pop Day is over, but Otto is still celebrating.
Here we all are.
A last look at the mosaic tile stepping stone...
and the painting...
before the fireside auction.
That was the end of Day 4, and Day 5 was mostly spent packing up and cleaning up and clearing out of the Cedar Beach Resort. We had a post-conference picnic at the park in the downtown (conveniently situated near the toy store and ice cream shop).

And then we all said our goodbyes. We packed up our troops and headed back to Craig and Gillian's house. Beth, Kevin and Emma joined our convoy, and we all had a fun roadtrip and evening together at the Mayer house. Now we are spending another week with the Mayers in their fabulously secluded paradise, and we are really looking forward to these quiet days with them.
The secret society of stripes calls their meeting to order.

Stunt kite.

Field trip to Ruckle Park. We were late and trying to find our group.
We found a pretty cool tree.
And some mussels.

And a purple starfish.
And finally our group. Here's Beth with a crab.
A trip to the lighthouse.
Orange starfish.

Big ferry wave. (Somehow when I first heard this term I pictured a fairy wave, which I would still quite like to see, but this was pretty cool too.)
Barnacles! This brought us great joy, since one of the boys' favorite things to say, a la SpongeBob is, "Barnacles!" (along with "Tartar Sauce!") to any situation that brings them dismay.
Boys with sticks.

Back at the campground, Max spent some time just lying on the warm sand.
More inner tubes.
Still lying in the sand.

International Freezie Pop Day is over, but Otto is still celebrating.
Here we all are.

A last look at the mosaic tile stepping stone...
and the painting...
before the fireside auction.

That was the end of Day 4, and Day 5 was mostly spent packing up and cleaning up and clearing out of the Cedar Beach Resort. We had a post-conference picnic at the park in the downtown (conveniently situated near the toy store and ice cream shop).

And then we all said our goodbyes. We packed up our troops and headed back to Craig and Gillian's house. Beth, Kevin and Emma joined our convoy, and we all had a fun roadtrip and evening together at the Mayer house. Now we are spending another week with the Mayers in their fabulously secluded paradise, and we are really looking forward to these quiet days with them.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
RU Fun, Day Three
Wednesday was a really good day. I woke up and took a really hot shower, steaming up the cabin so much that the kids made drawings on the window.
We got out of the house fairly early (as we have been doing since we've been here, which is of course ridiculous—finally we are surrounded by people who stay up as late, or later!, than we do, and we are the first to bed and the first to rise—but our bodies are still somehow on Chicago time, and we are really having a slow time adjusting). Anyway, it was nice, since we have been looking at the lake in the beautiful morning light, as it sits there completely empty (except for all the inner tubes that are scattered in the sand).
We had breakfast and then went for a walk to find the letterbox.
And then we popped in the beach house, where the other early birds were playing some Guitar Hero.
We made our contributions to the Mosaic Tile Stepping Stone.
Here is one of our flowers:
And here is the other:
Effie gave glitter tattoos to several kids and a couple of adults.
We had some more fun with those fabulous inner tubes.
They got the raft ready to send it out further into the lake.
Our sandcastle funshop was actually really wonderful and low-key, and there was no pressure to have prepared any more than I did (in other words, there was no need to prepare anything at all). We just used the popsicle sticks and straws and paintbrushes to make some lovely buildings, and ultimately we connected almost all of them to create a medieval village of some sort.
Otto and Max played horseshoes.
We celebrated International Freezie Day by eating our fair share of freezies.
It was Jon's birthday, and all he asked of us was that everyone take the inner tubes to the top of the hill and release them, with the hope that some of them would actually roll down to the beach. It was wildly successful—not the success rate of the tubes making it to the beach, although I do think a couple of them did, but in the sense that the kids loved it so much that most of them wanted to march right back up the hill and recreate it. And so we did. Several times.
Some coloring.
Some Playmobil action.
Pancakes for dinner.
And bacon and sausage and other meats, all of which Barry happily grilled.
We had a decidedly better day today than yesterday. Max and Otto were happy being with Effie, and we all just had a lot of fun together. it was really a lovely day. Perfect weather, as we have had the entire week, just the right mix of fun and relaxation, a fabulous array of people with which to mingle, and breakfast for dinner. What could be better than that?
We got out of the house fairly early (as we have been doing since we've been here, which is of course ridiculous—finally we are surrounded by people who stay up as late, or later!, than we do, and we are the first to bed and the first to rise—but our bodies are still somehow on Chicago time, and we are really having a slow time adjusting). Anyway, it was nice, since we have been looking at the lake in the beautiful morning light, as it sits there completely empty (except for all the inner tubes that are scattered in the sand).
We had breakfast and then went for a walk to find the letterbox.
And then we popped in the beach house, where the other early birds were playing some Guitar Hero.
We made our contributions to the Mosaic Tile Stepping Stone.
Here is one of our flowers:
And here is the other:
Effie gave glitter tattoos to several kids and a couple of adults.
We had some more fun with those fabulous inner tubes.
They got the raft ready to send it out further into the lake.
Our sandcastle funshop was actually really wonderful and low-key, and there was no pressure to have prepared any more than I did (in other words, there was no need to prepare anything at all). We just used the popsicle sticks and straws and paintbrushes to make some lovely buildings, and ultimately we connected almost all of them to create a medieval village of some sort.
Otto and Max played horseshoes.
We celebrated International Freezie Day by eating our fair share of freezies.
It was Jon's birthday, and all he asked of us was that everyone take the inner tubes to the top of the hill and release them, with the hope that some of them would actually roll down to the beach. It was wildly successful—not the success rate of the tubes making it to the beach, although I do think a couple of them did, but in the sense that the kids loved it so much that most of them wanted to march right back up the hill and recreate it. And so we did. Several times.
Some coloring.
Some Playmobil action.
Pancakes for dinner.
And bacon and sausage and other meats, all of which Barry happily grilled.
We had a decidedly better day today than yesterday. Max and Otto were happy being with Effie, and we all just had a lot of fun together. it was really a lovely day. Perfect weather, as we have had the entire week, just the right mix of fun and relaxation, a fabulous array of people with which to mingle, and breakfast for dinner. What could be better than that?
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