Lego Camp and Art

I went to Boulder for a yoga festival just two days after the boys got out of school...and they were already a day into a week of Lego camp when I returned.  This is the first year they were old enough to attend the Lego camp at the college by our house.  It is really science-based.  The group is split into teams and they compete by building a battery-powered car, a bridge (to see whose can support the most weight), a catapult to launch marshmallows with, and a case for a light bulb.  I think they dropped the cases to see if their case can protect the light bulb.

Avery loved running around the campus when we dropped them off.

On the last day they had free build day and came home with a new mini set of Legos.  

Avery also started a mom and me art class at Starry Night Studios.  The fun art class the boys have been at moved into the back of a toy store close to our house.  Avery's creation for our first class:

 

 And after her second class....she did some modge podge over tissue paper.  The green branches didn't come out in this pic but I love how Wyatt has his arms wrapped around Jack and Avery.  Avery says "Wyatt play with me."  or "Where is Zach (Jack)?"

Garden & Lavender

When the weather warmed up in May I couldn't wait to start buying plants and vegetables for our garden.  We have a really short growing season here so the rule is to wait to plant anything until June. So I started buying in May and created a bit of a greenhouse in our living room for a few weeks.  I found myself buying a tomato plant here, a tomato there...until we had nine tomato plants.  Nine.  Ok, I actually had more (there was a small 6-pack I wasn't counting) so I had to give some away.  

After one of our trips to a nursery....

We planted rosemary, thyme, basil, curry, oregano, chives, parsley, sage, and four different types of tomatoes on our deck:  Oregon spring, Super Sweet 100, a pineapple tomato and sun sugar.  I am trying to experiment with what does best in our yard versus what does well in containers.  I think I waited too long to plant the pineapple tomato plant because it is really struggling right now.  

We have crazy wind in our yard so Geoff built this great wind break to try to reduce the wind on the garden.  We found the cedar raised beds for less than $40 at a local store...we bought two...and Geoff cut one of them.  

I wanted to get some pictures while the garden is doing good and green.  I have noticed that we are getting a lot of birds and bugs lately and am afraid they are going to do something to the garden.   I am so surprised how big everything has already gotten in less than a month!

I need to watch some youtube videos on how to harvest chard and romaine....if anyone has advice or recipes with swiss chard please let me know.

A short Lion King moment courtesy of Bear.

 We are definitely doing our part to keep the bee population thriving.  Check out our lavender!

 There are at least a dozen bees in just this pic below.  The boys and I zoomed in on this photo and counted them.  I just love all of the purple.

I love that the garden forces us to go outside everyday.  And the dogs are always there to greet us.

And Avery greets them right back.  She frequently asks "Katy Bear in?"

 

Last Day of 1st Grade

The last few weeks of school were a whirlwind.  The whole year was a whirlwind if I am being honest. There was a picnic and early release on the last day of school and it was a bit crazy.  Everyone is running around getting yearbooks signed, everyone is hungry, everyone is everywhere and then it is over.  Whoosh.  I literally took four pictures before we went home.

I didn't even get a pic with their teacher, Mrs. Chamberland.  It was all such a blur.  The boys were ready to go and start summer!  After school ended our friend Kelly hosted an awesome end of year pool party.  Avery didn't stop smiling and frog-kicking the entire time.  I caught these pictures over my shoulder juggling our gear on our way out.

Welcome summer!!

Holland's Dairy

The boys' class went on a field trip in May to a local dairy.  Avery and I met them there and I was so surprised that this small dairy near our house supplies milk to Horizon Organics!  They have about 700 cows and the farm was super clean.

 We had three first grade classes on the trip and the kids had three stations to move through before the entire group toured together.  We started at the snack station.  The dairy handed out organic milk boxes and cookies.

The next station explained how the milk gets from the cows to the grocery store...and then the kids tried "milking" a cow.

Next we got to go into the actual "milking" room which was crazy.  Avery was getting a bit scared because the cow's rear end was not too far away so we didn't actually move into the room (it was at your own risk)...so I couldn't really get a good picture.

 We then joined the other two classes and got a tour of the barn, the cow hospital, and the "commodities" section.

The barn was really nice.

They feed their cows flax seed (on the left), hominy (on the right), alfalfa (I didn't take a pic but it was on the opposite side of this food) and some molasses!

 I have to say, after seeing their property and hearing how much water (50 gallons per cow per day!) and food (100 lbs per day!), and how much work is involved made me appreciate the cost of organic milk.  We got to see the calves before we left...so cute!!