Birds!

Today, me and my crew, along with a few other gals from our Hearts at Home homeschool group met at the Yolo Wildlife Preserve for our weekly nature walk. It was an absolutely perfect day. We drove pretty far into the preserve before parking, and when we got out of the car I felt like I stepped into the midwest; there were no trees and no buildings, so the sky stretched out forever in every direction, as far as you could see. The birds were singing so loudly that although we were close to the freeway, no sounds of traffic could be distinguished. Here's a sampling of our morning:

No cars were permitted on this road (not that there was anyone else out there anyway).

The air was humid in the midst of the wetlands, and the blooming flowers everywhere filled the air with a delightfully pleasant fragrance.

With such wide open space and no vehicles, our kids were able to wander pretty freely. Shaenee did get a little stuck (literally) in the mud in this partially dried pond. Did I mention the bird song?!

If you're in the area, check it out!! We will definitely be there again, though it seems the spring and fall are the best times, so we'll probably skip summer.

Expressive Art Class

Last Friday, my backyard was transformed into an art studio, thanks to Kassandra Grossman of Expressive Art for Kids. We had painting with utensils, sponges, etc. on the garage wall, which quickly progressed from this:

to this:

to this: and this: and this:

We had a station of what we call oobleck (cornstarch and water):

So innocent...

Auntie Dawn helping.

Shaenee started in on the shaving cream.

Master concoctions!

We also set up the slide for roller paint-ball!

We and the kids all had a great time and got extremely filthy! My grass is still recovering, but will be ready for another messy-art day next month.