Not Our Backyard

I know Rock Creek Park isn’t actually our backyard, but I think of it that way sometimes.  We’re at that one little corner, playing in the Melvin Hazen stream and hiking that little stretch of the Ridge Trail that leaves from Pierce Mill all the time.  I think of it as my national park and I’m sure the kids do as well.  What’s always surprising to me is how, in the winter, the leaf cover is so bare that you can see the city all around – the apartment buildings on Connecticut and the ritzy houses abutting the park.  Then spring explodes and hides it all again.

Not a bad way to start the year on a balmy New Year’s Day.

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Christmas in Washington

Some images of the season for you.  First, our favorite DC Christmas tradition is the trains and miniature building sculptures at the U.S. Botanic Gardens.  The sculptures are made entirely from natural materials like bark and leaves.  This year, for the first time, they featured landmarks of the world.  I couldn’t seem to capture BalletBoy because he wouldn’t stay still.  This is him running after Thomas the Train as it passed by the Taj Mahal.

This is two nervous angels in the choir right before their opening performance at the first service at church.  The pageant at our church is a Las Posadas pageant, which draws from a Latin American tradition.  All the music was in Spanish so Mushroom and BalletBoy had no clue what they were singing.

Finally, here’s Mushroom making his graham cracker gingerbread house with a ice cream cone roof.  We got together with our Destination Imagination team so you can see the whole table is covered in various confections and a giant sugary mess.

And now we’re leaving DC for Christmas in North Carolina, as per our usual tradition.  Gifts wrapped up and we’re on our way!

When the Grandparents Visit

Everyone did reading with Papa and Granny while they were in town last week.  It was pretty heartwarming.

And later on, Mushroom and Papa wrestled on the sofa chair…

…while BalletBoy taught Granny some ballet moves.

Scrambling Up

Last week we went with friends to Sugarloaf Mountain for some sweet autumn hiking.  There are a number of good spots for rock climbers and we saw a couple there.  My experience with rock climbers is that they’re usually awesome.  These guys were no exception.  When they heard we were homeschoolers, one guys said something like, “Oh, geology today, huh?”  They showed BalletBoy how to scale the sheer side of one of the rock walls.  He liked it so much he kept doing it.

Mushroom spent the time on the rocks more contemplatively.  At least when I caught him in that moment.

 

Pictures from our Days

I don’t usually do “Wordless Wednesday” posts.  Probably because I’m a mediocre photographer at best.  But some pictures I gathered over the last week or so seemed blog-worthy.

First, this is what happens when homeschooled children dress themselves.

The husband probably should not be allowed to be in charge of the homeschooling.  He likes to make strange addenda to our whiteboard notes.

We wore out the erasers on our pencils and needed new ones.  Erasers are so good.  Thank goodness for erasers!

Homeschooling is tiring.  This is how my children look at the end of the day.