first beach day of the season

We had our first truly full-day beach outing of the year, joined by friends, today.

racing to beat the tide!

There was plenty of frolicking in the sand, wave-jumping, tidal pool exploring, walkie-talkie conversing, adventuring, discovering, happy play and deep relaxing...

hermit crab trying on a clam shell for size

Also bike riding and snacking on lots of yummy food.

off for a ride!

It was so nice to set up "camp" for the day and just kick back and let the kids be wild. Rathtrevor is a particularly favorite and comfortable place for us to do that, a definite please-all day, with something for everyone and plenty of space for all.

knocking just enough to crack but not enough to lose the juice - it's an art form I'm sure

We even ended the day on a tropical note with fresh coconut, which K and S cracked open and we all savored. We are a totally nuts for coconut family!

One of the yummiest coconuts we've ever had!

things are looking busy...

Another update....

We are so excited! Almost all of the tadpoles in the jelly mass have hatched and are looking healthy and active. I'm pretty amazed with the whole process so far and in a bit of disbelief that we have over a hundred wriggling tadpoles on our hands after thinking we'd lost most of them. Doubting Thomas that I was.

taddie update

OK, scratch what I said in the last post. Apparently things are just fine in the aquarium, we've just checked and there are suddenly at least 50 little swimmers wiggling happily to and fro... and by the looks of it, more are to follow soon. The kids' interest just ramped up a few notches, with K saying "now THIS is getting exciting!". We may just have a tankful of froglets yet!

swimmers!

Four days after the last tadpole update, we observed some of the tadpoles begin the process of wiggling free from their jelly surroundings. 6 days later (as of today), out of the entire mass of about 100+ eggs, about 12 have successfully left the mass and are now spending most of their time clinging to the side of the aquarium or a rock and occasionally swimming about. The rest of the mass has turned green with algae and has sunk, rather lifeless looking, to the bottom.

the first tadpole to hatch and attach itself to the side of the aquarium

I am concerned about the oxygen content in the water and haven't been able to find any information about whether they need something to oxygenate the water or not. I remember years ago coming across a stagnant pool of water, created by rain on some solid rock formations, and it was loaded with big, fat, healthy looking tadpoles. Where they had hatched from their eggs, there were no plants, no water movement, nothing special at all and yet they were thriving. I am left puzzled as to why ours have had such a high mortality rate under nearly identical conditions.

using its pointy head and rapid swishing of its tail to wiggle from from its jelly encasement

Anyway, the ones that did hatch are surviving quite nicely so far. We've read that while they are small, they live mostly on tiny particles of plants and algae. We've been feeding them the suggested frozen, then thawed, then mushed up, lettuce leaves. We haven't witnessed them eating anything yet and wonder if it is some time before they need to or if they just don't like the lettuce. Time will tell, I suppose. So far we haven't even been able to make out anything resembling a mouth on them so maybe it is just early still.

taking it easy

The main objective for today, after I worked at the elections for 16 hours yesterday, was to get us all outside for some sun and fresh air. Nothing else sounded better than that to any of us, and since the weather decided to cooperate, that is what we did. Simple, easy, relaxing, fun, freedom.

checking out shells and sun-bleached crab claws

discovering piles of purple starfish against a backdrop of green seaweed - beautiful!

(click to view larger)

admiring a variety of Inukshuks that someone had recently had fun building

crabs - I think H prefers holding the dead and dried up ones to the live, pinching ones

it's hard not to notice the beauty of the yellow lichen on gray stone

a little rock exploring and testing (theirs and my) comfort zones ;-)

The kids were invigorated and then later, exhausted, as S works through the process of eliminating his afternoon nap.... So now it's time for bed.

embracing language

"store"

One of the kids' favorite activities when the weather improves is creating an entire "town" with chalk on the driveway and then "driving" through it on their bikes. This can take up the better part of a day if it's really warm and dry out. Usually "town" includes a store, a parking lot, a large green space with trees, a lake (with fish for pretending fishing) and a police station so that they can take turns being the police officer and catching each other speeding or running through stop signs (!)...

More evidence of K's interest (as well as his progress) in learning to read and spell... This week I observed him phonetically sounding out words like in, store, park, out, stop and writing them in chalk where he wanted them in the chalk "town". This is very new for him and completely self-propelled and natural.

Every single time I see examples like this I get so excited. I can't help feeling wonder and awe each time I witness him joyfully immersed in his own learning process in ways that are meaningful to him. For me it's feels no different than the giddiness and excitement I felt watching him as a toddler stand up and take his first, very own steps.

It seems to me that his motivation to read and write comes from the same source as learning to walk, talk, eat on his own... He is driven solely by wanting to explore, enjoy and get along in the world he was born into. In our society, he sees words around him constantly. He hears them being broken apart and put back together, being played with, sculpted into story and song, labeling things he wants to know more about... They are as much of a part of his world as are water and air. And he simply can't help but want to absorb, understand and use them as he grows....

And even though now we can see the "evidence" of his learning with examples like this, I'm sure his "first steps" toward reading, writing and comprehending language began long, long ago...