April 2: With the sun
by Calvin
by Cortney
April 3: In the garage
by Calvin
by Cortney
April 4: Dappled
by Calvin
by Cortney
April 5: Gathered together
by Calvin
by Cortney
April 6: Bunch
by Calvin
by Cortney
April 7: Where I stand
by Calvin
by Cortney
April 8: Cheers!
by Calvin
by Cortney
365_2015 Thanks to our island vacation, we did miss out on one week of woods observation. I had intended to get us out the Wednesday after our return, but I think I already mentioned our slow return to normal. Plus, after a few days in the warming Caribbean sun, the thought of hiking in upper 30/low 40 degree weather wasn't appealing. So we missed last week. That means that we don't know exactly when the biggest change we noted in the woods took place, but the moment we stepped out of the car, the change was obvious.
Spring peepers.
The wood was suddenly noisy, alive with the mating calls of frogs. We learned something today, though. There are lots of different frogs sharing those spring waters, and while the Spring Peepers are noisy, it's really the Western Chorus Frog that is the loudest of the loud. My personal favorite was the Wood Frog; he has a funny little low chuckle that made us both laugh.
Frogs galore were not the only unique views we got today. We saw two different pairs of snakes mating. That's a sight I have never seen before. And a whole slew of Mourning Cloaks, the earliest butterflies of the season. Moss and other plants are beginning to green up, and the birds are in an interesting state of transition: we saw several year-round species, of course, but also one winter visitor who must have been on his way out, and one summer denizen just back from warmer climes.
Plus raccoon paw prints.
by Calvin
all those ripples are frogs, and then some
Wood Frog (by Calvin)
Wood Frog
Wood Frogs
frog eggs
Western Chorus Frog
Western Chorus Frog
by Calvin
Veery
Brown Creeper
Common Garter Snakes mating
Common Garter Snake
Raccoon print
bird watching, hiking, wildlife Before leaving for vacation I always try to get all the chores done, the house, clean, the important jobs taken care of. It's supposed to make the return to the norm easier on the other side. Why is it, then, that coming home from vacation is always such a mess? I'm sure that landing after midnight had a little to do with it this time, but by and large, it takes me at least a few days, if not a whole week, to recover from a week away. Only some of it is the laundry (how do we amass twice as much laundry per amount of time when we're away from home?), there's also the unpacking, and the vacuuming (because I do understand how the dog's shed twice as much hair per time when we're away), and just the reacclimating, I guess. And this time there was also wedding picture editing to get done, and a book sale to prepare for.
All this to say that, in spite of my careful planning to return to our regularly scheduled weekly activities by Wednesday, we didn't actually get to them until Saturday, and that's never regularly scheduled anyway. Calvin did practice the piano and complete the previous week's math, and we did get our chores done, but other than that you could call this our first try with unschooling. Wednesay and Thursday Calvin was pretty much on his own, and in that time he designed and built an airplane out of Legos. Then he added an airport. And to top it al off, he wrote of instructions for the project on his computer. All self driven. It was a fun experiment of sorts, but at the end of the two days we were both ready to return to our regularly scheduled program.
A designer at work...
A brand new passenger jet
(perhaps a flight I'd rather not be on)
I'll bet those passengers are thankful to be pulling up at the gate...
As the passengers disembark, let's get a good look at the pay phone in the airport. That's right, a pay phone.
After that flight, the first passengers into the gate stopped off at the pub to check out the rotating taps
A quick turnaround—the representative at the gate is already announcing boarding for the next flight
There they go, boarding via the jetway
Lego, homeschooling Since we left Calvin's camera at home while we spent most of the past week in the Caribbean, he completed most of his 365 assignments not on the days they were assigned, but in the first couple of days after we got home.
March 26: Escape the everyday
by Calvin
by Cortney
March 27: Reflections
by Calvin
by Cortney
March 28: Hanging
by Calvin
by Cortney
March 29: Look for the light
by Calvin
by Cortney
March 30: Glow
by Calvin
by Cortney
March 31: Painting
by Calvin
by Cortney
April 1: Sundown
by Calvin
by Cortney
365_2015 
