Goblin Valley

We headed south to Goblin Valley for the weekend to spend time outside with Chris.

While setting up our site, we saw a part of a sunshade or tent blowing up in the sky, probably 60 to 70 feet up, almost over the mountain behind the campground. We were happy our tent does well in wind, though it wasn’t nearly as windy as it has been on other visits.

These rocks in Goblin Valley are so much fun to climb, jump from one to another, explore and play hide and seek in. We went in a direction we hadn’t on previous trips and found a window to another valley.

We got caught in a quick rainstorm which was exciting and a little upsetting for the kids. Afterward we found a nice cave to wait out some gusty winds.

The second day we packed up camp while Gavin did some rock balancing and then invited Lilah to help him with some heavier rocks. They engineered a whole bunch of these while the car was packed up. I love to spend time balancing rocks and am so glad Gavin and Lilah enjoy it too. It’s a great way to spend a few minutes slowing down, getting your hands dirty, practicing trial and error methods and getting creative with nature.

Then we headed to Little Wild Horse Canyon, a slot canyon very close by. We climbed up and explored and enjoyed the sun and shade, flowers and ravens and lizards and sand.

We headed back to the goblins for dinner and a few last games of hide and seek in the rocks before heading home. The kids are specks out there among the goblins.

unschooling

another week of living, loving, learning

Gavin read poems from Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein to Lilah. He stopped to eat a bite of pancake and Lilah immediately requested he read more.

Lilah and I made some fairy wings and skirts for our May Day event.

We tested out a new giant bubble recipe.

May Day/Beltane festival with our unschooling group including fairy and knight dress up, boffer weapon making, sidewalk chalk drawing, flower crown designing, may pole dancing and singing. Lovely!

We’ve had friends over for Lego building and restaurant pretending and snack eating.

I dug holes for some lilacs to create a hedge in our back yard and dug up the garden in anticipation of planting vegetables.

Gavin and I played Chess.

Lilah saved up for a new Lego set and the kids put that together after a great discussion about how Gavin could help but in a way and amount Lilah was happy with.

We saw the first oriole of the year and put out nectar for them.

Gavin and I made a boffer sword (foam covered for play without injury) so he could meet friends who had boffer weapons for a battle at the park.

A new tinker crate arrived and the kids put together an earthquake table and buildings to test on the table with much gusto.

Lilah drew a lovely cat.

We watched documentaries about owls and hummingbirds.

Gavin mowed the lawn in order to save up for a Lego set he would like.

We planted most of the garden. The kids picked out potatoes, corn, chiles and helped plant those. I also planted tomatoes, eggplant, squash of various kinds, tomatillos and lemon cucumbers. Still to be put in are carrot seeds.