Monthly Archives: December 2019

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December things

We’ve been going to our nature class:

trimming and planting willows,

working on bows and bow drill kits,

throwing sticks at targets,

looking at animal tracks in the snow,

working on a shelter made with sticks, leaves, reeds and more leaves & other outdoor fun.

 

We’ve been hosting Dungeons & Dragons,

reading,

doing yoga,

playing & story telling,

 

working on special holiday projects,

going to aerial hammock classes (Lilah & I),

playing games,

baking cookies,

spending time with friends.

Here’s a painting I finished for Chris for the holidays of the Egyptian goddess Isis.

Today we went snowshoeing in the mountains. It was the first time for the kids and they loved it though we’ll make sure we bring hand warmers and hot cocoa next time. I brought my macro lens and took some close ups.

 

The world is new again, every day, and I’m so grateful to be here and see.

 

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To St Louis and St George

We flew to St. Louis so Chris could go to a conference and a work meet up. The rest of us explored some of the city.

The old buildings and big parks were beautiful. The city was very friendly and relaxed feeling. We went to the science center, planetarium and the zoo, all in a huge park together.

When Chris had a free day we all went to the city museum which was by far our favorite place, a huge building converted into art and an endless playground, much of it made of recycled building or factory materials. It had so many fascinating details as well as climbing and sliding opportunities everywhere. Even the birds enjoy it!

 

It truly was amazing and the kids were quite sad that we couldn’t go again while we were there.

Chris and I got to go meet with a bunch of his coworkers in the evenings and that was really fun! He works with great people.

We flew home, went to nature class and then drove down to St. George to meet my parents and sister for a few days down there.

We hiked a lot, went to a botanical garden, explored the ruins of an old mining town and the museum there and celebrated Chris’ birthday. There was an old charcoal kiln to see, along with a fascinating mining town museum. We found a hike that had a section where you hold on to a rope mounted above to traverse a big rock with footholds, some of them made by native peoples ages ago. It was very challenging but fun.

 

We ended our trip to Southern Utah with some dinosaur footprint spotting. There are so many in the area you probably walk past them all over but this one was marked for us just next to the trail.

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Lilah is 12!

Lilah’s birthday was celebrated happily with both sets of grandparents and my sister at our place. She picked out a special red sequin dress for the occasion and paired it with a red velvet cloak though she took that off pretty quickly so she could do handstands. She requested root beer floats and brownies. We had a lovely afternoon playing and chatting together.

Several months later because life has been so busy and full we had a handful of friends over for a dungeons & dragons tea party. It was Alice in Wonderland themed and everyone had a lovely time playing animal characters getting bigger and smaller and meeting a cheshire cat and then having tea of many kinds afterward with peanut butter chocolate cookies. Chris had help running the game from Gavin. It was just what Lilah wanted with her friends.

Lilah, at 12, loves cats. The real thing as well as pretending to be a cat and drawing cats. She loves all kinds and sizes of cats and nothing would make her happier than spotting some big cats outside one day. She loves chocolate and fried rice. She is very active, doing aerial silks, hanging upside down practically anywhere, climbing on boulders, playing on her new balance board. She spends quite a bit of time crafting and can make the most beautiful things. She loves all animals and hopes to rescue animals when she’s grown. Her favorite color is turquoise, favorite flower is lilac and favorite animal is of course, her own cat, Luna. She loves comfortable clothes, graphic novels, sequins, anything fluffy and everything cute.

She’s a wonderful, amazing person and I am so grateful to get to spend a lot of time with her, learning together and exploring together and enjoying each other.

 

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