TravelingMel

I was cruising Craig's List a couple weeks ago. I was hoping to find an old horse trough to use in the garden like this.

I couldn't find any horse troughs and no one answered the wanted ad I put up. What I did find was an ad for eggs.

We'd love to have chickens, but that's not in the cards right now. We'd love to buy local, free range eggs, but they are close to $6 a dozen in the store. When I saw the add for local, free range eggs for $2 a dozen, I jumped all over it. Now we get eggs delivered to our door every Wednesday.

Free range chickens lay eggs with thicker shells, deeper-colored yolks and better taste. Most importantly, these chickens have good lives. The eggs you normally get from the store come from chickens in really horrible, disgusting situations. I won't go on since you can easily find out about industrialized egg production yourself.

I am ecstatic to find good eggs at a good price. And they come to me.

Frying them up.

H is pretty psyched about the eggs, too.

H is building some new garden beds, so that's taken care of, too. If you come across an old horse trough, grab it for me! I'll still use it.

I've been taking a lot of pictures, as always, but haven't gotten around to posting any. So here you go.

Big H found some tunnels and tents at a garage sale and we have been loving them ever since. We use them inside and out, but you know that. They are a great distraction when things start getting a little out of control. Not that that ever happens.

Baby duck, Jesse and Anders in the tunnel.

Giving Finn a lesson in tunnelology.

The boys got bubbles in their daycare Valentine's Day bags. Since the weather had been pretty warm, we figured it was time to get out and blow bubbles. Since I am the only one who can reliably blow bubbles I didn't get pictures of the actual bubbles. I figure most of you are here to see the kids, dogs or scenery anyway. Or maybe to steal a glance at my super hot husband. (You're out of luck on that account. This is a Henry-free post. Sorry.)

Looking cute while waiting for mom to open the bubbles.

"So that's how you do it."

After chasing bubbles for a bit, we went looking for trains. We walked near the tracks, but didn't see any locomotives. Luckily there were rocks and sticks. Anders liked looking down the ground squirrel holes and imagining them sleeping down there.

Looking for trains, finding sticks.

Dousing for ground squirrels.

Finding tracks in the mud.

Then it was time for home and lunch. After some indoor play the boys were more than ready for their naps. Or was it me that was more than ready for their naps? Hard to recall.

Tuckered out after a morning of tunnels, bubbles, and trainspotting.

Fast forward a few days.

We like a good game of hide and go seek around here. Anders LOVES it. He is so excited about being found that he usually announces his location while we are looking for him. Good thing because he and Finn come up with some challenging hiding spots.

Look closely. You'll never guess where Finn is hiding.

There he is!

Anders has found an equally challenging spot to hide.

There he is!

Fast forward again...

I used to use scavenger hunts when I worked in environmental education. They are appealing to kids because they feel like a treasure hunt. And they are a treasure hunt. They are appealing to outdoor educators because they get kids to tune in to their surroundings. They can also be a good way to introduce a topic.

Debi at Go Explore Nature recently posted about a scavenger hunt they did. The list she linked to was perfect for us, so we printed it out and went on our own scavenger hunt.

We found a smooth rock. Cross it off the list!

Yeah! There are ducks here, too.

Finding a rock naturally leads to throwing rocks into the creek.

Finn takes a moment to enjoy his surroundings. I love how he crosses his legs when he sits.

Berries. Also on the scavenger hunt list.

Throwing rocks in the creek naturally leads to playing in the playground.

Throwing rocks from the bridge, of course.

Tuckered out after a morning outside.

So now you are pretty much caught up.

More pictures on my Flickr page.

A little video for Scott. This one was shot in our underground lair, hence the darkness.

My friend Stephani has a film in the TellyAwards contest. If you have a second, jump over here and giver her a "thumbs up". You don't have to register or anything--one click. You might watch the film, too--it's beautiful.