Spiders, anyone?

So, here in Hancock, there are a lot of spiders. Not just itsy bitsy spiders (ha! I couldn't resist that one!), but REALLY BIG, HAIRY spiders. At first, we just saw them in the basement. My basement resembles a dungeon, I think mostly because it has a stone foundation, so none of the walls are perfectly flat--there's curves all over the place, but also because the ceiling is low and there's more than a couple of dark corners. So I wasn't surprised to see spiders down there. But I was surprised by the sheer SIZE of them. I've really never seen spiders this big (except for tarantulas, but who has seen them in person?--okay, BESIDES the one at the library?). The spiders in my basement have to be 2 inches big, which doesn't sound like much, but when you see them every time you go downstairs, they can be pretty intimidating! But still, I wasn't too much bothered by them...until they started to creep upstairs! We saw one in the dining room, and then the biggest one yet in the girls' bedroom (he later became Oliver's pet for a while, named Spikey), and then now we see them almost EVERY DAY! Yikes! I still can't quite get used to the sight of them, though. There's just something creepy about seeing something crawling on the floor out of the corner of your eye. Even creepier--a friend who has lived here for a while (and who is fond of these critters, if you can imagine that!) said the other day--"they'll disappear for a while, but I think they start hatching in February, so you'll see more then,"....gulp! More?

This was Oliver's pet spider, Spikey. I know he doesn't LOOK that big, but really, he was! Anyone who saw him was really creeped out!

Surprise day #3!

We got the idea to do letterboxing from some friends of ours and decided to give it a whirl on Labor Day. Letterboxing is similar to geocaching (sp), except it just uses good old fashioned clues instead of a GPS (which is good since we don't have a GPS to start with!). I think you are supposed to find a box at each location with a theme related stamp of some sort. You then use this stamp in your own notebook or binder to document your journey and I think leave a stamp of your own. So we looked up a place to hike and were on our way. It was amazing how much more interesting a hike becomes when you're following clues and searching for a park bench or a swamp or a pond with lily pads. Everything takes on a whole new meaning! It was really a lovely hike--nice soft path, and tons of birch, pine, maple and oak trees. There were even a few plaques with tree identifiers, so now I can tell the difference between a red and a white pine. I'm sure you're dying to know--just ask! Here are some photos of our first experience

Arriving at the trail head

I love this picture..

...and this one, too.

Searching for the box (which was supposed to contain a bear stamp, I think). But, sadly, we never found it!

General horsing around (actually, Daddy was giving me bunny ears in the hopes of getting an authentic smile...I think it worked!)

Berrylicious

Here's a memory from late July, probably. I just had to put a photo of these berries up. Aren't they gorgeous?? These are all berries that we picked from our garden (bless the hearts of our industrious previous home owners!) We LOVED having all these raspberries right outside our door. We made many a batch of raspberry ice cream that was quickly consumed (before Weight Watchers, of course!) All the kids gobble up the berries (there are black, red, and golden raspberries, strawberries, blackberries (which I'm not as crazy about), and a very few blueberries). There are also a few cherry trees (not producing yet), an apple tree, and a plum tree (fairly sporadic producers, too). There are also a TON of herbs (previous owners were big on tea), asparagus, and a few raised bed plots (look for tomatoes and basil next summer!). I think Jared was sold on this house before we even walked inside. Need I say more?

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!

Happy to say that I'm getting the hang of blogging a bit more here! Just wish it wasn't always at midnight.... ;) So here's a photo of Eva, Oliver, and Lucy right before we headed off to school for the first day. Oliver is in the Young Five classroom, and Eva is going into 2nd grade. Since we live in Hancock and the kids are "school of choice" enrolled in Houghton, we will be driving the kids there every day. They were both a little disappointed that they won't be riding the bus; I should tell them of my long bus ride and vomit stories to cure them of that. Ha!

We did "steal" a tradition from some friends of ours for the day before school. It is called "Family Feast", and is held the day before school starts. A family "theme" for the year is introduced, complete with crowns, and, of course, a feast! Since we've never done this before, we started out small. We let the kids choose their own meal (they opted for hamburgers, brats, chips, beans, and SODA!), but we did have a nice tablecloth, napkins, and candlelight (okay, so the light filtered in), but they still loved it! They gobbled up their food, and were moderately attentive when we talked about the theme. We are going to have "Follow the Prophet" as our theme, and have 2 Family Home Evenings a month where we have a lesson from a book called "Before They Turn 12" (based on the For the Strength of Youth booklets), and the other two where we learn about a prophet of the church (watch video clips, tell stories about that prophet, etc.). Jared is teaching a "Teaching of the Living Prophets" class this fall at Institute, so it should provide some nice carryover. Afterwards, Jared gave Eva and Oliver a Father's blessing. We recorded them, and I want to type them up and print them on nice paper so they can keep them from year to year and re-read them. I think it will be a great tradition for us, and one that has so many wonderful facets to focus on.

Rockhound, anyone?

I have been trying to have "surprise days" with the kids (an idea I got from the Ensign), where we don't tell them where we're going, or what we're doing until we're on our way or there already. Sometimes it's nothing too fancy or expensive (well, okay, usually that's what it is), but mostly it's a way to make something that isn't too exciting sound a little more exciting (i.e. the other day I got groans when I suggested that we go for a hike, but now I think I'll make it a 'surprise day' where we go on a "leaf hunt" for our leaf books). So far for our surprise days we have gone to the Houghton library (our first week here), and then a tour of the Quincy mine, complete with a tram ride and underground tour of part of the mine.

So last week, I was getting a little stir crazy, so for our latest installment of "surprise day", we drove to Copper Harbor and Eagle Harbor. We walked around each city a little bit, but it's was Jared's idea to look for neat-o rocks (mostly we were looking for agates, but we picked up anything that looked interesting). We stopped first at one beach between Copper Harbor and Eagle Harbor that mostly had sandstones, but really fantastic rock formations and great waves on this particular day. The kids had a blast running on the rocks and playing games with each other. The next place we went to was called Sand Bay, I think, and was supposed to have a lot of agates and other rocks. Jared and I went a little crazy with how many rocks we picked up, but there were a ton of really cool rocks. Now we just need to figure out how to polish them, because I think they'd make some great jewelry. Eva declared it to be "the best surprise day" yet!

It was just so darn beautiful along the beach! This was the agate beach.

Here was some of Eva's booty.

Star Wars seems to permeate so many parts of our lives these days....

Lucy loved the windy windy spots on the rocks.

A rainy kind of day...

We had a wonderful rainstorm the other day...wonderful because it had followed several days of hot, humid weather, and also because I love rainstorms! Even nicer is that it was in the early evening so the kids could run outside in it. Eva asked me tentatively if she could go outside...and of course my response was YES!!! It took a few minutes before all three kids really let their hair down and splashed around to their hearts' content, but I think they loved it. I'm sure that we'll have similar kinds of situations this winter with snow! :)

Unplugged, Part 1

So, when we moved here, we decided to unplug the TV. Well, kind of. We decided that we would not get a cable or satellite TV provider (though I do love PBS and BYUTV!) Why? Well, we have long noticed that we watch a lot more television than we would really like to, and our kids were starting to "self-serve" with TV (and, more importantly, with the DVR). And so they were watching more tv than I was really comfortable with. Efforts to limit the tv watching were really only marginally successful, with at least one of my children (so far) throwing major tantrums that resembled David Banner's transformation to the Hulk. So, we unplugged. BUT with a small Netflix account and weekly family movie nights.

We're on our way! So far, I have learned that I need to spend more time with my children! Initially the kids did great, playing with toys they hadn't play with in a while, and listening to books on tape, etc., but the novelty wore off soon enough, and there we were, on the verge of pulling each other's hair out, or........TO BE CONTINUED!!!