Saving the Earth...right outside our backyard

On a whim today, the boys and I decided to do a mini-clean-up of the pond shoreline near our house. We were down looking for frogs and noticed a lot of (mostly construction-related) trash in the pond and around it. While we were inside getting trash bags, a rake, and washable shoes, Mike came home in time to join us. It became a family affair! It was a nice reason to miss my Farrell's kickboxing class today :)






The mud-caked sheets of tarp we stuffed into the trash bags made them quite heavy to carry; even with brotherly teamwork.





That stuff was mucky! I think our pond could use a dredging.


Bull frog spotting!

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I've been thinking a lot lately about creating family tradition and ritual. I just ordered a book I had added to my wishlist last year before the holidays on that very topic. I'd love it if in addition to a family game night and/or kid-date night, we could add some sort of community service or eco-clean up tradition to our monthly, if not weekly, family schedule. A lot of my ideas don't seem feasible until the kids are older. Volunteering at soup kitchens requires a certain maturity and understanding from the kids, I think. Donating toys is fine but seems to be too abstract. I think the litter pick-up left an impression on Jack. He kept telling Benji, "We're saving the earth, Benj!"