A dozen years and counting

Happy 12th Anniversary to the love of my life. Here's to dozens more!

Enjoying a rare dinner alone at Eatery A

Exploring Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt

The culmination of my Master Conservationist class was an eight hour day at Chichaqua park, outside of Elkhart. Unlike other county parks, this park is less about playing and camping (although those things are available, too), but preserving as much of the surrounding land with natural, restored public prairie for future generations to enjoy. More than 8,000 acres have been taken and restored into prairie, and it's quite a site. We toured it with the man who is mostly responsible for all of this conservation, and it was a fun day for learning about planned burns, prairie wildlife, restored wetlands, and plantlife. I won't remember most of the details, but it left an impression on me that was positive enough for me to plan a trip back on our 12th wedding anniversary to hike out and find some wildflowers that only bloom once a year, straight out of the sand.

 These are puccoons, a wildflower that grows on prairies. This particular flower is pretty rare, and difficult to grow outside of the natural conditions it thrives on within a prairie. This particularly puccoon grows straight out of the sand, on this rare remaining sand prairie at Chichaqua. 

The flower below is a wild marigold, which grows in the wetlands at Chichaqua

The boys found my prairie hike to be a good deal for them when they discovered some animal bones, most likely left behind by the mother coyote that lives in this area (according to park officials). We also found some atlatl points in the sand! The anthropologist in me did a little dance. 

One of the things my parents and I share is a love for the outdoors. I can credit them for fostering that in me from an early age. They decided to accompany us on our hike through the prairie to find the blooming puccoons. 

Gavin prepares

Lately when we go in to Gavin's room before we head to bed, just to check that his covers are still on, and things are all in tact, we find that he has quietly laid out his outfit for the following day. This especially makes me smile because the outfit often includes a sword, cape, or other type of hero-esque tool to help him take on the world.

Benjamin's 6th Birthday

Benjamin chose to have a sleepover with his bestie for his birthday this year, much to my delight. I wasn't feeling super enthusiastic to plan a big party, so it was especially nice when he chose to have a smaller, more intimate special day than his big brother's urging suggested. Benji asked his friend William, a friend from our old neighborhood and new BFF from half day kindergarten, to spend the afternoon and overnight with us. When the week gave us many rainy days and soggy soil, we had to move our planned backyard campout indoors. The kids had a great time, nonetheless, and we still enjoyed a fire in the firepit for roasting hot dogs. It's hard to believe this little guy is now 6 and finishing up kindergarten. It's true when they say that the days are endless, but the years fly by!

Sandhill Crane Hunt

As part of my Master Conservationist class, I need to complete 32 hours of conservation-related volunteering. I decided to kick that off last weekend by participating in the sandhill crane hunt up at Chichauqua Bottoms park in Elkhart. I dragged my  mom along with me since she is a morning person, likes birding, and I wanted a friend for our before-sunrise-meeting time. She and I were assigned to an area together, and my dad ended up coming along. There were only 8 volunteers set to cover a large amount of ground (which apparently was a "large" group, given that the last two years consisted of 1-2 volunteers).

We were taught how to listen for the varying calls of the cranes, and where we would expect to find them. After being extirpated years ago due to receding wetland habitat, the sandhill cranes are just now coming back to the restored wetlands at Chichaqua park. We only saw a couple flying, but have seen them at Mahoney State Park before. They are huge-- about 5 feet tall, with distinct  calls. Here's an image of the sandhills:

We heard several calls, and taken combined with the other volunteer reports, there are at least 10 cranes hanging out at the park…and hopefully nesting, too. It was such a peaceful few hours spent in the early morning. They had just down some burning the day before, so the contrast in landscape was beautiful. A quite enjoyable way to start my Saturday!

Easter Egg hunt with Shelly and Little Benjamin

My friend Shelly and her little guy Benjamin came over to put on an Easter Egg hunt for the boys. The boys still remember when she baby-sat for them a couple years ago, before Eastertime, and let them watch Easter-themed movies and do an egg hunt at our house. My sweet friend came over on Easter weekend to re-create this for them, and we all had a great time.

Pond Clean-up

In honor of upcoming earth day (week), we utilized the beautiful weather yesterday to clean up a bit around our side of the pond. Jack was a stellar helper. Benji was excited to help until he fell and skinned his knee….effectively removing him from most of the work, as well as his trusty nurse, Baldy. Gavin donned some gloves and picked up few items. In the end, this was mostly a me&Jack activity. It was peaceful and fun to get something good done. We only covered a small fraction of the pond, and only what we could reach with our rake. Still, we focus on what we did do, rather than what we didn't.

Later in the day, Benji could be found in the
garden, singing "I am a Paleontologist,"
(They Might Be Giants) and digging

Loving this beautiful spring weather!!!

Final Feminist Forum Quarterly Reunion with Sarah

(in short: sniff, sniff)

Spring is back!

Spring break mini-trip

My lovely husband bought me a new camera for my birthday last week, since our old one has been on its way out for awhile. I managed to take it on our little spring break surprise trip for the boys, and figure out how to use it. I've sort of managed to get the photos uploaded, but editing and figuring out the WiFi uploading is still but a dream. I am truly not a technology buff :)  But I think the photos turned out okay, and this camera has a better zoom than the last, which should be a boon for my budding birdwatching interest.

We surprised the boys with a little mini vacation down to Honey Creek State Park for a two day stay. Of all the state park cabins we've stayed at, these were amazing. Comfortable, pretty, sustainable (solar panels!), and roomy. Our family of 5 was spoiled in these two bedroom, two bathroom cottage. Their "cabin fever" special made it a great deal, too. Too bad the weather didn't cooperate. I really would have loved to do some hiking along the trails and lakeside, or take advantage of the bike rentals the lodge offers. Maybe we'll go back in warmer weather at some point….   The indoor water park was the main event for this trip, and it's safe to say the kids had a good time. Mike and I enjoyed having HGtv after the boys went to bed in the evenings (it's the little things in life, eh? I just can't get enough of House Hunters International :)

The living area in our cottage was huge!

As was the kitchen and dining area. Spoiled!

The boys' bunk beds in their bedroom

Mike and the boys at Buccaneer Bay

Benji and Jack loved the floating obstacle course

Brothers

Mike agreed to be on Gavin duty on day #2 so that I didn't have to go in the pool. He walked MILES around the lazy river with this kid.

Jack was the only boy tall enough to do the water slide

Pirate Boys

The boys occupied themselves with dry erase boards in the cabin

My heart bleeds when I read this. Sniff, sniff. 

The head chef at their restaurant heard that Gavin is a budding chef himself, and offered to take the boys on a tour of the kitchen. It reminded me of my days working at Baker's Square. Ahh, the memories. The boys left with their own chef hats. It was a nice way to end the trip.

Playground was fun…but this sure isn't *spring* break weather!

A chilly, cloudy day at Honey Creek State Park on Lake Rathbun

My anxiety level was sky rocketing during this photo. Behind them (okay, okay, 6 feet behind them) that cliff plummets downward for a loooong time. Needless to say, I did not let the boys run around in this area very long!