catching up at last

We have done so much lately, always really busy, running here and there. The chn have been doing some interesting classes and it has been alot of fun but we have all decided that perhaps we have been doing too much and we are planning on reducing our running around as much as we can.

So, here are some photos from some of the activities and bits and pieces we have been up to.

J and W participated in a serries of classes at New Canaan Nature Centre in CT, it was about 30 min drive from here through a very pretty area. During the drive to New the first time we decided to take some photots and record the changig of the season. We knew that by the last class the trees would have changed. J took lots of photos each week and I have tried to choose the 4 which show the changes best.







had a halloween piano recital at her teachers (and my friend) home. She is so confident sitting there and playing her little pieces, it continues to amaze me. She is quite good aparently though I would not know because she never plays it at home so I never hear it!!! Another recital coming up this weekend, so a little more attention has been given to the piano this week (two practices, I am in shock).




We had a Halloween party. It was very fun, the chn had been looking forward to it for many weeks, it is a busy time of year here for 'holidays' Halloween is the begining and it has been a popular one with our children since we have been here. This year was the first time we had hosted a party, it went pretty well and J and I had fun baking yumy things for desert.

We had pumpkin carving, apple bobbing and lots to eat...wine too yum! Of course everyone dressed up which was fun too.
















We have been doing Nature Classes at Cranberry Lake Preserve again this Autumn. One of the classes was about identifying trees. The Naturalist Educator took us a for a hike around the park checking out various trees and shrubs. The chn collected leaves, nuts and seeds from the ground around the trees, then we went back into the NAture Lodge and they learned how to use a Key to identify the plant from its seeds/nuts or leaves.







Another Class was about Native Americans from the Westchester Area. It was brilliant. The children learnt how the men kept their faces hair free, gave themselves hair cuts, built canoes, cooked food, which foods they grew, which plants they gathered, animals they hunted and games they played.

W tried his hand at one of the 'hunting/throwing' games and did really well and also wanted to know if you could eat acorns, so T (the Curator of the park) cut one open for him to try, a few other chn tried them to. Very bitter was the verdict with many bits of acron being unceremoneously expectorated.










Our friend Miss I came to visit for dinner and a night. Miss I is the mum of the Rotary Exchange Student who stayed with the L family when D was about 14. Grandma is the greatest correspondant and stayed in touch with his family ever since. She has twice stayed with Miss I and her friends in Upstate NY and Miss I has been to Australia to visit Grandma. We had a really lovely evening, it was good to catch up with her again.






Dinner and Chess with friends, we have done this twice. The chn allplayed before dinner, they had eaten and were playing by the time D came home which was 15 moin beforethe chess teacher arrived. It was chaos and noisy and I am sure D thought, 'there is no way these chn are going to sit down and play chess'. Suprisingly they did, the minute the chess teacher arrived, they all sat, quiet, listening, asking and answering questions and playing chess. All of us mum's have been inpressed with their level of atention, interest and engagement in these classes. My boys also did 4 classes with the same teacher at the library for free which was great and they enjoyed playing with some other children, W even won in the last week.



We have also:
Seen the Lucy/Ethiopia exhibit, seen the Titanic artifacts exhibit, been regularly to our co-op, boys have played soccer each week and J has had piano lessons, been to 3 performances at the New Vic theatre, had dinners and lunches with friends, been swimming once, had sleepovers, playdates and birthday parties, participated in Science Workshops at the Hall of Science, J and W had a great class on Alchemy at the Bruce Museum while M and I laughed at Charles Addams cartoons (did you know the Addams family was actually a cartoon in the newspaper before it became a TV show), a class at the Neuberger museum of Art, Carved Pumpkins and Trick or Treated, went to the Turtle Back Zoo in NJ...and spent a week without D whilst he travelled Uganda for work...and that was just September and October.