Camping

With every child, I've documented their firsts, whether writing it down on a calendar, in a scrapbook, or taking a photo. Some are hard to see in a photo, like 1st tooth, so I wrote that down.  However, a photo documents Elijah's 1st time camping!

I made homemade marshmallows using gelatin, water, sugar and vanilla extract.  I let it sit in the mixer too long afterwards, so it wasn't easy to spread smooth, but after it set for a while, I was able to cut it into cubes. I put them into 3 jars. We toasted them over a fire, SO good and melty for s'mores.

On the summer solstice, we went hiking to the caves and waterfall that we like so much.  We walked in the water, cooling off on the 90° day.  It's been hot and humid all week.

Yesterday, we had field trip to the Farmer's Museum.  The school teacher rang a bell out by the door, she had two maps on the wall, long bench "desks," and everything written on the chalkboard as it would have been in 1845.  She also had a basket of individual small slate chalkboards. I prefer chalk to the dry erase markers and shiny boards.  She said all work was done in cursive.  That's something I want to do more of, as all old letters from relatives and documents are in cursive. We saw sheep, pigs, chickens, and cows.  The same animals we have at home, but different breeds. Oh, there were goats, too, we don't have goats!  The calf below is a Jersey Hereford cross.

The ride on the carousel is always special.  The animals are local animals, beautifully depicted, maybe personified, with clothes, or a crown of flowers. Can you tell Elijah is on a loon?  He didn't like it once the music started and we began to move up + down and around.  He clasped onto me with both hands, but didn't cry.