Boys and their BMXs

Last Sunday we took a short drive down the coast with a specific shop in mind as our destination. The children asked, "What store? Where are we going?" We parked our car, walked into the bicycle shop and announced, "James is getting a new bike today!" A BMX bike. A Haro BMX, something daddy had only dreamed about having as a little boy.

Just after turning four James was ready to ride Julia's "hand-me-down" bike. Though daddy painted it blue, the seat still had those flowers which were covered nicely when sat upon:) With how often he did those brodies Grandpa John taught him, the rear tire was going to soon need to be replaced or better we thought, it was time for a real boy bike.

On the first day, James was only able to ride his new BMX with our help to get him going and for stopping as it was too big for him to touch the ground while sitting. He could go so much faster though with a bigger bike!

Daddy is really liking James' Haro and decides he also needs one to teach James all he knows. Two days later when Mama was away, James learns to start and stop himself while riding on the boardwalk. Daddy can no longer run or skate fast enough to keep up with the little guy and his sister! Daddy finds his own Haro on Craig's List and they have a fun afternoon.

This morning, when I was at the Jan Bloom vintage living books seminar, Garrett took Julia and James on their first big bike outing. Before today the children only peddled their bikes around town while Garrett and I ran to keep up. They started this morning from home and rode on the river bed bike path. My babies are growing up! Riding on the river bed out in the big wide world! They travelled 7 miles and wanted to go for a longer ride. Their daddy was worn out, but Julia and James finished the day swimming in Auntie's pool.

Today I found some fun vintage living books for the children to enjoy reading on their own:

McBroom's Ear by Sid Fleischman

Mrs. Moon's Polliwogs by Pearl Augusta Harwood

The Adventures of Mole & Troll by Tony Johnston

Sun Dogs and Shooting Stars, A Skywatcher's Calendar by Franklyn M. Branley

The Bobbsey Twins at the Seashore by Laura Lee Hope

State Trees by Olive L. Earle

McBroom's Almanac by Sid Fleischman

Something for Now Something for Later by Miriam Schlein

Jim Forest and the Trapper by John Rambeau and Dorothea Gullett

Jim Forest and the Bandits by John and Nancy Rambeau

Magnets by Rocco V. Feravolo

Hot as an Ice Cube by Philip Balestrino

Loving the Pacific

A moment captured of Julia just loving this wave on her boogie board. I love this photo!

Photography by M. Ukleja on June 29, 2010

(a friend of a friend) Thank you!

Celebrating America's Birthday

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776

Our fathers' God, to Thee,

Author of liberty,

To Thee we sing;

Long may our land be bright

With Freedom's holy light;

Protect us by Thy might,

Great God, our King.

Life on the Milkweed

Looking close onto our milkweed we observe life happening. A young caterpillar eats and eats and eats. This particular milkweed is the host plant for Monarch caterpillars. We didn't place milkweed seeds into the soil this season, but we did last year and it has grown back big and strong. We noticed the tiniest of caterpillars a couple days after returning home from our road trip.

Narrow-leaf Milkweed

Asclepias fascicularis

The milkweed stems and leaf bases are covered with yellow aphids. We purchased a container of 1500+ ladybugs to take care of them.

The caterpillars are at different stages in their growth.

A LITTLE EGG LAY ON A LEAF

Julia and James explained to me how the day before, when with their daddy, they saw the mommy butterfly land on the leaf, curl her bottom under and lay an egg. I found this one and asked if this was one of the eggs and they told me it was.

We have a live butterfly garden house as does our friend Katie and her girls; we thought it would be fun to watch the life cycle of the monarch closely inside our homes, so we filled them with five caterpillars each along with the milkweed they were so happily attached to. We also filled them with ladybugs as the aphids were attached to the milkweed too.

The whole thing was a disaster. The aphids looked too big to get through the holes...
Well you can imagine what happened. The live butterfly garden house was then hung outside. The ladybugs bothered the caterpillars. A couple days later the caterpillars were dead and the whole thing was covered with ants. I rinsed out most of the mess about 4 hours ago and just as I was making this post, my arm tickled; I looked up my sweater sleeve and out came a ladybug!

LADYBUG FEAST in the garden

Milkweed flowers


MONARCH CATERPILLAR

MOTHER AND CHILD

This afternoon mommy butterfly returned and I too witnessed the laying of many eggs, one at a time.



LOOK CLOSE,

you can see the egg coming out of the tail end!

A FRESHLY LAID BUTTERFLY EGG