Frozen Dreaming

January in Minnesota can be beautiful and bitterly cold and dangerous at the same time. I do love living here even though I have been known to complain about the weather (Minnesotans are notorious for complaining about the weather All. The. Time.) Before we have our famous January thaw, one of my ways of coping with the bitter cold is to brew a hot cup of dark roast and open up my seed catalogs. I am instantly transported to warmer days. It is heavenly reading. I take notes, draw up diagrams of the garden, research plants. Does any real garden come close the the frozen dreams in January? So many goals, hopes, dreams, and plans. I'm an idea person so I love to let my imagination fly. The gardens of my dreams are lush, beautiful and practical, and there are never any bugs! Though my real garden never quite measures up to the garden in my head, I do believe it benefits from these moments in the middle of January when all is possible.

February in Pictures

February got away from me. We've been busy...

AH's last day as a Webelo...
Boy Scouts, here we come!

The Works Technology Museum:

Homeschool Day

Building a hovercraft:

It works!
Friends forever...

Rock Collecting:
Growing Sprouts...

Racing Soap Boats
Another boat:
Crystal Growing Day 1

It was SO cold....

Well, we here in the tundra are about to come out of our annual deep freeze. It is going to be balmy here tomorrow with a high of 8 degrees ABOVE zero! I've always loved the fact that I don't have to go out on these cold days since AH and I homeschool (I drove him to school before)well, today with a high of -5, our school district cancelled school. (This never happens in our school district!) AH and I had a class at Como Zoo this morning that wasn't cancelled! So the coldest day of the year finds my 17 yo son, AD, cozy in his bed while AH and I were in a cold car for 30 minutes through cold, black ice and cars spinning out!

We did get there in one piece and had a great time. Because I woke up late and was worried about our drive, I forgot my camera. So no pictures today. It was a small group that gathered before hours to learn all about primates. We were lucky to have Dave B. as our instructor. He was great with the kids and kept the class moving. The last 1/2 hour of the class was spent in the primate building watching the volunteers and zookeepers setting up enrichment activities for the animals. We got to watch as the Gorillas were let into their area and each raced to a feeding puzzle. One gorilla was getting frustrated with his puzzle and decided to just break it in half and get the food out! The kids got a kick out of that!

The Orangutans had to find hidden pieces of pomegranate. One Orangutan found four pieces and wouldn't share with anyone! Finally she did share, but with her young child! We watched as another Orangutan approached the young one and grabbed the fruit right out of her hand!

AH and I are glad we were able to make it today. We even walked the zoo to see the other animals after class! We Minnesotans pride ourselves on our toughness in cold weather. I'm not sure why, maybe because otherwise we would be considered crazy?!

The Perks of Homeschooling

Today is a brisk winter day here in the north. Here is one perk AH and I enjoy to the fullest during the winter months.

Gotta love this independent reading time!

Solvay is making sure AH counts his spaces correctly while we play Fast Track (a homemade math game)!