Yes, we shall

 Yesterday was a day full of yes.  Heading out on a misty morning...

Shall we drive into the city and go to the pottery studio?  Yes.

Sylvia painted some of her already-fired pottery, and sculpted an elephant.

They don't have elephants, but shall we go to the zoo?  Yes.

We were impressed by the garden growing everything from bamboo to summer squash and labeled with which animal(s) it was fed to.

 Now I know I was the only mom climbing in the turtle and letting her 4 year-old take a picture, 'cause I sure was getting some funny looks.

 We wandered, dawdled, played, skipped, watched, and meandered, and then...
Shall we have our picnic?  At shoe park?  Yes and yes.

 "Can we stay for awhile?  I made a new friend."  Of course.

At the craft store, "Can I get these face paints?"  How about these ones? (they were 75% off) "Cool"

"I can't wait to paint my face."  OK.  Hop on the hood of the car.  Do you want me to paint you a flower?  Yes, please.

 Shall we call Mama's friend to see if she can meet us at a cafe?  Yes.  And she could.  And kindly let Sylvia paint her cheeks.

 Shall we drive home?  "Yes please, I'm tired."  Me, too.

watermelon playdough and juice

Our nearest neighbor swears by the health benefits of watermelon juice and has multiple chest freezers full of it to get him through the winter.  So, when he gave us an enormous watermelon, we, of course, had to juice some of it.  I have two quarts in the freezer and one in the fridge and am not even half way through the melon yet.  It is delicious!  We used some of the seeds to add to watermelon playdough, which turned out great and was a lot of fun for Sylvia and Ayla.

 We improvised a bit with some of the ingredients, but the texture came out exactly like store-bought playdough.

  When Camille got off of the schoolbus, there was a lot of this...

 and excitement about this abandoned nest under our pinetree...

and now I'm off to help crack and peel some acorns.  We will have enough for acorn flour one of these days... Maybe.

Not sure yet what else the day will bring...

autumnal doings

 Camille has been slowly, but steadily, shelling acorns to make acorn flour.  She uses a large stone to crack the acorns, then separates the nutmeat from the shells and skins.  It takes a lot of patience, but we plan on eventually trying to make acorn bread and Apache acorn cakes.

Sylvia had her first rehearsal for a harvest play that she is participating in with other homeschoolers.  We are new to this group of homeschoolers, but everyone has been very kind and welcoming.  Could there be a more picturesque place to practice a harvest play involving farmers and fairies?  

 Ayla enjoyed herself as well, and on the way home, only half a mile from our house, we stopped to admire the view...

I do so love the summer and every year I mourn the end of it, but this year I am gratefully inhaling long, deep, autumnal breaths and enjoying the beauty.

Though we are not all unschoolers these days, I'm joining Owlet again for .

a board + a rope + a tree

 = endless fun

(especially if you're dressed as a dragon)

(even in the rain)

*last two photos by Sylvia