Yesterday awe had a lovely, quiet day. I skipped baking on account of my mom's (we all live together) getting yummy treats from her student. So delicious!
We spent the day playing board games. D. loves playing chess with grandpa- such a special time for them both. D. made up his own, winter festivities inspired board game- rules are chaotic but we had fun racing from one site to another- castle, Santa's village and get away from aliens' ship too of course :D
We had such a warm autumn that yesterday was the first time we lit our fireplace- so nice and soothing!
Today we made some more holiday cards- this time for D.'s teachers from co-op.
As much as we miss California we really appreciate the change of seasons here.
Yesterday was a gorgeous late autumn day- clear skies with a few fluffy clouds, warm breeze...It's hard to believe that it could change overnight (having had a couple of heavy snowfalls this year already we are prepared:)), and yet the snow on the ground will be welcome.
Today -slightly colder, but still bright sun and fairly warm outside. We decided to talk again about seasons changing and what it means for plants and animals.
The book that helped us do it is Four Seasons:Uncovering Nature by Annie Jones - a beautiful present from friends. The book contains loads of information and is beautifully illustrated.
After reading we did an art project , inspired by this picture I found on pinterest. This project took us two days to finish. Day one: We sketched a forest scene on a large sheet of paper- some trees, animals. Second step was separating sheet vertically into four equal parts- one for each season (initially it was done in pencil, when D. was ready to color I erased pencil and traced a line with a white crayon). Day Two: D. traced outlines with crayons using appropriate colors for each season (bright green for fresh grass, gray-blue for snowy ground, dark brownish-green for autumn grass, etc.). The forth step is painting each part with watercolors. Add some outlining with oil pastels and glitter accents and voila!
We had the most interesting field trip today, thanks again to our co-op. Just two weeks ago we saw The Lion King at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and today we got the chance to see what's going on backstage (not for this particular show) and to visit "the kitchen" of the theater so to say. Unfortunately, my camera died on me in the very beginning of the tour, so no pictures apart from those on my phone :( and the quality is terrible.
The tours are open to the public, more info found here.
The tour was great indeed. We learned a few curious facts about the facility which comprises several venues- each has its own purpose, one of this facts is that it is the world’s largest performance facility under one roof. We visited two stages at Bonfils theatre- one of which was The Space theatre- theatre in-the-round(Tom Sawyer is the current prodiction) , I've never seen stages like this before and I'm most curious to see a play there. D. was very impressed with decorations for The Christmas Carol play.
We also visited Ellie Caulkins Opera House, which is lyric theatre. We saw both the stage and dressing rooms.
The most exciting part of our visit was a tour of costume and props workshops. One truly starts to appreciate how much effort goes into creating the magic of a play. All these rooms full of fabric, prop parts, the creative process of designing of stage lightning- absolutely fascinating. We had a discussion later of the whole new world of theatre professions that was open to us today.
Incredibly grateful for the visit and planning to see more shows at this wonderful place.
We decided to try and stage a small play at home one day, and for starters D. has created a poster for his upcoming play. It is based on a Russian folk tale Kolobok (English text can be found here).
Another week has gone by. It seemed to be a long one.
We finished cleaning up after a small renovation project in our home.
Monday: Went to the Museum of Nature and Science - they have fantastic Dinosaur expo now -complete with enormous T.rex skeleton and very realistic moving dino-robots and of course D. enjoyed Space section immensely.
Man on Mars in Space Odyssey expo
Also on Monday - Trick-or-treating (C.'s first time too:)).
Clay class on Tuesday.
Preparing for D.'s first science fair (through our home option school) next week on Wednesday.
And the final highlight was a special treat yesterday- we saw amazing "The Lion King" show in the Denver Center for the performing arts. Me and my husband saw this musical 7 years ago and wanted to see it again ever since. For D. it was first major theater experience. The show was absolutely spectacular- music, costumes, performance-there are no words to describe the beauty and excitement.
It was not a budget trip for us, but it was worth every penny.The show is targeted for kids 6 years and up (due to some scary special effects as it is stated in the brochure). C. stayed home with grandpa, which made me feel guilty at first, but later we all agreed it was a wise decision. I think for smaller kids it would be hard to sit through 3 hours of performance (it was hard even for D. and he was pretty tired after the show. The RTD train ride to the city was another special trip for D.- he hadn't been on public transportation since we left San Francisco (he wasn't even two then).
Today was a whole day in our co-op- what an amazing science teacher they have there! We are all very tired and ready to relax a bit during week-end.
Speaking of relaxation, lately I was surprised to find that even home schooled kids sometimes need help unwinding. As I've written before this year, 1st grade, is much harder for us, maybe because we are trying to continue with our pursuits in raising bi-lingual child, maybe because I also need to review my approach to organizing our days. Be as it may, D. is often really tired and wound up. I found this website that have some great advice on how to help a child to relax, I thought I'd share it here in case somebody needs it too. Tree feet exercise and Turtle Walk were most helpful these past few days.
The other day we had a spontaneous trip to one of the most famous Colorado beauties- Garden of the Gods. It was a great walk indeed. Sandstone formations tower over paved walks and numerous trees provide nice shade. Admission is always free. This park is said to be especially beautiful in the morning and right before sunset, we were there shortly after midday and it was still breathtaking.
There are many birds there, one curious scrub-jay was even following us around the park to children's delight.
curious birdie
Pikes Peak
On the way back we decided to stray off the interstate because my parents told us that back roads ( highway 67 and 105 that is) are empty and picturesque. It took us longer to get home (time wise, in terms of miles we even saved 2,5) but it was definitely worth it. We passed farms and ranches, beautiful mansions and even one mysterious community(?), the entrance to which looked like a castle. Shame we didn't stop to find out what it was. The hills were green and sun was golden. Small towns along the way are worth checking out too. Unfortunately there are no pictures from our trip back as we didn't want to stop, but next time I won't miss the opportunity :)
D. learned how to draw robots today and read backwards. Nana taught him how to play "edible/non edible" (she throws the ball at him and says the word such as "pear" or "dirt", could be anything really, if it's edible he's supposed to catch the ball, if not- push it back to her), our guy "ate" a lot of silly things during this game.
Laughing non-stop all day.It's amazing how the house seems much sunnier when there are two little dumplings rolling on the floor all day.
