WARNING: snakes at the Ren Fest!

So, a blogger I follow once posted that she promised to always *say* when she posts a picture of a snake, so as to not unduly scare her audience.  Now, it would be bold of me to claim an "audience," but, I do know at least one of my audience will be happy for this blogger's suggestion, without which I'd never even think twice about posting a picture of a snake (and a Giant One, at that).  So, without further ado, please join us on our visit to the Renaissance Festival this year, keeping in mind that the last picture is of:  a Very Large Snake, with My Precious Daughters Precariously Close Thereto.

(taken after we pet said snake.  ahem.)  You're welcome, Cary!

(and now, said snake:)
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This was near the reptile and amphibian society area, I think he was trying to get somewhere to curl up and rest.  They would move him farther away, and he'd just keep trying to go back to wherever he wanted to go.


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We enjoy the Ren Fest, but the location could not be farther away and still be in the "same town" as us, and we've had serious issues with parking/traffic.  (This year was no better with the traffic part, but that was no fault of the Ren Fest this time.)  Because the weekends are so incredibly busy there, we've chosen to go on the only Friday of the fest a few years now, and really enjoy the quieter, more laid back fair.  This year the tickets were even cheaper for all of us Friday, and we enjoyed shows and places we don't usually see with the weekend chaos.

Plus, with the lack of crowds, it's all the more likely you get chosen/ dragged up on stage to "help" with something... apparently this young magician thought the not-in-coustume-this-year (Greta wore my chamise as a dress) mom in the second row behind her kids would be a good foil for his card trick.  He probably wasn't expecting me to actually play along - if I had time to think about it I would have been nervous, but being surprised I'm actually pretty good at ad lib in front of a crowd.  Anyway, I wouldn't chose to do it again, but it was fun.  (And I think I know how he did the trick, too, though I had to think about it a bit.)  I'm not sure why I'm slouching in the picture;  probably I felt uncomfortable being taller than him.

Notes: 
~  my huge chemise costume undershirt = adorable dress for Gret. when cinched at neck and belted
~  do not let Kaatje wear boots even if "she wears them all the time and they'll be fine!"   ...our last hour there she was barefoot (but not complaining, dear girl).
~  don't bother looking picking out food from the online list before Festival Friday, all the good food places aren't open
~  bring a waterbottle to fill at the port-a-potty area sink.  there's a drinking fountain there so we assumed the water was potable (it was) and didn't have to pay $3 a pop for a 16-oz water bottle.
~  note the Grand Canyon of the Renaissance Festival? (pic 1)  poor them, they might be moving in a few years... that will be... odd.

sandcastles, sunshine, cousins, grandparents, and all

(pictures 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 mine;  the rest - others of us, including kids!)

Mom's side reunion:  Illinois, summer 2014.  Mega (and sometimes midnight) group mario cart racing, keeping kids out of (or throwing them into) the water, chatting-cooking-serving-cleaning, getting everyone into wiffle ball and sandcastle building.  Lightening bugs, fireworks, glow sticks, fishing (a first for Gret:  the girl from 10,000 lakes taught by her same age Illinois cousin), and no injuries or tears (no more than usual).

Starting with awkward looks among cousins-once-removed on Thursday evening, Saturday night brought "do we have to go already?!" 's, which was good.

Kaatje was right back out on the road two days later to Heidelberg Camp, but this time with friends instead of family, a break for her!

Lovely, busy, summer.

in which we see lots of Matisse.

So where we were supposed to go last week, for a little family trip up north here in MN, got something like 18" of snow the day we were to travel there... I'm so sorry we couldn't go, but so happy we changed our plans.

I had found discount tickets to the Matisse exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, they needed to be used by May, and I had no idea when we could go.  Our thwarted holiday away meant we could take a whole day to go down to the city and visit the museum and some other favorite haunts we don't visit as much as the girls would like.  Jeff, busy as he is at work, could work two days he would have been gone, and could still take the day off with us!  Lovely!

The girls have been taking some art classes at a studio that hosts weekly homeschool art, only a few block from us.  (Ironic, I know, me being the art major and not "teaching" them art myself.  We do plenty of art here at home, trust me, but I like turning over the structured environment to an outside source once in a while.)  They looked at Matisse in class, and were thrilled to see his work here.  I was impressed by their enthusiasm!  They liked the whole tour and even happily wandered through more of the museum.

I come back, over and over as a homeschooler of elementary ages, to "better late than early"... that is, if the interest is not there, the understanding - the enthusiasm - the ah-ha! is missing, if there are struggles, try:  Waiting.  Come back to it later.  Explore all the time, a little here, a little there, ideas build up and come together.  We dragged poor Greta through art museum after art museum (it seemed to her) two years ago in the Netherlands and Germany, now she enjoyed exploring the museum.  (Caveat:  I'm also the homeschooler of a pre-teen.  We "make" her do things all the time, of course, or she might just choose to spend her days lying around, letting us know how bored she is... the sweet girl she is!)

two of us take one short trip

The Christian homeschoolers association in Minnesota does a yearly convention, alternately located in three spots throughout the state.  Jeff and I have attended the Duluth convention twice;  it's not too far away, it's a pretty area, and it gives us an excuse to take a few days by ourselves.  (We like the convention here in the Cities, too, but don't "get away" like this, as we come home each evening.)

We didn't have a major agenda this year.  I started out at the exhibitors' fair telling Jeff "Don't let me buy anything," quickly amending, "Don't let me buy any new curriculum."  We're quite happy with what we're doing, but I'm always on the look out for deals on games, books, and projects (of which we found many).

The convention has a theme each year, which we mostly ignore.  We've never attended the keynote (we get faithful preaching twice each week at church, and sometimes the keynotes are awfully close to sermons), but always find some workshops to attend, some better than others.  I enjoyed hearing Steve Demme a couple times, better known around here as "Greta's math teacher," (Greta does MathUSee, where Mr. Demme appears on the teaching videos).  He's a fun speaker and an enjoyable man.  I also heard "Mr. Michele Bachmann" speak (sorry Dr. Marcus!) which was refreshing. 

Truly, one of the best parts of attending things like this is the freeing feeling in the sharing of ideas, and the like-minded discussions.  A vast majority of the hundreds of attenders are conservative Christians, in workshops and at the exhibit booths each topic is given with the understanding every family is different but every family's goal is raising Christian children first and foremost.  A comfort indeed!

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This week was supposed to be a small family-get-away trip, but the weather conspires against us again with snowstorms forecast for our destination.  We postponed, so now we'll tuck in here with our new games and projects and keep on waiting for those warm days promised ahead!

twelve years old, and early evening sun.

Our deep winter is highlighted by birthdays, for three weeks the girls are three years apart, which they find amusing.  The hardest part?  Little one gets fun things first, and big one has to wait.  I think this year she'd say it was worth it.  A much wanted building block set was received, along with a yearned-for video game, and even some cold hard cash (a highlight! ...saving for new game systems is hard.)  Much to my relief, baked alaska was easy, with yolks left over for ice cream, which is always nice.  Leftovers even froze well, which had worried me.

So we settle in for the final waiting, watching for the season to turn, week by week.  The weather, the snow outside, don't betray any change yet, but the sun says otherwise as I sit at 5:00 pm and the sky is still bright.  I know there's many weeks of snow left, and melt and new storms and cold, but we went outside the other day... and we could smell... not the frozen sharp smell of below zero, but the wintery smell of snow and ice and sleeping trees.  (and exhaust.  We're pretty desperate when we happily point out we can smell car exhaust!)  We snuggle in in the evenings in our "new" movie room (photos to come!), let the girls pick out what Olympic events they want watch from our vast recordings, and know just like the green grass and 50's in Sochi, we'll be there soon, too. 

(Random:  Sochi is 1.5 degrees latitude further south than we are.  Aside:  we don't have palm trees.  But then again, we don't have mountains, either.)