Amelia’s review of John Muir’s book

Posted on by Amelia I
Book title: The Story of My Boyhood and Youth Author: John Muir I like it because it helps me pay more attention to nature.  It helps me see more of the beauty in nature.  I liked when John Muir was riding in the boat.  He didn’t go with any of his sisters, he just went with two of his brothers and his dad.  John knew moving to America was a new part in life.  And he knew he was going a new way in life so he could survive.   He got a horse named Jack when the rest of his family arrived in the woods.  I liked Jack because he was super funny.  One day in winter, Jack was very...Read More

Map of My Day

Posted on by Caroline
Last week I pulled out some old books and articles about maps for an informal lesson. We read about the history of maps, going all the way back to a stone map made in Babylon in 600 BC. We talked about why we use maps and some of the quirks of maps. Why do we draw north up? What do our choices about what we include and exclude say about us? How do we draw a round Earth on a flat piece of paper? Next, we drew our own maps inspired by Sara Fanelli’s Map of My Day. We had fun drawing, and I was impressed with the kids' level of detail. The kids drew maps of our house and...Read More

High Winds

Posted on by Caroline
I don't think I'm giving out any trade secrets if I share that the airlines are going through a rough time in the wake of the coronavirus. As a family, we don't have any way of knowing exactly what will happen in the upcoming year. But we do know that the forecast is exceptionally cloudy, and we're getting out our proverbial umbrellas. Tim and I have been cycling through every possible emotional reaction to everything that's been going on. That will probably continue until we know how everything will ultimately shake out. But we've weathered storms before, and made it through hard times. We're lucky enough that we have many layers of security net. So even in the worst-case scenarios,...Read More

Abnormal Normal

Posted on by Caroline
When I wrote the tagline for our new blog, "Adventures in Our New Life", these were not the adventures I was planning on. Soon we'll pass the break-even point, when we'll have spent more time in quarantine in our new house then we've spent not in quarantine. And so it shouldn't be a surprise that our new abnormal reality is starting to feel startlingly…. normal. We’re settling in. Of course, we get stir crazy. But oddly, life within these walls feels so routine, even as life outside them is less and less recognizable. But within these walls, we’re doing our best to continue to find adventure and moments of happiness. A week ago the kids found a caterpillar and put...Read More

In My Head

Posted on by Caroline
I had been doing really well about keeping my equanimity. Keeping informed. Worried but not anxious. Until a couple days ago. For whatever reason, all of my mental stability stopped feeling... stable. Suddenly. I started imaging all the worst outcomes and they kept swirling in an endless loop. I just couldn't get out of my head. I couldn't sleep. Even though we've been spending every-single-second-of-every-single-day together as a family, I wasn't present for my kids and Tim. I was too absorbed in all the dire future possibilities that I just wasn't present in the now. The thing is, I think it finally hit me that when life resumes after the coronavirus, the world will be a changed place. I'd like...Read More

A Crash Course in Homeschooling

Posted on by Caroline
I think we can safely say that we’re in strange, strange times. Millions of Americans are suddenly having to contemplate how to educate their kids at home. And many are also simultaneously trying to figure out how to work remotely. It’s a recipe for anxiety and confusion. Our family has been homeschooling now for all of two months. So in many ways, I’m exactly the wrong person to be writing a crash course in homeschooling - there are many parents out there who have been doing this for decades, and are homeschooling experts. But in many other ways, I’m exactly the right person. It’s a recent transition for us, and I’m right in the middle of figuring all this out...Read More

Oasis

Posted on by Caroline
I doubt I’m the only one, but the constant stream of contradictory news about the coronavirus has left me fatigued and off-kilter. On the flight from San Francisco to Honolulu, we heard the news that the president had declared a state of emergency and that our old school district had canceled classes for the next four weeks. Facebook has exploded with crazy debates about exactly how worried we should all be and my normal outlets of reliable news don’t seem to be any more certain about what we should do or what to expect in the next few weeks. The world feels topsy-turvy to me right now. So, in addition to the usual haze of travel, I was pretty preoccupied...Read More

In the Air

Posted on by Caroline
Amelia and Duke and I are currently in the air, about two hours from Honolulu. We’re on our way to go visit my parents for close to a week. The main agenda item is to visit with Grandy and Opa. While it hasn’t actually been that long since we saw them at Christmas, living halfway around the world has made it feel like longer. We’ll also do a little bit of shopping while we’re there and remind ourselves that some parts of the world aren’t perpetually 85 degrees. After we leave Denver, we’ll head back to Davis for a few days. We have some doctors and dentist appointments that we’d like to keep, and I’m heading into the office for...Read More

Rhythms of Our New Life

Posted on by Caroline
We have never been creatures of habit. I’ve always marveled at and admired the kind of people who set a daily schedule for themselves and their family and then stick to it every day. Even when my life should have been very routine, I always ended up going to bed at a different time every night or packing a different lunch every day or driving a different way to work. But still. Before we moved, the kids and I had work or school every weekday and our lives were filled enough that we inevitably fell into a schedule. But in our new life, everything seems to be up for grabs. Every month when Tim gets his schedule for the next...Read More

A Quick Trip to Osaka

Posted on by Caroline
I’m behind on posting this, so I’m going to focus mostly on the pictures. We loved our trip to Osaka. We stayed in a ryokan within minutes of Dotonbori - an area known for street food and neon lights. A ryokan is a Japanese style inn with tatami mats, futons and onsen baths, and the kids love them. Osaka has an air of goofy exuberance that made it a really fun visit, at least when viewed through the lens of the hustle and bustle of Dotonbori. Nara was also a blast. Watching the tourists (including us) feed the deer, and getting harassed by them was one of the funniest things I’ve seen. There are signs at the entrances to the...Read More