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exploring

Adventuring and Exploring

Monday 20 January 2020

The Boy was keen on spending some time with me today.

"I missed you from the moment you left," he explained, "and I missed you the whole time you were gone."

"We were only gone a couple of days," I clarified. "In fact, it was only one full day that you didn't see me because we left on Friday and came back Sunday, so you saw us those two days."

"I know. But I missed you."

So when it warmed up a bit in the afternoon, we decided to go adventuring. We headed to one of our favorite spots, crossing the creek twice on bridges we'd built ourselves long ago, crossing it a third time in an entirely new location.

One of the things I like most about these adventures is the conversations we have along the way. I can't remember what we talked about today, and that's sort of the point: they're just carefree conversations about nothing in particular.

We have been coming to this area for years, in fact:

Exploring

Friday Exploring

Exploring with the Boys

Fossil Hunting

Thursday 18 July 2019

The Boy watched a documentary with Papa about the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. His verdict: "I think I want to be a paleontologist now." He thought about it a moment before amending it: "Well, I have just been thinking about it since yesterday, so that might change."

Cleaning our finds

Still, this evening after dinner, he was keen on going fossil hunting. After I told him he couldn't just randomly dig holes in the backyard -- "We have a dog to do that; we don't need more." -- I suggested we look in the creek. We found nothing, as I expected, but it didn't dampen his enthusiasm. "After all, we found some really cool rocks."

That we did.

Exploring

Wednesday 03 July 2019

Friday

Friday 21 June 2019

Exploring with the Boys

Thursday 06 June 2019

End of April

Tuesday 30 April 2019

It's difficult to believe that April is over, and when I look at my school calendar for May, I realize that the year is, for all intents and purposes, over. We have no single week of school remaining that is a regular, five-day, testing-free week, except for the last week, which consists of three half days.

April in a way flew by, but it also crawled. We're still not done with the renovation: "Two more weeks" has been the eternal refrain. We're so close now it's ridiculous: the walls and ceilings primed, ready for painting tomorrow; tiles in the bathroom and shower installed, ready for grout; hardwood floor installed in the bedroom, read to be sanded and finished next Monday. It feels like forever and no time at the same time.

Spring Break 2019 Day 3

Wednesday 17 April 2019

Spring Break 2019 Day 2

Tuesday 16 April 2019

Thursday Exporing

Thursday 11 April 2019

Rain Approaching

Sunday 03 March 2019

A normal Sunday morning: breakfast followed by Mass, after which I took some time to photograph the lower church for Fr. L for the project we've been working on. I focused mainly on the altar and the statuary as I only had forty-five minutes or so.

After lunch at Nana's and Papa's, the Boy and I headed out for some exploring. Is it exploring if you keep going back to the same spot?

We wanted to head out for a bike ride after the Scout den meeting this afternoon, but the rain began anew. We're something like seven or eight inches above average for the last twelve months, and it doesn't seem to stop. Every week there's a rainy day or two.

When the rain slowed a bit, we went back to our normal exploration spot: the normally-tranquil stream that we can leap across was impassable.