The littlest things..

can turn into the best discussions! While driving for  45 minutes to a nature refuge for a play day with some other kids, we went past a graveyard..that one little thing turned into a full conversation about different burial practices (burial of the body vs. cremation), why some graveyards are more family plots vs. large community graveyards, the nuclear family of the "old" west (born, raised, died in same town) vs. the more mobile society of today, westward expansion, Oregon trail, the development and expansion of trains and transportation of goods from the 1700's to today. We had a wonderful discussion! It was also a great lead in to a few fieldtrips that are coming up!

In other news we are still working on the spring cleaning and getting rid of a lot of junk (donations, selling etc) and we have our first inflatable kayak on the way! It's a tandem so the kids can learn to handle one with me in the back to help them. Once the kids have learned how to navigate one we'll order a couple of singles for them. Then Dominic will be riding in the tandem with me on occasion and we'll see how he does. We'll only be on still water etc. and I think I have found a nice life vest for him. It  should be an interesting summer!