Horse Back Riding

On Thursday Russ was taking Vahid, Ruhi and his dad to NYC for a Mets game so Retta and I decided to find something for the rest of us to do. We settled on horse back riding.
Elanee and Quddus opted to stay back and play video games so Retta, Maya, Vayda and I drove over to Pocono Adventures Riding Stables.
We were assigned horses and told to mount up. Now- I was not really able to mount up on a horse wearing a saddle up above my reach and a stirrup at my shoulder height!!!! Not so much! Cant I get a bail of hay to step up on???? I asked. No go.
So- the lady who was running the show grabbed my foot and shoved it up above my shoulder and into the stirrup. Then- before I knew it she squatted down, ducked her head under my crotch and then with my boot-y on her shoulders she freakin sumo wrestler bench pressed me onto the horse!!!!!!!!!!! I was laughing too darn hard to be mortified. I have decided that if I wanna look skinny...on a horse is not the place to try.
However, Retta looks o so natural on one. Once everyone was in line we were given a 45 min tour of a rocky path and lovely woods. At one point Retta yelled back to me, "Hey Carrie- what do you think of the ride?" My reply was, "Just like yesterdays drive- bumper to bumper and highly stressful!"

In the end I had relaxed. Maya and Vayda were naturals and perfectly content riding a giant beast. I found the whole thing rather liberating. The next day I found that my entire being was aching. Ouch.

The view from upstairs

After the day on the islands Russes oldest son, Ryan stopped by the time share for a visit. His birthday was around the corner so Russ put together a little B-day party for him. I snapped this shot from upstairs.

Liberty Island

After Ellis Island we went over the Liberty Island. This was fun and cereal ! After 37 yrs of seeing pictures of the Statue of Liberty in text books and in movies the actually seeing it in person was over the top! Maya was so cute as we aproached the island on the ferry...."Mom!!! There she is!" :)
It was so cool having this great experience with my o so dear friend, Retta.
We decided that being that the statue was given to us by the French, she absolutely has hairy pits and legs ;) Ok- maybe we spent too much time in the sun that day.
This is our group....

Top- Carrie, Maya Rae, Russ

Bottom- Lauretta, Elanee, Ruhi, Quddus, Vayda & Vahid

Russ managed this shot by laying his camera on the sidewalk and using the timer....

not too shabby.

Ellis Island

On Wed we woke up at 5:30 am and left for New Jersey Park with 6 kids in tow by 7:30 am.
After a treterous 2 hr drive to NJ we literally RAN to get ferry tickets. We got potty breaks in and tickets for all. We had to strip down for the metal detectors and grab some coffee then we waited for the ferry. Once we were all on board we climbed to the top for the best view.
When we arrived at Ellis Island we milled around a bit. Then, I saw a proffessor giving his college class a tour so I grabbed the girls and glommed on. We learned so much from this guy. We got alot out of the visit in a hour or so. It was really intense. Absolutely profound. As we stood on 'the stairs of seperation' and we learned about families being torn apart and hopes being crushed in that very spot I literally had to fight back the tears. The girls seemed to really get alot

out of it.
Here are the kids snacking and chillin on the ferry.

Vacation!

This past week Elanee, Vayda, Maya Rae and I joined our friends Lauretta, Russ, Quddus, Vahid, & Ruhi in the Pokenos. Russes dad has a time share there and the Georges go there once each yr. This time Retta flew into Rochester airport on the a Friday. We spent 4 days hanging out....without her kids and neglecting mine :)
On Tues the girls, Retta and I drove down to PA. After 4.5 hrs in the small car...
The kids were ready for a swim at the rec.

A lesson in levers

Sodus in March was a study in all things natural science.

Beyond this was a cool thing...a lesson in levers!

Maya happened upon a long board and a little log that had washed up on the beach.
We drug it up into the sand and played 'surf board' and teeter-totter.
Then we made some adjustments and Maya was totally psyched to find that little ol her...
could life mom up!!! Wow! Homeschool at its best.

A Sunday at Sodus

On Sunday the 30th of March Jody was in the mood to get off the property and away from the chores so he, Maya and I all took off for a day trip to Sodus Point.We walked the peer and admired the rocks.

We explored the half melted ice and snow. It was cool how the sand under the snow was darker than the snow itself so the underside of the snow was melted- like caves- under the ice.
It was sunny but chilly out on the peer. Maya could almost climb into those icy caverns.
Maya discovered what a sand dune was and bravely looked off the peer at the deep water and gigantic rocks.
Daddy wrote in the sand.
As is Maya's way, she took every oportunity to rebuild the beach. She found branches, stones and trash to create her own little world.
One of her favorite games was to swim in the stones.

This was a great time for the 3 of us. Maya never gets time alone with both Mom and Dad so that made it super special.

Free trade-shade grown-organic.....heaven!

This is the only reason I get out of bed day after day ;)

Really! When there is nothing else to find joy in...

this is my idea of wonderful.

Who needs a husband and kids?

The Story of Stuff

http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html

If you havent seen this video please go see it. Its 20 mins and well, well worth the time. Pass it along too. We all need to get our heads on straight about this stuff! This link will take you right to the video.

Camera Stealer!!!!

This is a new (oh so endearing) habit of Ms. Vayda's. Shes a big fat camera stealer!!!!

Darn good thing shes good to look at!

Maple Fest

On March 29 I took, Elanee, Vayda, Maya Rae and Ravyn to the Maple Fest at the Cayuga Nature Center in Ithaca.

Maya really liked to touch all the creepy critters. She even got to watch a snake swallow a dead mouse. I heard alot of "Mom! Touch this"......(Mom says ICK!)

We all got to each icecream in the snow. That was Cool!...ha-punny!

We took a tour of the sugaring process at the center. This was very educational for all of us.

In the end we got to taste the finished product. Pure and fresh warm maple syrup. Yum-my!!!

Ravyn was so alive and engaged out in nature. It was a pleasure to watch. The kids romped on the paths, we watched the caged animals and climbed the gigantic tree house. What a fun day!

Easter Doggy

Vayda got a kick out of dressing Emma dog up as a bunny. Not so sure Emma was into it.
Maybe this is what that steamin pile was about.....huuummmm.

Easter

OnePlanet International School

http://www.oneplanetschool.com/index.htm

"Every child is potentially the light of the world"

One planet international school is a new Baha'i based school in Ethiopia.
Our family thinks this is a great thing and the school is sooooo cute!
After we cleaned out Maya's room Elanee and Maya Rae went through the donatable books and filled a flat rate box up. The school had set up a drop point in the US and was asking for donations of books and toys to help get the school stocked up. It was fun and exciting to know that some of our old family favorites will be in the hands of these little Baha'i kids in Ethiotia.
Good stuff :)

Room Renovation- TA-DA!

TA-DA!!!!

Its DONE. It took 5 days as planned. Still needs curtains but we'll get there eventually.

So above you see Maya's craft area. She has a full sized kitchen table centered in the bay windows with a hanging light over it. Behind the table are three 3 drawer bins containing all of her craft supplies by category. There is a place for everything so nothing has to sit out

(in theory;) Her clothes wrack sits over her heater making for fast drying. From the door everything looks so neat.

Here is her 'wall o toys'. This house is so tall that we always have to make the most of the UP space. So we game Maya a wall of shelving. With the help of her little chair she can reach everything except the tippy top. Under the shelves are some of her old bins with big-ish random toys. The bottom shelf has a row of 6 wash tubs. These each contain one type of toy.....Bobble Heads in one, Barbies & Brats in another, B & B accessories and clothing, itty bitty toys/ animals/ cars/ you name it, Leap Frog type hand held games, & finally audio tapes and view master stuff. This took care of the bulk of the tangle. Up from there are the Legos, Linking Logs, small doll houses, some still loved Duplos. Up from there are books (the keepers- we got rid of easily 200),Mr. Potato Head, a train track. Then the rest are big and cute things and fially some decorations.

Her bed is sticking out from one wall with space all around. This allowed space for a chair for the big bed time story reader. That chair was an old SA find from years ago. It had an ugly blue fabric on it. On a whim I decided to peak under the fabric and found that it was originally a mint green vinyl . It too was tattered but way retro and totally cute with the pink paint! Vayda donated her bed spread because it matched Mayas room better than her own. Along side of the bed is "the wall of art". This consists of a new write and wipe board and 3 lines of wire and 60 or so pastel colored clothes pins. We pinned up some of Mayas old favorite 'works' but left lots of room for new creations. Her little table made for a good vanity, all the dress up clothes are at the foot of her bed in a toy chest, and her dresser and giant collection of stuffed toys are all tucked neatly into the closet.

ORGANISATION is a beautiful thing!!!! The cool thing is that Maya really loves being able to find her things. So far she is tidying up every day. Its easy now so she doesnt mind.

Now the inside of our house is nearly finished too.

Room Renovation- COLOR & The big sort!

Finally- COLOR!!!!

Maya Rae chose this wonderful color with no promting or reeling in from mom. Its bright! Especially with the sun on it but I wanted it to be all her. After your retnas melt its really not too bad. After all those days of priming we rejoiced at the vibrant color.

Oh- now for the big sort. Maya Rae is at the receiving end of every little plastic bobble, TP tube, baby Barbie diaper ETC ETC ETC that ever entered this house via her 6 older sibs and my day care days!!!! Though we have hoed out before- the hill O CRAP was overwhelming.
It took us 3 days to sort out this taggled disaster or a toy collection. Maya did really well with the work though. We made a big fat yard sale pile and gave away some baby stuff. I think it all we cut her collection down by a third.