This year, Eden prepared and performed the first movement of Ravel’s Concerto en Sol for several contests and performances. I finally figured out how to show you her wonderful work. She is accompanied by her excellent teacher, Juliet Preston.
All posts for the month May, 2013
Eden’s Concerto
Posted by jenthegranolamom on May 30, 2013
https://anothergranolamom.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/edens-concerto/
Last Day of School 2013
Last Thursday was our last day of “school.” I put it in quotation marks because we continue doing school during the summer, we just don’t call it school. During the summer, we do a math lesson or two each week to keep our hand in, and reading never stops in our house. Truly, I don’t know how parents whose children don’t like to read survive the summer. During the hottest days of the year, my kids end up hiding out in the basement reading book after book. But since this is just the beginning of the summer, we had to celebrate by spending the last of our last day of school camping.
We made aircraft carriers out of bark and floated them in the stream running through our campsite.
Lulu and Max made “houses” complete with broom cupboard.
We picked the best place for the tent, with shade . . .
and a view.
Early the next morning, we ran (Lulu and Max are in the middle of a couch to 5k program.)
And then we hiked . . .
and did a little cow anatomy.
We sat in camp and read. Eden brought along a little last minute school work.
It’s a hard life, but somebody has to do it.
Here’s hoping your summer is starting out just as challenging! How did you wrap up school for the year? Please leave me a comment below.
Posted by jenthegranolamom on May 27, 2013
https://anothergranolamom.wordpress.com/2013/05/27/last-day-of-school-2013/
Brett’s First 5k Race
Running is really becoming a family addiction. I ran my second marathon on May 4th, and last weekend, Brett ran his first 5k race. He has been training hard, and he cooked down the road!
Next race stop for us is a half marathon, with Brett and I doing the relay (he’ll run the bottom half, and I’ll stick with him,) and Shandy and Eden probably leaving me in the dust! Running is such a wonderful way to clear the mind and make your body healthy. I am glad it’s becoming a family activity.
Do you run races? Do you run with your family? Leave me a comment below.
Posted by jenthegranolamom on May 12, 2013
https://anothergranolamom.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/bretts-first-5k-race/
Another Great Family Hike near Escalante: The Box (Pine Creek)
On our family hiking trip to Escalante this year, we did 3 great hikes, but I can’t really recommend all of them to you. We spent one very long day crossing the Boulder Mail Trail, including freezing in the chest deep water of Death Hollow. I won’t recommend that one as a great family hike — it was HUGE! But another hike, this one only about 10 miles up the Hells Backbone road outside of Escalante, I can recommend unreservedly for your family. This easy hike up a beautiful drainage crosses a little creek through a Ponderosa forest, and could definitely done by any level of hiker.
There are two ways to hike “The Box,” which is what the Pine Creek drainage is called. A really wonderful way to enjoy this whole trail would be to be dropped off at the top Upper Box Access point, about 19 miles from Escalante, where Pine Creek crosses the Hell’s Backbone road. Follow the stream about 9 miles down and be picked up by a shuttle car at the Lower Box trailhead, only 10 miles up the Hell’s Backbone road. We did not do this because after our monster hike on Thursday, we weren’t sure how much of a hike we wanted on Saturday. Turns out, we could easily have done this as a through hike. Instead, we hiked about 5 miles up from the Lower trailhead, then turned around and headed back to our car. It was a great hike, although we regretted not seeing the whole trail.
Stream crossings begin right away from the lower trailhead, and in the 5 miles we hiked, we crossed the stream 20 times. (And 20 more on the way back down.) Many of the crossing were “rock hoppers,” and could be done without getting your feet wet (if you are coordinated–which I am not.) There were trees across many spots as well, but all of us ended up with wet feet. Eden grabbed a little tree to steady herself on her next-to-last stream crossing and it slowly lowered her into the stream, getting her whole side and back wet! If only we had known in advance to turn on the video . . .
There are many wonderful campsites along this trail, making it ideal for an easy, light (no need to carry water) overnight trip as well.
We completed our trip to The Box by driving the rest of the Hell’s Backbone road. Of course, we had to take a picture at the Hell’s Backbone bridge, a narrow span between very steep drop-offs (Death Hollow and Sand Creek drainages.)
I highly recommend this trail to you and your family. Have you started your hiking season yet? How is spring progressing where you are? Please leave me a comment below.
Posted by jenthegranolamom on May 6, 2013
https://anothergranolamom.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/another-great-family-hike-near-escalante-the-box-pine-creek/
Navajo Knobs 2013
Early in March, we hiked Navajo Knobs in Capitol Reef again. Since I’ve told you about this great hike before, I won’t write all about it again. Instead, we let Brett be in charge of the camera, and I want to share this great picture.
Just showing the forever you can see from the top!
Some more hiking posts soon to come, and a little about how we wind up our homeschool year. Hope to see you again soon!
Posted by jenthegranolamom on May 1, 2013
https://anothergranolamom.wordpress.com/2013/05/01/navajo-knobs-2013/
October unprocessed
anothergranolamom 