Broadturn Farm Camp Day Four

Every morning at Broadturn Farm camp begins with a circle time outside. Grace told me that part of circle time involves singing good morning to all of the animals on the farm! You can see Grace in the picture above. She is the last child on the left wearing the white shirt and white hat.

Here is Grace looking at the flowers in the field this morning. I love how pasty white she is -- I'm a huge proponent of sunscreen!

Jack stood perfectly still in this position for a very long time. He was watching a tractor busy at work in the field.

Grace spotted a beautiful blue bird on top of this birdhouse as we drove into the farm. She asked that I take a picture of it.

This old barn is beautiful. Jack loved checking out all of the farm machinery inside.

Here are the campers t-shirts that they will be wearing tomorrow for their guided farm tours. We can't wait to see Grace wearing hers!

Grace performed a quick dance for us just before we said our goodbyes. I simply love, love, love how much Grace has enjoyed everything at camp this week. This experience will stay with her for a lifetime.

On our way out, Jack spotted a different bird on top of the birdhouse at the farm and he asked me to take a picture of it!

Eve & Lavender

Here is our sweet Eve sleeping peacefully with her beloved Lavender. Eve always falls asleep holding Lavender and the first thing Eve does when she wakes up is to search for Lavender in her crib. I have a feeling these two girls are going to be very good friends for a very long time!

Broadturn Farm Camp Day Three

The day started off damp and foggy, which made the farm all the more beautiful this morning when we brought Grace to her third day of camp. Grace stood for a moment to admire the farm fields.

Broadturn Farm has a gentle giant of a dog named Stella. We have met Stella many times on our walks through the woods. Grace was quite happy to be greeted by Stella first thing this morning.

Once we arrived in the barn Grace was excited to find her camp t-shirt that she made yesterday. She will be adding the camp logo on it tomorrow.

Jack was fascinated by this outdoor tub. Jack asked if we could "get one of these." At first I laughed but the more I think about it.......what do you think, Bob?!? :)

Grace had her raincoat in hand this morning but in the end it was not needed after all. The fog lifted and the clouds cleared around mid-morning. It turned out to be a beautiful day.

I hope to get a picture of sweet baby Eve at the farm tomorrow or Friday. I carry Eve in a baby carrier so it is difficult to get a picture of her. Eve is so taken with all of the sites at the farm too. She was full of smiles as she heard the rooster give us several loud cock-a-doodle-doos this morning.

Broadturn Farm Camp

Grace is attending camp this week at Broadturn Farm, which is an all organic farm located just around the corner from our home. We are incredibly lucky to live so close to this beautiful place. Broadturn Farm is also the site of this magical place (click here).

Here is the mission statement of Broadturn Farm camp:

"Our mission is to help children develop a knowledge, love and respect for locally produced food, the earth, organic farming and their local community. Children are taught the principles of animal welfare, farm and forest ecology through participation in the daily workings of the farm, investigation of the forest environments, creative play and exploration. We want to share the gifts of open spaces with the next generation of farmers and consumers, who will be charged with the preservation of farms like this."

"With an eye towards the unique needs of very young children, we structure the program to include lots of imagination, hands on learning and play activities. Little ones love coming to camp; feeding pigs, visiting the cows, collecting eggs, handling chicks and ducklings, munching veggies and strawberries in the garden, learning simple recipes, exploring the woods, building fairy houses, singing songs, listening to stories, playing games, making art, and of course… learning how to use an outhouse!"

Broadturn Farm camp is perfect for Grace and what an incredible learning experience it is for her and our family. I took this picture of Grace and Jack this morning as they walked together toward the farm.

As we left Grace this morning, she had a white tee shirt in hand and she was very excited to be making a camp logo shirt today. All of the campers will be wearing their camp shirts on Friday as they become tour guides to show their families around the farm.

When we picked up Grace today I found her carrying a shovel over her shoulder. Grace was beaming with pride because she had dug a "VERY BIG HOLE!" I loved seeing how proud Grace was of herself because she worked so hard to help her neighbors. I also loved seeing Grace with drips of strawberry juice on her dress, dirt smudged on her cheeks and under her nails, her shoes filled with mud and with her fingers stained green from tie dyeing her tee shirt earlier that morning. She had never looked more beautiful and I was so proud of my hard working girl.

In the picture above Grace is giving Jack a goodbye kiss and hug as we were leaving. Grace is always so sweet with her goodbyes.

Here is Jack leaving Broadturn Farm with Eve and I this morning. Jack can't wait to go to camp here when he is four, just like his big sister!

Our Morning At Home

I have mentioned several time before that Jack always keeps us laughing and this morning was no exception! Once we returned home from bringing Grace to camp, Jack was excited to make three volcanoes for himself, Grace and Eve by using paper mache on three glass jars. We are planning on having some big eruptions at our house tomorrow! Once Jack was done with the paper mache of the volcanoes he turned to me and asked, "Can I paper mache myself?" :)

So....naturally Jack proceeded to paper mache himself, of course!

Jack thought using a paint brush was taking too long so he went foot first into the bowl of the paper mache mixture!

A paper mached Jack-a-roo!

Eve enjoyed playing with our butterfly sensory bin this morning while Grace was at camp. Eve helped make this bin several weeks ago by coloring butterfly shaped pasta! Eve thought it was fun to scoop up the butterflies and pour them out. By the time Eve was finished playing she was surrounded by beautiful butterflies!!!

Eve did a great job picking up one butterfly at a time to examine it. Eve amazes me with her fine motor/hand skills.

One of my favorite things to do with my children is to go on nature walks. Jack, Eve and I went on a walk around our home today to pick wildflowers. We placed our flowers in a glass jar and enjoyed them all day long outside on our picnic table.

Our Outdoor Girl

Eve is an outdoor girl! She loves being outside. Since the beginning of summer, most of Eve's play and learning time has been outside. Eve especially loves to sit on the grass -- she kicks her feet and pulls the grass with her hands. Eve is doing a great job sitting up all by herself.

I love this picture of Eve sitting in the grass. I think she look like a little doll!

Summertime Ball Print Painting!

To celebrate the arrival of summer Grace and Jack thought it would be fun to cover the inside of our pool with paper to make a summertime ball print painting. Grace and Jack had a great time rolling balls through paint and then rolling the paint covered balls down the pool slide to make a fun painting to kick off summer!

Jack decided to squirt paint into a bin. He placed several balls into the bin to coat them with paint and then he rolled them down the pool's slide. Jack's painting method worked beautifully!

Grace and Jack later worked together to roll the balls from one side of the pool to the other by rocking the pool back and forth.

Great teamwork!

Jack loved rolling the balls down the slide and he was delighted to see the path the balls made as they rolled toward the center of the pool.

Grace tried rolling the balls through the paint from the side of the pool. I love how Grace and Jack each had a different approach to this style of painting.

I love those paint covered hands. By the end of this activity Jack ended up being covered in paint from head to toe!

Here is the finished summertime ball print painting!

The Return of "Cloud Paint." Hooray!

After making the summer ball print painting Grace and Jack cleaned up the pool and then filled it with "cloud paint" (shaving cream). This has always been one of their favorite summertime activities. Eve and I had a great time together watching Grace and Jack play in the pool. Their giggles turned into bigger and bigger laughs as more and more cloud paint filled the pool! Perhaps our little miss Eve will be joining her older brother and sister in that pool some time this summer.

Celebrating the First Day of Summer

When Maddy and Poppy visited last weekend to see Grace's dance recital (pictures to come), Maddy brought Grace, Jack and Eve seed "orbs". Grace and Jack celebrated the first day of summer by planting the seed orbs inside of plastic bags so that they could watch them sprout. The seed orbs can be seen inside of the orange and turquoise colored bowls in the above picture. The seed orbs are made out of recycled paper and wildflower seeds. The paper and seed mixture is compressed into tiny balls. The seed orbs are typically designed to be thrown into abandoned urban sites like sidewalk cracks or vacant lots in order to transform them into places worth looking at and caring for. The rain dissolves the paper and beautiful flowers will then begin to grow and bloom!

Grace and Jack filled plastic bags with soil, added some water and placed one seed orb inside each of the bags.

We taped the seed orb bags onto our sliding glass door. After a few days they began to sprout. We will be placing our sprouted seed orbs at the end of our driveway this coming week. I am also looking forward on making our own seed orbs this week.

Eve celebrated the first day of summer and her very first summer by finger painting with blue paint. She took her work very seriously! The color blue was used to represent a summer blue sky and the ocean. We hope our summer will be filled with lots of blue skies and many visits to the beach!

I'll share more of our first day of summer activities with you tomorrow. :)