Sewing Class, 2

Maya did her second sewing class Monday. She learned machine sewing basics & made a pillowcase.

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Packing Lunch

I've only had a handful of occasions to pack lunches for my kids before. The novelty of doing it every day last week for Maya's camp made it kind of fun, especially with the added challenge of her deciding very recently to eat only vegan foods.

Her favorite lunch was refried black bean tortilla wraps. For sides, she had things like red peppers or carrots with hummus, strawberries, peaches, cashews, orange juice & vanilla soymilk smoothies, or a handful of peanut butter pretzels tied up in a bandana.

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Farm Camp

Maya had so much fun this week at day camp at a local farm.  She truly loved caring for & playing with the animals, meeting new friends, making crafts, having new adventures (like getting caught out in the fields in a downpour, crowding into the shelter of the barn with the animals & all the other campers during the thunderstorm complete with power outage!)

She has always been quite a night owl, often up until 2 a.m. and sleeping until noon.  She usually doesn't enjoy early morning activities, & we mostly avoid them.  She was determined to get up early for this camp, though.  In the 2 week s or so before camp, I helped her back her sleep routine up.  We talked about things that might help, like turning off the computer/tv earlier, me lying down with her & talking ourselves to sleep, &  opening her beloved room darkening curtains in the mornings.  Those things plus her excitement about camp each day made mornings flow incredibly smoothly.

I heart unschooling!

Matt's office

Passenger seat of a rental car

Sewing Class

Maya did a beginner's hand-sewing class at Jo-Anne's fabric store today.  They made monsters out of T-shirts.  She (and I) learned about pinning & cutting  from a pattern, how to do a running stitch, and how to backstitch. 
My Mom loved to sew, but I never was interested at all.  Bet she would've loved helping Maya learn.

It was fun.  I'm still not all that interested in sewing (fine motor agitation!!), but I loved hanging out & learning & laughing with Maya all morning!

Atlanta, GA

Attempting the Blogger Android app again.  Hoping the pics will look better this time.

Here are some pics from our trip to Atlanta last week. 

We were sad to not be able to work out a get-together with friends who moved to Atlanta recently, but we did have a nice few days of swimming (and meeting new friends at the pool), skateparks, playgrounds, yoga under the big GA pine trees, & checking out various local vegan restaurants:

one with standard vegan cafe fare,

one with traditional southern food & an owner we adore & visit everytime we're in town,

and one authentic Caribbean with both cooked and raw options and lots of Caribbean & Rasta culture & feel.

New River National Park, West Virginia

This is my first attempt at blogging from my phone...

Here are some pictures from New River National Park.  We had been enjoying the view of the gorge as we drove across the bridge on our way to Pittsburgh, PA.  After the bridge, we saw a sign for a park with a scenic view of the river & thought it would be a nice place for a picnic.  Once there, we ended up touring the interpretive center & taking a short hike for a better view of the gorge & of the bridge we had just driven across.  Riley was especially interested in learning about the gorge bridge history & construction.  Maya did the Jr Ranger packet & interviewed the park ranger about her job.  Seth was absorbed in an imaginary Transformer battle.  :)