Nature Center

We have a free Nature Center just 15 mins. drive from our home. For some reason we never went there until just a few weeks ago, and since then we've returned once more because it was so fun! The Nature Center has a temporary exhibit that includes an indoor play gym--invaluable in this Ohio winter weather.
And a Winter Wonderland backdrop that Lo wouldn't stand still at for a pose no matter how hard I tried. He just kept running around exploring the whole time we were there.
A life-sized game board leads kids through one section of the exhibits. They can roll a dice and move along to various activites on a sort of obstacle course. At this microphone the kids were supposed to chirp "bird calls," so Lo said something like "chirp chirp."
They had lots of tunnels to crawl through as well.
We didn't get photos of much of the outdoor part of the nature center, but it has a lot of animals. A fox that was a cinnamony-chocolate color, so beautiful, a hawk that flew up and grabbed the top of its cage with huge talons, and a teeny tiny owl, to name a few. The animals are all rescue/rehab cases that will soon be released back into the wild.

MK Nature Center- Boise

Personality entails "enduring characteristics," as explained in one of my human development classes. I enjoy watching Lo's personality unfold. Lo's personality seems to show a consistent bent toward sociality: He stood blandly by this fish viewing tank until a few other children walked up, and then he leaped into action, chattering to them about what he was seeing, staring more at the other children than the aquatics.

His personality also seems detail-oriented, though I wonder how much of that characteristic is developmental rather than unique to Lo? I thought he would love seeing these taxidermy critters, and he thought they were okay--but the ROCKS! Wow, the rocks. Lo kept wanting to touch and examine the rocks more than desiring to gaze upon the mighty grizzly and salmon.


I keep finding myself surprised by this child. He is his own person.

Home again, home again

Yesterday Lo and I flew from Cleveland to Boise. That route has no direct flight, and doesn't even have many options for a one-stop flight. We touched down in Chicago, changed planes in Portland, and all-in-all had a long day. But despite a rough start (Lo had a meltdown when we wouldn't allow him to carry our 40lb. suitcase down our apartment's stairs on our way out the door), the journey was actually overall enjoyable. Lo napped for a couple hours in the middle of the day as usual, and I even got to sleep during part of his nap. We arrived in Boise just in time to play a bit, eat dinner, shower, and go to sleep. I have learned a few tricks to make flying with a baby easier:

1. Sit by other people who have young children. Firstly, this act makes it less likely those sitting nearby will glare/sigh/resent the noise and activity levels of my own child. Secondly, kids tend to entertain each other, often swapping toys (making our own selection of toys last much longer before boredom sets in) and the socializing offers learning opportunities, which makes me have an attitude of cherishing the time, rather than saying, "oh, I wish it was over already."
2. Bring a few treats. Normally I recoil from anything akin to "bribery," but giving treats at well-planned moments seems different to me. For example, I knew there was a good chance Lo Lo would protest at least one of our ascensions because there were THREE of them. So I had three packs of fruit snacks. I gave him a pack of fruit snacks as we waited to board, telling him, "We will open it when we are in the air." He kept chewing on the plastic wrapper, begging me to let him eat the fruit snacks, but I just kept reminding him, "when we are in the air you can eat them." That way, he was excited to be in the air again instead of saying something like, "NOOO, I cannot handle another few hours cramped in this little seat!" Also, I had a dum-dum sucker in my purse reserved to avert a tantrum if one threatened to erupt at a particularly bad time. It came in handy, and that's all I'll say about that. =)
3. Remember others are watching. I was able to keep calm and cheerful with my child because Jerry and I had a good scripture study that morning that reminded me to be a good example for others. In contrast, I witnessed a few totally irrational parents on this trip, mostly mothers who were traveling with children and had obviously been pushed to their limits. One mom snapped at her infant (the baby looked about 7-9 months of age), "Give me a break! Cut it out! I mean it!" I have no idea what the baby was doing--nothing that was obviously "bad behavior" but I felt sorry for her. She probably had no comprehension of why her mom was yelling at her. Nor was the yelling likely to help the situation. Anyway, on to more happy topics.

When we got to my parent's house, there were a couple deer in the garden. Lo was thrilled to walk close to them. Then we spotted a couple blue-belly lizards, and I had a lot of memories come back about catching them as a kid. My cousin Drew was the best lizard-catcher. I tended to grab too slow and just end up with the lizard's tail in my hand (these lizards would make their tails drop off as an escape strategy). The apricot scent was heavy and ripe in the air--Lo plucked an apricot warm from a tree branch and bit it tentatively. My poor city-boy child has no experience eating fruits of the garden. I am glad to have grown up in the beautiful foothills where Nature was such an accessible joy. It is good to be home. Jerry will soon join us--stay tuned for the tales to come.

Grandma and the Beach

My mom has been visiting for the past week (and we are so lucky to get her for a whole nother week still!). Today we took her down to the beach that is just a couple minutes away from our house. We wondered if it was a Sabbath appropriate activity--akin to a Sunday afternoon walk perhaps? Enjoying nature but not recreating too much? We left our toys at home and kept the visit brief. Anyway... Throwing rocks into the water. A new favorite, since Lo did it all Saturday on the temple grounds stream (more about that on a different post).

Couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather.

We found a couple good pieces of driftwood to entertain our new pet. Yes! Another animal (or two) to add to the Tam Fam. No, we didn't get it at the beach but instead adopted it from some friends of ours who were feeling all petted out lately. This little terrarium houses our new hermit crab. Lo Lo enjoys watching the crab climb around and I get a kick out of rearranging the crab's landscape every day. We named it "Hai Hai," which is "crab" in Chinese. Always trying to reinforce those language skills...Oh, and the second new pet we got is a snail (named "Snail" or "Nail" as Lo Lo calls it) to clean our fish bowl because I was getting lazy about scraping the algae off: A Golden Mystery Snail. These babies are AWESOME. Better than any other type of snail (do a google search if you want to know details). But I digress. Back to the beach.

Lo Lo has been such the happiest kid with Grandma around. He really basks in all the attention she gives him, and I love to get a bit of a holiday myself with my mom taking care of that Lo so much. We are keeping ourselves busy, but hopefully I'll make time to post more on the blog than I did last week, since I am quickly falling behind. eek.

Cleaning

We helped get the outside of our church building all spruced up for the springtime a little while back.  We had some cute little helping hands.  Lo Lo picked dandelions again to give to the ladies. 

He swept the sidewalk.

And raked the parking lot.  Didn't you know a parking lot benefits from the occasional raking?  :)

And he placed dry leaves (one at a time) into the trash barrel.  We love our Lo. 

Arbor Day

I think it was Arbor Day a little while back, or at least some sort of observance that caused our local arboretum to have free admission. So we headed there for an afternoon jaunt. It sort of melts my heart when Lo Lo sits down on little ledges, curbs, etc. because it just reminds me how short his legs are. And I think I will miss it when he someday is tall enough to lower himself naturally onto a bench instead of clambering up there with such cute awkwardness. Jerry is severely allergic to Maple tree pollen and most varieties of grass, so perhaps an arboretum wasn't the best place for him to visit. He kept rubbing and holding his nose because it was bothering him with the allergies, and then we noticed Lo Lo was copying:

Isn't this such a lovely scenic place. We wanted a family photo on this bench (below). But there were no people around to take a shot of the three of us. So here is Jerry's initial photo of Lo and me:

...and here is the shot of Jerry using the timer:

Okay, round two went a little better. :)

And in case you were wondering what red colored object Lo Lo has in his hands for those previous couple photos, here is a closeup of his watermelon popsicle. It was made of 100% fruit, and tasted a little odd to me. Frozen watermelon has a strange texture I suppose, and I am looking forward to those days of summer--coming soon!--when the grocers produce section starts overflowing with juicy fresh watermelons.

I suppose since it is an arboretum, we should get a shot of a tree or two. Here is a tree big enough to eat Lo in one bite:

But the favorite pastime of the day had to be picking dandelions. Lo Lo thinks they are glorious floral finds, and delights in doling them out to all the ladies in our neighborhood.

Here he is doing the ASL sign for "flower" as he holds his dandelion:

And I thought his shirt was fitting for the day's journey through the gardens. The shirt says "Exploring Adventure" and is a top Lo Lo picked out all for himself. I've started to let him choose the shirts he wears each day by giving him an option of two different shirts. Usually he grabs for whichever t-shirt has a car or truck printed on it.

The video shows Lo Lo as he noticed a dead fish in the pond. He says "mu mu" which is his lazy way to say the "blub blub" noise of a bubbling fish sound we taught him. Also toward the end of the clip he makes a "buzzing" noise of a bumble bee which is pretty funny.

a rare sight

I am loving some things about where we live. Apparently Ohio is renowned for birdwatching opportunities, and I've seen some interesting birds just by walking out my apartment's front door, including cardinals and other types I've only seen in books before now. Today on our walk, aside from viewing the usual 10-20 Canadian geese, sparrows, and red winged blackbirds, Lo and I saw a wild turkey and its chicks! We stood just a few feet away from this hugest bird. The turkey momma (? it still had a big fan tail, so I'm not sure if it was a girl turkey or a boy?) swayed its head and the chicks scuttled and pecked near the big turkey's feet. How awesome.

I did not have my camera, but this googled photo is what it looked like, only there were taller weeds all around nearly camouflaging the birds from my view.

The Birds

We checked out a movie from our local library recently--a classic Hitchcock film, The Birds. We watch movies these days with headphones on at night after Little goes to bed (we learned the headphone trick after he got wakened a couple times from the noises of our movie watching). So...The Birds. I covered my eyes a lot and Jerry loved the movie too--until the final 5 minutes when we realized it has a most irresponsible ending. Why?? Bah. Anyway, it kept us talking about the movie all week, so maybe that's the point. This week when I walked out to the mailbox with that Lo, we stumbled on a group of geese with their goslings. I hadn't seen the flock until we were nearly on top of them (they were hidden behind some bushes as I came around a corner), so the parent geese felt threatened by my sudden nearness. They leapt and hissed at us. With the birds film fresh in my mind, my heart pounded as I made a hasty retreat.

That duck picture is unrelated to either the movie or goose story, but it gives me the creeps now to look at it. We like to point out animals to Lo though he has yet to show much excitement in them. Must be a later point of development.

Natural Eggs Part 2

My commitment to eating "natural" often leaves me feeling hypocritical. I attempt to avoid the artificial mostly at times when it seems fun. Case in point: coloring Easter eggs. Why buy a PAAS kit at the dollar store when I can experiment with everyday household food items? Last year's attempt left me with some cute little dinosaur eggs, and this year I have a couple...yin yangs? After soaking these eggs in a bowl of beets, fully expecting to get pink or purply loveliness, all I ended up with was mottled, chestnutty brown. Well, that's the fun of Mother Nature. Wholly capricious and artsy in her own way, never one to walk to the drum of modern holiday cheer.

ps. the eggs tasted like beets. Not bad.

Leafpeepers

This past weekend we went on a Sunday afternoon drive along the Mohawk Trail (which I think is in the Berkshires?) and thanks to the expertise of our local buddies Roger and Nieca, we saw some beautiful color. Actually, Roger kept claiming last year was so much better...but since we newcomers didn't know any different, we thought this year was great! Some of the most interesting views happened when we ventured on a mystery little winding road coming home, but we didn't stop for pics on that road. So here are a few photos from the main highway stretch: I made Jerry wear that shirt so he would match the trees. He's such a good sport. He told me, "But your shirt doesn't match any trees." meh. Maternity wear gives me scant options...=)

This valley looked more clear in real life, of course. Coming from a desert upbringing, I am always so amazed at the density of the trees out here on the east coast.

Biker gangs. They have the right idea--it is so much easier to stop and gaze at the foliage when you don't have a big car to worry about parking somewhere.

Note the bare branches in the background. I suppose we were just a few days past peak at this particular area. Actually, the color is best right here in our neighborhood--no driving needed! lol. We are grateful to get to live in Mass. at this time of the year.

They once roamed our neighborhood

This adventure happened a couple weeks back, but as our Labor Day plans to go on a daytrip this weekend were made void by our car needing repairs (again--boo), we are recapping some past fun jaunts around the area.

These are actual fossil footprints embedded in the banks of the Connecticut River. Here, Jerry's right hand is pointing to the index "finger"/"toe?" of a track about 12 inches in length. I am not sure if the print is easily visible in the photo, because--while it looks obvious to me, as I know what to look for--the light was a bit flat this evening. Notice there are four toes. This likely means the track belonged to Otozoum, a large herbivore, depicted in the painting above. Jerry's left hand is pointing to another track, which indicates the stride length of this dinosaur.

The silty banks closer to the water's edge explain why this area is so rich in dinosaur tracks. We had a lovely time enjoying the river view. Also note the house that is about two feet from water's edge.

Roadtrip, Falls, 30 week belly

We love living just hours away from some of the world's most famous sites. Last week my younger brothers flew out to upstate New York with our dad, and Jerry and I drove to meet up with them there for part of their trip. The highlight of our few days with them was a visit to Niagara Falls.



I had never seen a rainbow from beginning to end before (the ends are cut off in the photo, because the bow was too big to capture from our close viewpoint...but trust me--the ends are there and it was breathtaking).

Another favorite part of the falls was an underground "cave" tour to see the water up close. Justin has grown taller since I last saw him--6'4" now, and just sixteen years old. David is doing the "Brandon Smile," to honor our family missionary.
Jerry snapped this belly shot of me (30 weeks) as I tried to face the wall of wind and mist at the base of the falls. So much power in that volume of water--I had no idea it would give me such a thrill to experience it. Afterall, I'd seen other waterfalls before and thought, "what could possibly be that great about Niagara...just a little bigger, that's all." Well, you would have to experience it to understand how fun this site can be.

We also took a few minutes to watch a glassblower make a vase. Jerry and I had never seen it done before, so we felt a good measure of fascination.

Here at the Canadian/United States bridge someone suggested I have the baby right on the border line, so Little Tam would get dual citizenship. Hmmm...maybe we'll stick with our hospital birth center location instead. That concrete's just not as comfortable as it looks.

And I should mention, it was Jerry's first time to visit Canada! I had fun reminiscing about my mission days in that country as we ate ketchup chips and Tim Horton's, got Canadian coins for change from our purchases, and heard a few cute Canadian accents.

The drive there and back was enjoyable for the hours of talking. Jerry was sweet and took the wheel the whole time, so I became officially in charge of doling out snacks. I handed him a tupperware bowl full of chips, and he found it convenient that he could see through the transparent bottom of the bowl to watch the road as he ate. lol.

This roadtrip to NY was a good little vacation, especially as we are always grateful to spend time with family.

Berry Bugs

Another bug story. Sorry for making this my apparent theme for Massachusetts life. I should change the name of the blog, maybe from "Tam Fam" to "Bug Adventures."

Anyway, yesterday a few women from our congregation invited me to pick berries with them. The raspberry patch we found held end-o-season, smallish and hard to obtain fruits, but they tasted delicious enough that I felt pleased with our bounty. The blueberries also have had a hard season, with all the extra rain they've endured, but again, I felt pleased as I brought home a pound of them to freeze and munch later. As I carefully washed each individual berry, I inspected them for signs of insect life. Raspberries especially make me suspicious, because they have crevices and creases galore in which to hide microscopic critters. Sure enough, I found a wriggling worm in one of the raspberries. I am proud to say I tossed that worm out and kept right on washing berries. This morning Sweet Husby and I ate raspberry smoothies, and while I thought of the worm episode off and on, I enjoyed my beverage with nary a gag. Progress. Bugs and I might learn to get along afterall. (that is, if one can make "happy to eat bugs" synonymous with "getting along with bugs.")

Critters

Our current stage of family structure still enables us to be fairly spontaneous. So we made a last-minute, surprise road trip to Boise over this past week to visit with family there. Had a lot of fun getting caught up with the little bros, watching the videos of their roadshow and sports events, talking and laughing lots, etc. Also we learned of dad's newest hobby: relocating squirrel friends who decided to burrow in the attic. Jerry really wanted to get the catching process on video, but squirrel #9 just proved too wily. We did get to watch the release of #8, after we drove him in his little "havahart" cage miles away from our house--over the river, through the woods, and behind the cemetery/Jewish synagogue. When my dad lifted the cage door, our poor little squirrel friend bolted so fast we didn't even see which tree he ended up hiding in.

To me, ducks are no longer half as cute as squirrels. Here is my story of how my duck disillusionment began: When we fed the ducks about a week or two ago, I witnessed an intraspecies attack. One "adolescent" sized duck got jumped by the rest of the flock. Biting, chasing, body slamming--the flock was horrifically vicious to their outcast. So I ran into the fray and, in a spirit of moral outrage, kicked the attacking ducks away.

Flipflop feet. Jerry got worried for the welfare of my little toes. In spite of my help, the weakling duck still got chased into the bushes and I have no doubt she is dead at this moment. If you watch the video, turn your computer screen to 100% brightness and contrast (it was evening and our light was bad). Also, Jerry claims the commentary on the video is his favorite part, so you might want to turn on the volume.

Anyway, the ducklings were not so charming after I saw what mob violence their parents were capable of. But for anybody who still wants to look at killer ducks in baby form, here is one pic Jerry took that is semi-cute.

Note this duckling on the log is a fluffy yellow color. The BYU pond has a lot of domestic breeds interspersed with the wild mallards. Maybe that's where all the warfare comes from--culture clashes. Or it could have been due to the stale Froot Loops we tossed in the water (sugar makes me irritable, at least--though I'm not sure what it does for ducks).

Going Natural...or so I thought

Hello, Springtime. Today is gorgeous; I went on a little walk this morning and did my scripture study while reclining on the lawn. ESL classes ended this week, I think, unless someone else plans to do it during the summer.

I recently colored Easter eggs and decided to use non-store-bought dyes. Sweet Husby is usually game to go along with American holiday traditions, but didn't join me for this one because he had a lot of homework. So I only did two eggs to start and hope that maybe we'll both do more later this week.

Anyway, back to the natural dyes: I started by trying to boil the eggs in spinach, but they just turned a pale brownish yellow, even after I soaked them in the fridge for a few hours. So then I tried adding some curry to the spinach soup and it did add a few yellow/brown speckles to the eggs--but I still felt a little miffed about the utter pastel coloring it gave overall. Removing one egg, I started over with it by using a cold dye mixture of red grape juice, red wine vinegar, and chokecherry syrup. The resulting deep scarlet hue was glorious to behold, until I read the ingredients on the red wine vinegar and found out it had Red #40 in it. So much for going natural. To add insult to injury, I dried the egg by hand instead of patiently letting air do its job... all the deep red color came off in my napkin, and I ended up with a muted earth tone purply-pink as it was. This is the bottom egg in the picture. The top egg got to soak a bit longer in the spinach-curry soup, and then I finally used blueberries to give a nice marbly blue/brown effect. This egg resembles a dinosaur egg to me, and I like how it turned out.

Other natural dyes I would like to try: turmeric ( to get a deep golden yellow); onion skins (a different shade of gold/yellow); purple cabbage (strangely enough, reportedly results in blue).

Weekend Report

"For there is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are.." -2 Nep. 2:14

Stewart Falls This past weekend we had an Honor's writing retreat up at Aspen Grove. Our own paradise, just a 30 minute drive from our apartment. The maples and aspens had just started edging into their autumn glory.