Posted in Uncategorized on January 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »
I am swooning over the possibility of moving our family to Ireland. The quaint, historic villages and cycle-friendly bucolic wonderlands are tantalizing my imagination. In daydreams, I am carried off to greener pastures where my girls are donning rubber boots and chasing chickens into an ancient stone barn. Here is one of the images fueling my pipe dream.
From the Website http://www.docbrown.info/docspics/irishscenes/ispage13.htm
Posted in Parenting on January 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Another skiff of snow last night, so we decided to forgo park plans and stay inside. The girls spent the morning painting with their new Stockmar watercolors. It is remarkable to watch the colors feather, blend, and evolve before your eyes. Below are some photos of their brushstrokes.
Red and Blue
Experience Purple
Quick Paint
Notice that the girls only had red and blue paint to work with, but they both experienced purple and how it is created. The theory is that they experience this through their painting and ‘learn’ it in a real and meaningful way, not by someone teaching them.
Posted in Bicycle Lifestyle, Parenting on January 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Photos from our first training ride up the hogback near Horsetooth reservoir.
The whole fam
Clara was out for most of the ride
Hold up
Clara really enjoyed the view
Eva, on the other hand, loved riding in the 'mountains'
Uncle Kev 'Tagged' Along
Posted in Parenting on January 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »
I adore unproductive mornings. My tendency is to be an unstructured mama, but as I read more about Waldorf philosophies, I’m learning the importance of rhythm. So to appease my love for unstructured free time, perhaps we should include ‘dossing’ in the daily rhythm. A little freedom within the structure. I first heard the term ‘dossing’ in Australia. When writing today’s post, I looked it up. Here is what the Free Dictionary has to say:
doss [dɒs] Brit slang
n
4. a task or pastime requiring little effort making a film is a bit of a doss
Here are a few photos of our daily dossing.
Clara, cribbing it
My Brother's Train Engineer's Cap
Figuring out how the blinds function
Posted in Bicycle Lifestyle, Parenting on January 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »
We recently met Mark and his son Noah at the Bike Co-op. As both families were new to Fort Fun, had young children, and had mutual cycling interests, we decided to meet for a velo play date. Mark initiated our first e-mail correspondence with the subject ‘Friendless in Fort Collins’, an alliteration I rather liked. The velo play date included meeting at a local park, followed by a ride around the city.
Here are some photos of the park portion of the date:
Noah, weeee!
Noah is a happy little tike
Clara adores swinging
Eva, a serious rider
Next we loaded up the bikes for a ride on some of the Fort’s 30+ miles of bike trails. Mark also has Xtracycle, but as a free radical attachment his Surly Cross Check. We were a cycling advertisement for Surly, Xtracycle and Chariot carriers.
Noah, Clara and Eva in Chariots
The 2 Marks with their 3 kids, 3 Xtracycles, 3 Surlys, and 2 Chariots
Posted in Bicycle Lifestyle, Parenting on January 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Day time temperatures have now entered the 50’s, offering great opportunities for nap-time rides. Thanks to Tom a.k.a. ‘Silver Fox’ for assisting the lackadaisical City workers in clearing the bike intersections. At 76, he is part of what makes the cycling community in Fort Collins so unique.
Yesterday we checked out a rental house near the intersection of Taft and Drake which is a bucolic anomaly in the middle of suburbia. Eva met and loved up two friendly mares, one who particularly liked the smell of her orange shoes. Clara was more reticent, and asked to return to the bike instead of approaching the 1000 lb. equine.
Posted in Parenting on January 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Recently, we met the McGraths, another family of bicycle enthusiasts in Fort Collins. Check out their touring adventures here
With all this talk of bicycle touring, the girls are preparing for the warmer months by camping in the living room with their dolls. Here a few photos of their pretend adventures.
Putting babies to bed in tent
Couch tent
Mama Cyclehiser 