Gas prices too high you say?

In our effort to save resources, money, and our planet, we have been walking everywhere. We only use our car once or twice a week and as soon as we get another bicycle it wont even be that often. As a result our insurance policy has downgraded us to the status of "Pleasure" drivers.

Strawberry Fields Forever

I suspected the "weeds" in our yard were wild strawberry plants based on my childhood memories, but since they never fruited I became unsure. Today as we waved good-bye to our friends I noticed a little red spot on the side of the driveway and voila we began our strawberry hunt all over the yard. We found 8 ripe tiny juicy strawberries and bunch that are unripe to keep us hunting for the rest of the week. A perfect celebration of Summer.

The Washroom

So our washing machine stopped working and I haven't figured out how to fix it quite yet... in the meantime there's nothing quite like hand washing laundry for 6 people. I suppose this IS what I asked for. I've always wanted to become more independent and sustainable! We started out in the bathroom this morning and moved it outside as it warmed up.

Animation Creation

Friday we spent the day animating still pictures with free animation software. Everyone loved it. We downloaded the software "animator 9", took a bunch of pictures of something in the same place but different positions such as a ladybug toy or the kids, then we uploaded the images to the computer and then opened them with animator. It plays them in a loop so it keeps going. We put a song on itunes while it played for added dramatic effect. as soon as they finished one animation they ran off to do another. It's awesome to see them so excited.

Mars Loves Chickens

Chicken Coup De Ville

We Finally built the chicken coup! They are VERY happy to be out of the bedroom, as you can see they are a little big to still be indoors.

Bliss

Extreme mini-vanning

Star played catcher in his baseball game today, he was stoked. we noticed while at the game that there are trails that lead to the brewery and some other places, we shall put that on the list of things to do soon. we LOVE Maine, especially because there are trails everywhere. after the game we headed to pick up someone's old rotted picnic table they didn't want anymore. we went with tools and no real idea how we were going to get it home. we spent an hour and a half disassembling the table and tucking the extra long pieces of rotted wood into our minivan. as we drove home we passed this place that has all kinds of stuff and furniture everywhere, it's the kind of place you drive by a million times but never stop cause the deals are so good and they have lots of stuff you didn't know you needed and end up buying cause you just can't imagine life without it. so today they had this highchair on the side of the road with their other roadside furniture and it was the exact highchair that C has been dreaming of for Baby Moon who is ready for her own seat at the table, it's pink too, that yucky creepy soft pink, it was perfect. 10 minutes after driving past it we turned around and bought it.
Sun has been playing and creating with big legos all day, he even brought them the the game, he really enjoys his imagination.
at this moment Captain Mars is smearing lip balm all over his chin and neck for some unknown reason, he has a big ploppy greasy beard, he's really concentrating on what he's doing, oh and he's skateboarding in place while he does it.
it is lovely day that shall continue with a walk to the lake and continuous joy