Eagle Heights Community Garden

Next week is “In the Garden” week at Aurora’s preschool, so we got a head start by walking around the Eagle Heights Community Garden (No. 11).  Last year at this time, the garden was lush and full of green leafy vegetables and lettuces, even the tomato plants had started to flower, but this year’s long cold spring meant we mostly looked at flowers.

We peaked at people’s plots and spotted creeping strawberries, leafy rhubarb, raspberries bushes and other yummy, sweet treats.  We found early green leaves from potatoes, onions, and beets. We picked weeds growing in the paths so that we could taste the gently bitter dandelion greens and smell the cool, crisp aroma of freshly crushed mint leaves. 

We retrieved Dad, who had been working hard in our own plot, and Adeline, who had been napping hard in our own plot, and spread a blanket in the shade for a peanut butter and banana sandwich picnic lunch.  We watched the tree swallows swoop across the gardens as the cowbirds picked seeds from the freshly worked dirt.  

As the season progresses, it will be fun to watch the dirt kinds of fruits and vegetables grow to maturity.  The garden is a great place to see orioles, cranes, and hawks.  And we know of no place that has better mud puddles for splashing after a good rain!

McKee Farms Park

When we first moved to Madison, everyone talked of this fancy park over in Fitchburg.  “Dream Park” they called it.  They said children could be entertained for hours and hours.  They said that there were slides and bridges and tunnels and swings and turrets.  They said it was the place to meet other children and parents.

They did not over sell.   They did, however, tell me the wrong name, which is why it took me weeks to find it.  “Dream Park” is actually the Kids Crossing Playground at Fitchburg’s McKee Farms Park (No. 10).  If anything, they did not talk it up enough!

At this park, Aurora drives wooden cars and trucks, pretends to be various animals in their play barn, and crawls about in their tots maze.  She plays music on their chimes, bounces on their tires, and balances on their beams. 

She plays there happily just her and her sister.  Or she might make friends with any number of children.  Or we will meet a friend there for a playdate, and I will watch them chase each other through the elaborate wooden structure. 

They place is so huge it rarely feels overcrowded, but on occasion we will steal away to the tiny secret playground where Aurora will pretend to ride their triceratops and convince new friends to go down the double slide with her. 

From time to time, often after snack, we will leave the playground all together and opt to run and chase in the giant open grass fields or perhaps treat the volleyball courts as giant and boxes. 

Regardless of what we play or how long we spend there, Aurora never wants to go home!

 Adeline likes it too.

Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery

Rainy day + looking for something low key + hey, this is right next to dad’s office = perfect time to visit the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery’s Town Center (No. 9).  Actually, this upcoming weekend would be the perfect time because they are hosting a super awesome interactive exhibit with free ice-cream called Babcock, Biofuels & Bovines, but we are out of town for Dad’s 100K race. 

At Discovery, I attempted to teach Aurora about aquaponics.   Aurora attempted to teach her sister the word “fish.”  Adeline attempted to give the bream a heart attack by beating on the glass.   Then we looked at root cells though a microscope.

We oohed  and aahed over the water walls that chimed and lit up based on the Fibonacci sequence.   

We found fossils in the stone tiles on the floor.

We snacked, played, and posed in front of the Mesozoic garden.

Adeline closely examined the penrose tiling of the forum’s cherry wood floor.  Aurora ran round and round her as she enjoyed the different sounding echoes of her footsteps.  

For the grand finale, we sat in fancy red chairs and watched a train pass behind the water clock.   

Overhead Projector

Ever since the shadow puppet show I had been daydreaming about having my own overhead projector.  I schemed. I scanned the internet for sale sites.  I brainstormed all the things I could do with the girls “if only I had an overhead projector.”

Then there it was.  The exact make and model I had been so badly wanting .  It was covered in dust and sitting in a pile of junk by the side of the road.  Surely it had a broken fan or at least a burnt out bulb, but no!  I was the owner of my very own overhead projector.  Yippie, hooray!

It entertained children like a dream, even better than I could imagine.  I tested it on three itty bitties, and I have never seen them play together so well, stay so focused on one activity together, or require such little attention from me. 

Over and over again, they rode on trains.  They picked and ate apples.  They sprinkled giant juice on each other and grew bigger and bigger and bigger!  Ahhhhhh!  They made hand shadow birds and bunnies.  They climbed trees.  They visited the Louvre, caught birds, and scaled tall buildings. 

So much laughing, so much jumping, so much giggling.  Oh, I loved every minute.  And all this with no prep work from me.  I can’t wait to see what Aurora and I come up with when we really start brainstorming.  

Seashell Bath

To make a seashell bath, simply line the tub with cockles, welchs, lettered olives, moon snails, oyster and any other shells in your collection.  Ta da!

As a bonus, use a beach towel for drying.   

Wheat Grass

10,000 Book Challenge

Aurora loves books.  She devours them.  We read and reread them over and over and over.  If given the chance, she will go through a dozen at a single sitting.  After last week’s library book sale when I came home with two bags full, she sat with me for nearly two hours; we read twenty-eight stories that day.

I leave books all over the house.  There are two that stay permanently in the car.  Comics live in the bathroom.  She has a shelf in the living room, a row in the office, and her own bookshelf has long overflowed and now is working its way around the perimeter of her room.  At any given time I have out twenty-five or more from the library.  We read together while we wait for breakfast, she reads to herself at quiet time, her father reads her a new three plus an Aesop’s fable every night, and then randomly she will ask for stories throughout the day.  At preschool, her teachers tell me she immediately heads to the book corner.   Two to eight times a week, we will attend library classes where she will hear one to five more.  All this and I have never seen her reach her capacity.  The only thing that trumps books is time with friends.  Friends always win.

Recently, we have signed up for Verona library’s 1000 Books Before Kindergarten challenge.  It sounds like a ton, but if you read three books a day to your child, you will achieve your goal in less then the year.   If you live in Dane County, I highly recommend you sign your youngin’ up for the program as it costs nothing and your children get prizes for every hundred books they read.  If you live elsewhere, I still recommend you take the challenge, as Aurora’s own reading has nearly doubled since we started. 

And if you are a little over the top, as I am, you may consider using this as inspiration to start your own personal 10,000 Books Before Kindergarten challenge.  At first I thought this was silly ambitious, but Aurora is one pace to finish way, way ahead of time.  She is so awesome.  

Babcock Hall

To celebrate yesterday’s 80° temperatures, Aurora and I visited Babcock Hall (Free Thing to Do in Madison, No. 8), where the University makes its super yummy, delicious ice-cream and various other dairy products. 

Once inside the building, we followed the cow print splotches up to the observation window.  According to Aurora, it was very important that we step on each one.  Up the stairs and passed a giant photograph of cheese, we stepped up to the window to the shiny, steel creamy equipment.  I was impressed with the thoughtful questions she asked about the process and the equipment.  I was impressed with how long we stood looking and talking about ice-cream/butter/cheese making when there was ice cream to be had downstairs.

Eventually, Aurora too heard the siren call of the frozen goodness and asked if she could have chocolate ice cream.  And for the first time ever, she requested a cone.  My baby truly has grown into a little girl. 

(So, only the observation deck is free; the ice cream is a buck fifty, which is a mighty fine deal when you consider the generous portion of rich chocolaty deliciousness.)