South Dakota!

I have to say--we kind of feel like we have this travel thing down. As it turns out, traveling with an 11-year-old, an 8-year-old and a 6-year-old can be both epic and strangely relaxing. Case in point: for the first time on a road trip since, oh, about 9 1/2 years ago, we didn't haul a small potty along in the back. And didn't regret it! Freedom!

I've been prepping for this trip ever since May-ish, when we spent a couple evenings piecing it together. Although I'd heard of lots of people traveling to South Dakota, and I'd had a nice time visiting as a kid, and so had Matt, I found it hard to believe that there would be much to actually do there. After all, how long can you really stare at giant stone heads? (As it turns out, about 2 hours--more on that later!)

The very house where Laura spent an
entire winter! Naomi found it very
challenging to pose normally during
the trip.

Google to the rescue. Despite my misgivings, I was sold on the trip even before my search reminded me that Laura Ingalls Wilder had also spent time in South Dakota, and then showed me that her homestead was not all that far from where we'd be passing through anyway!!! It does not get better than that this side of the Atlantic.

My mind raced into action, and Matt, knowing he wasn't going to stop this train, let me run with my idea. After all, he knew that some solid at snagging respectable fish would be in store for him later in the trip. In chatting with bubbling over to a friend who'd also spent time in De Smet, I learned that you can stay in covered wagons on Laura's actual homestead!!! On the phone, like, seconds later (okay, not quite), I found out that the larger wagons were already booked. Would I be content with a 3-person wagon? How could I not. Sorry, Matt, but you're voted out of the wagon. He seemed resigned to his fate because, again, he stood no chance of stopping this train. He also didn't seem to harbor the same dreams that I did, crazy enough.

I spent the next three months reading the Laura series to the girls, or listening to it with them on audiobook, hoping to at least land Laura in South Dakota before we did. Naomi hadn't heard it, and Elise had forgotten a lot. We're still not finished, because we're reading other books, too--but we accomplished our goal, plus Naomi fell in love with the whole series just like her sisters did.

Fast forward to our actual trip. We began our drive on my birthday! Which we had fortunately celebrated earlier, as nothing much fun actually happened that Friday--although the anticipation of staying where Laura walked was pretty much enough. We left after lunch (so Matt could work a full morning), began counting out-of-state license plates, listened to The Long Winter most of the way, arrived at a fairly nice hotel, watched Animal Planet (okay, that was fun--but I had to squeeze in an emergency trip to Target during that time) and went to bed. Meh.

Elise and Naomi both got
to drive this covered wagon
for a bit!

The next morning, though, we pointed out familiar sites from the Laura books as we made our way through the stark countryside to her local digs. "Look, girls, a slough!" "Look, a train, along the very track they were trying to clear during the long winter!" Fortunately, I learned how to pronounce slough early on. And they were eating it up, the dear girls.

We began with the town sites, and were able to explore several places where Laura actually lived, or that were built by Pa, or that she walked past every day in town. We saw a few artifacts and found a couple souvenirs. Then we headed to the actual homestead, past the cottonwoods actually planted by the family when they first settled on it, and eventually made our way to a barn with kittens.

KITTENS!!! There are definitely more
pictures of kittens where this came
from.

KITTENS!!! Six of them, and Elise named them all. S'mores, Oreo, Snorey, Lelah, and all the rest--I've lost track, although she hasn't. And here we could've stayed the rest of the trip, and the girls would've considered it all time well spent. As it was, Matt, occasionally accompanied by Kalina, worked on his lassoing skills with the help of a wooden calf and I alternated between watching the girls with the kittens, petting the kittens myself (soooo cute!) and watching my husband go all western on me. Yes, he did actually manage to snag that calf a couple times. In the moments we were able to wrest the girls away from the kittens, they took a pony cart ride, drove a covered wagon, made jump ropes, explored replicas of buildings Laura might have known, and eventually headed for our home-sweet-covered wagon for a campfire dinner and s'mores. If we hadn't been trying to live out of a cooler we would've had cornbread, bacon and beans--but one can only go so far.

It was cozy, but doable for one night!

The only bummer was the wind. The really strong, gusty, constant, chilly wind. That never stopped, all night long, prompting me to lay awake for at least part of it wondering whether the wagon would:
1.) Tip over
2.) Roll away
3.) Give in
4.) Freeze

So it was an interesting night. The girls all shared the barely full-sized bed, by choice, leaving me the mattress on the floor. Which really worked out fine, as they all seemed to sleep. I'll admit that the whole experience was a bit less magical than I had initially worked my mind into a frenzy over ("And it'll be the day after my birthday, no less!!!"), but it was still a neat thing to have done. A little less wind would've been great.

The one plus side of the wind, however, was that the girls quickly decided their long hair (no one wants a haircut, we're not a weird homeschool family or anything--or at least not just due to long hair) needed to be in braids. And Elise and Naomi had chosen somewhat old-fashioned-looking dresses that morning, completely randomly as far as I know, in perfect Laura and Carrie colors (which you'd understand if you'd read the books and analyzed them as thoroughly as my girls have). They ended up totally looking like they could've almost actually stepped off a real covered wagon a hundred years ago. Almost. Later in the trip, Kalina joined the two-braid bandwagon, and it continued until the very last day. Fun!

After a breakfast eaten huddled on the slightly calmer side of the wagon, lest it all blow away, and a very tearful leave-taking of the dear kittens, we finished exploring the property and then continued to head west.

Happy birthday, National
Parks! And thanks for the
cake and ice cream!

"Mommy, I miss the kiiitttteennnnsss!" Poor girl(s). Seriously, we could've left them there and picked them up later...but, onward!

A couple hours later, we were pulling into Badlands National Park. On the official birthday of our National Parks! And the present was for us: free admission! Feeling a bit like we were crashing a party, as we hadn't actually known about the occasion, let alone planned around it, we euphorically pulled off at the first scenic overlook. My fear of heights kicked in just as Elise's love of off-trailing ramped up, but as she's a fairly sensible girl, we quickly settled into an easy dynamic of my setting limits and her nosing up to them, but never edging over. I think she instinctively knew what was at stake: not being allowed to explore the vastest, strangest, most climbable wilderness she'd ever known.

Little mountain goat!

Kalina, who never sees a beautiful scene she doesn't want to capture in a photograph, snapped pictures using any camera available. This continued throughout the trip, even when she had left her camera in the car: "Quick, I need your phone!" As though the hill could simply disappear in a poof of smoke.

Naomi worried about rattlesnakes. This also continued throughout the trip. Apparently, they worried about her, too, because we never saw one (in the wild). Naomi also admirably said an unemotional no to at least 2 different stuffed prairie dogs before finding one she was in love with. This is a grand step up from last year's teary gift-shop runs.

We meandered through the park, hoping out of the van every so often to explore, and then hopping back in just as eagerly when the oven-like heat and nearly overpowering sunlight became unbearable. We saw several groupings of bighorn sheep along the way. Our last stop in the park was a prairie dog town--supposedly the biggest? But we're still confirming that.

If you sit long enough, they'll get used
to you!

The prairie dogs let us creep close to them, and especially a larger fellow who seemed to be the prime watchdog who, as we learned later, could be bribed for food. [We didn't feed any wild animals, but we sheepishly appreciated those who had in the past...except that time I got really annoyed by it....]

We enjoyed the Badlands so much that we didn't leave until dinnertime. And it happened that the only convenient dinner stop was...drum roll...Wall Drug! Which was actually more tasteful, and less tasty, than I'd expected.

We then aimed the car for Rapid City and arrived at our hotel as the sun was setting. We looked forward to spending three whole nights in one place.

We liked this sign. :)

Still on central time, we rose and shone bright and early the next morning, but still felt rested. We rubbed shoulders with the retirees who must have been on a guided tour, and who kindly gave up tables in the breakfast room so we could sit and complimented us on our well-behaved, beautiful kids. "It's early." I wanted to respond, but I know when a compliment should just be received and not protested, and besides they are quite beautiful and relatively well-behaved kids for large portions of family vacations. And most of life in general.

At our first hotel breakfast, the second day of our trip, the girls raided the Fruit Loops (except Kalina, who's a die-hard waffle fan) and filled up on them before I could say "protein." This time, I insisted on some healthy options so they wouldn't run out of energy to do anything but argue an hour later. The girls dutifully doctored up bowls of oatmeal and swallowed down eggs and yogurt before digging into the requisite pastries and, yes, more Fruit Loops--after all, it was vacation. Except Kalina, who's a die-hard waffle fan and who, at 11, has finally grown a big enough appetite to willingly eat eggs and such. The breakfast at this place was particularly varied, fairly healthy and delicious, so we were all happy campers, healthy food notwithstanding. Even the orange juice seemed real!

Elise totally bonded with
the super-old tortoise.

As most of us were bursting with excitement about Reptile Gardens, and it opened at 8:30, we headed that way first. I admit I was expecting a cheesy tourist trap. Which I'm sure it was back in the 80s, but nowadays it's actually super fun. Even the endless cages of snakes were labeled better than most zoos, making for somewhat entertaining reading even for those of us who aren't Matt.

We began with the shows, in the proper order of least exciting (birds), to more exciting (snakes--with a handler who even hung out with venomous ones!), to crazy-exciting (crocodiles and alligators). I'm not sure how much was show, and how much real peril the handler was in with the crocs, but it was a stitch to see the animals all creeping up on the guy while he's "wrestling" one of the specimens. As he put it, "For some reason everyone wants to see me get bitten by a crocodile."

After a quick cooler lunch, we headed to a small museum of paleontology. Elise, down on museums the whole trip, sulked through the whole thing but was impressed by a few things in spite of herself. Naomi, taking her cues from Elise, asked where the gift shop was. And Kalina, tired from the big morning but engaged, enjoyed herself among all the local fossils and impressive rocks.

Can you guess the nursery
rhyme?

Then, as a change of pace, we headed to Storybook Island, an old park with large models of storybook places. Naomi brightened immediately, especially when she saw that the first characters we came to were out of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, a story she particularly loves. We made it across the troll's bridge unscathed, and then wandered the large area, hopping from Cinderella's carriage to Santa's house (which she especially adored), with lots of stops in between. She made two new friends, and even the older girls had a nice time.

Back at the hotel, we ate a super-simple supper and then took the kids to the pool. Which had a nice-sized water slide! Which the older girls (let alone Naomi) were terrified of, despite the fact that other kids their size were enjoying it.
Elise: "But Mommy, they're not our family! I want someone from my family to go on it first!" Apparently no one else can be trusted?
Long story short, once we forced them on it, they adored it and wanted to do nothing else. Moral of the story: your parents are usually right, kids, sorry.

And we missed the kittens, by the way.

The next day, we tackled another potential favorite: Bear Country USA. Naomi conquered her fear of wolves-right-outside-the-car, bears-right-outside-the-car and mountain-lions-in-a-cage-just-outside-the-car while Kalina snapped pictures every 5 feet. Having again arrived right after opening, we were at the park during feeding time. The highlight (for me, anyway): a tussle between two black bears and three wolves over a hunk of meat. No one was harmed in the skirmish.

After we drove through the expansive animal cages, we walked through the small zoo of smaller animals, the highlight of which was the bear cub cage. The cubs enjoyed sucking on each others' ears, to the delight of our kids.

It was at this point the Naomi finally found the perfect stuffed prairie dog souvenir! It even chirps! We were proud of her for holding out.

Where's my gumball?

After this, we realized we had plenty of time to visit Mount Rushmore. We began with pizza in Keystone, where Elise won a $1 bill out of a gumball machine. What she really wanted, however, was a gumball, so the kind waiter, who'd never seen anyone win money in his two years working at the place, gave her 4 quarters for her dollar and soon Elise was happily chewing. She's saving her other quarters for additional gumballs.

We were properly awed by Mount Rushmore, and especially since Matt had packed a couple pairs of binoculars. The visitor center was closed for remodeling, but we were able to walk the trail that leads nearly to the base of the mountain (or whatever it is--the girls questioned whether it was really a mountain or not), which the girls much preferred to a museum anyway. We were able to catch views from various angles, plus climb a whole ton of steps. We also made it just in time, without even trying, to a ranger talk at the Sculptor Studio. It was a nice visit but, well, once you've seen it you've seen it.

One of the many vantage
points along the
Presidential Trail

Since we'd only spent two hours at Mount Rushmore, the afternoon was still relatively young. Elise pushed the hotel and pool, but Matt and I really wanted to make the very most of our time, knowing things would be a little more chill at Custer. So we hit up a museum that gave some history and context to the area. The museum offered the kids a scavenger hunt--one for younger kids and another that challenges even adults. As there were only two easy booklets left for the younger kids, Kalina bravely took on the more difficult of the two. They were informed that if they completed the booklet and handed it back in, they'd receive a turtle pin.

While Kalina was motivated by the idea of gathering information that stumped many grownups, and Naomi's box-checking tendencies got her through, Elise was totally after that pin. Although she remained grumpy throughout at the affront of heading to a museum instead of the pool, she quickly filled in the answers for each room and pestered me to let her move ahead to the next one and, finally, visit the desk for her pin.

Naomi happily bounced from museum toy station to museum toy station, desperately in need of quiet play time to process everything we'd been up to the past couple days, and filled in her booklet on the way. Kalina enjoyed the Native American games as she puzzled through her answers with some, but not too much help from Matt and I. In the end, they each got their pin, even though Kalina (and Matt, and I) failed to find the answer to one question. I'm pretty sure the guy who checked her work didn't either, though, as there was no, "Oh, this one is found in the _____ room, and the answer is...." Just silence. And a well-earned turtle pin.

We're in a mine cart! Except
the one who worried it'd be
too tippy!

Finally, it was time to enjoy another super-simple-supper and some pool time!

On Wednesday, we checked out and headed further into the Black Hills, roughly on our way to Custer State Park. Our first stop was a gold mine, where we were just in time for a tour. We learned that the whole mine was dug by only two men, over the course of 32 years. The fun tour guide let us take our picture in a mine cart. That was brought in for the purpose of taking pictures.

Maybe this pan!

We panned for gold, however, we're pretty sure a lot of people had done the same thing ahead of us. We found the gold stocked in our pan (plus in the second pan the nice tour guide gave us for free), and then maybe a little more.... But we could totally see the pull of gold panning.

Ned, or Norm. Maybe, being a lone
male, he enjoys some company?

After another cooler lunch, we turned our car toward Custer State Park. We found a herd of bison right past the visitor center, and then our lovely cabin. Once settled, we headed to a high lookout and a short hike before dinner. Afterward, the girls and I walked to see the horses while Matt handled dishes. On our way back, we were startled, to say the least, at the sight of a bison meandering just past our cabin! Having been instructed to stay 75 yards away from bison at the visitor center, I considered my options: duck inside another cabin for safety, back slowly away, or take a photo. I ended up snapping a picture. Lots of other people were outside gawking, and a bystander informed me that the restaurant staff had named the bison (either Ned or Norm), and he wasn't a problem. I still kept some distance but, fortunately, he wandered past fairly quickly and it was soon safe for us to return to the cabin.

The famous "needles" of Custer State
Park.

Next morning, we decided to tackle a relatively difficult, but well-reviewed hike up to the "needles" area of the park. We made it to the top with a cooler bag (thanks, Matt!), and picnicked and explored at the top. Afterward, we saw snow-white mountain goats in precarious positions, and then headed to the lake.

Kalina caught it all by herself!

When Matt sees a lake, he finds it very hard not to fish. We made one loop hiking around before he tossed in a line, and when he did, so did Kalina and Elise. Elise soon became more committed to the crayfish she kept hauling in (44 total--although some were recatches), but Kalina actually caught several trout! Naomi, who still desperately needed low-key playtime, delighted herself in endless rounds of hide-and-seek with me and occasionally Kalina, and then endless rounds of rock-paper-scissors with me and occasionally Kalina, and finally creating pets and a little doll out of pine cones and pine needles.

Naomi's pine-cone critter.

That evening we enjoyed a campfire and s'mores; however, Kalina was feeling out of sorts so we stuck close to the cabin. She and I thoroughly enjoyed watching (most of) The Parent Trap, while Matt took a walk to see the horses with the younger girls. They also invented their own hammock game, which made absolutely no sense to Kalina when they tried to explain it to her the next day. You had to be there.

It was very difficult to keep Elise from
running right up and hugging these
guys. Honestly, I could relate. They
were sweet, but not tame--and we
probably should've stayed in the car!

Rain and clouds greeted us the next morning, so we tried driving the Wildlife Loop to see if we could catch any bison enjoying the dampness (do they like such a thing?) We had some luck, only because Matt intrepidly took a gravel road towards a small herd. Shortly after, the skies cleared and we went to another lake. Matt fished...a lot.... We rented a canoe and a kayak to explore the lake and got a lovely view of two bison resting on the beach right in front of the playground. We'd learned that bison can swim, but still felt pretty safe in the water. As Kalina and I turned our kayak back later to check them out one last time before handing it in, we noticed two park rangers walking up with gun-like contraptions, who then proceeded to shoot the bison. We had to ask. It turns out, they had shot paintballs at the creatures, marking them with green bug repellent that should help them stay healthy. The bison calmly meandered away. We grew suspicious of the 75-yard rule.

Typical buffalo jam.

Later, while fishing continued to happen, Naomi and I checked out the playground. She invited several of her friends from home and took them on various trips and adventures. It was so nice to "see" them again. Kalina caught more trout, and Elise grew very upset that she only pulled in 2 crayfish the whole time. What a waste!

Can we get a kitten, by the way?

Naomi was wary of the burros, and
rightly so. She also insisted on wearing
a hodgepodge of jammies, including
her tall, rainbow socks that are actually
different sizes because I matched them
wrong when I did laundry. But look at
the cute burro!!

That evening, we attempted the Wildlife Loop again, having been told most of the animals are active around 7:00 p.m. We found and mingled with the famous "begging burros," and also got ourselves stuck in a traditional "buffalo jam." We were glad we weren't among those riding motorcycles because, yikes, those creatures are large!

Our last morning in the park we decided to attempt another strenuous climb to the top of a rock tower. The hike was relatively easy until it wasn't, at the very last bit. We struggled through and over various large rock formations--or at least Matt and I did. The girls seemed to have very little trouble but, then again, they weren't carrying a backpack and a nice camera they had no interest in banging off a rock. Kalina helped Naomi considerably, too--sweetly coaching and encouraging her every step. Although Naomi didn't come across as scared, I'm not sure she would've made it up with Kalina's constant presence empowering and guiding her.

On top of the world!

Look how steep! And
what's on the other side?
Emptiness???

The final stretch was a fairly steep scramble up a rock face. Not doing well with heights, I volunteered to wait with the stuff. Until I couldn't stand missing out, and joined everyone in the bid for the top. It had a legitimate flag, which Elise wanted to pin her turtle pin to (I just wasn't quite okay with her going as close to the edge as the flag was, though). Fortunately, the space was large enough that I didn't have to be paranoid at every second. We saw the needles area we'd picnicked in a couple days prior, and also the back of Mount Rushmore. And we all felt very proud. Elise jogged much of the way back to the trailhead.

Elise caught a turtle in
addition to her crayfish.

We returned to a lake for more fishing, and then to the Wildlife Loop for one more look at local animals. We were rewarded with a great view of some antelope, and also a couple elk.

The 11+ hour drive home was made with only three stops and mostly good attitudes. We enjoyed different scenery, our audiobooks, the saved-for-the-long-haul snacks and yes, some screentime.

We still miss the kittens, though.

And here's the trip by the numbers:
Total meals eaten out: 4
Fast food meals: 1
Nights we had cereal for dinner: 2
State license plates found: 48 (we never found Vermont or Hawaii)
Canadian license plates found: 5--most more than once
Journal entries written: 27, plus Elise's diary
Band-Aids: 2
Trips to the grocery store: 1 (the first night in doesn't count as groceries)
Loads of laundry run: 0
Fraction of clothes we brought but didn't use: 1/4 (not bad, considering we were clearly in the cool mornings/evenings, hot days season)
Rainy days: 1/2
Bed spaces for 3 girls, most nights: 2
Pictures of cats: At least 30
Price paid for a loaf of bread at Custer: $7.49 plus tax (better than McDonald's, though, right??)

The girl in the mirror

Naomi fed each of three bunny
statues a carrot when we left.

Did you know, there's actually a fourth child at our house? Her name is Emily, and she lives in the mirror. Usually the full-length one in the master bathroom, and she likes to make her appearances when Naomi comes to visit me as I'm hanging up laundry or brushing my teeth.

Emily is about Naomi's age and size, and she and Naomi always seem to be wearing the same outfit. Maybe they call each other? She lives in a house just like ours--in fact, she once gave Naomi a tour. Emily's mother, who also sometimes appears in the mirror, bears a striking resemblance to me. Her name is Katie. Emily and Naomi like to chat with each other, but mostly they like to run races. Naomi will back up to the very back of the (abnormally large) bathroom, count to three, and take off at top speed! As she passes the mirror, she'll notice that Emily is running right beside her. The race ends at the bed. Sometimes the girls only run a couple races, and other times Naomi brings in prizes (stuffed animals), and each race one or the other girl manages to edge out the other for a microscopically narrow win. Fortunately, Emily always seems delighted with whichever prize Naomi doesn't have her eye on. These two get along perfectly. ("Mommy, I hope Emily doesn't decide she wants to big dog as a prize, because that's the one that I want.")

Naomi asked for saber-toothed
cat facepaint because we're
learning about prehistoric
animals and she's a bit
fascinated. Also note that
this is one of very few dresses
she'll wear nowadays!

Of course, when Emily is off doing other things, just as Naomi sometimes is, there's always Holly, Naomi's large stuffed dog, to play with. In the past, Holly's been designated the mother of all the puppies, but lately she's been elevated to near-sister status. Holly wears all the dresses that Naomi has recently decided are uncomfortable (which is a lot--breaking news from one month ago). She often gets changed for bedtime, and usually has her teeth brushed, with Naomi's cast-off toothbrush, when Naomi does. She wears the purple headband, and Naomi wears the pink one, so it's a nice arrangement. Holly is also a lovely, easygoing playmate for Naomi, with none of the inconveniences that come along with in-the-flesh big sisters.

"One time, when Holly and I played Rat-a-Tat Cat, I got all zeros!" (Zeros are good--one would almost have to cheat to get all zeros. Not that that would ever happen, of course.) Holly's such a good sport, but I suppose most yellow labs are.

And when Holly needs a nap, of course, the Calico Critters house is nearly always bustling with activity. I get to see a reflection of just how 1950s our family is sometimes, as the moms of the little animal families generally do all the cooking, cleaning and nagging; the dads are often off doing something of their own; the boys cause trouble; and the girls, the true heroes, take care of the babies/toddlers, get all the best beds, and generally have lots of fun.

Naomi saved and saved and
saved and saved and saved
to buy this mechanical bunny.

Calico Critters are Naomi's absolute favorite pretend play nowadays, and she can get wrapped up for hours minutes [who am I kidding?] in elaborate stories. They've taken over half our piano room, mostly because Naomi is capable of imagining terrifying monsters or eerie emptiness in addition to sugar-sweet friendships, and utterly refuses to inhabit any level of the house another living human isn't also present on. And Emily doesn't count. She'll occasionally consent to running upstairs for something as long as someone waits for her at the bottom, which I do because I feel like it's a step in the right direction. And has been for eight months now. Still waiting for that next step...

Nothing, however, beats playing Calico Critters along with another human, whether an actual playmate from the neighborhood, or a particularly benevolent sister, me, or, best of all, Daddy. When Daddy plays, the daddy animals all do silly things, like make pancakes and accidentally flip them all around the kitchen. They're hopeless, and so is Naomi as she gasps for breath through her laughter. I can occasionally reach this level if I haven't already imagined a dozen things that day (like people getting their math done in a timely manner, or vegetables getting eaten, or rooms getting picked without me even mentioning the need). The moms, for instance, occasionally try to sneak past the kids to go get ice cream on their own (they're always caught!), and sometimes Mary Poppins shows up, courtesy of Kalina.

We tie-dyed this summer!

The Calico Critters visited cousins (the other half of the Calico Critters) shortly after we did. They also sometimes have to empty their house because the boys sprinkled "sleeping powder" all over it. They go out fishing, go to the pool, celebrate Christmas, chase the babies, play hide-and-seek, climb on the roof, fix broken things, go exploring, frequently change clothes, play music and have all kinds of adventures.

Then there's the little-sister doll, and all the bunnies, puppies, buffaloes, penguins, seals, etc. Still Naomi's frequent companions, they're not quite on the same level as Naomi herself and have recently become more charges than companions. They still come out all the time, whether for birthday parties or board games or just a ride in the car.

And sometimes she says, "Hey Mom, let's pretend that I'm a girl, and you're my mom [biiiig stretch, there] and you're busy so I have to take care of my little sister, and we go out in the woods to visit the magic unicorn, but we have to camp overnight. And then I'll call you on the phone to let you know I'm okay." This one is fun, because she gets everything ready, and she and her doll, or stuffie, or whatever, troop through the house until they reach the magic unicorn. And then they call me. And head home.

This baby Cooper's hawk
was raised in our backyard!

But other times we have, "Mom, I'm a girl, and my bunny is hurt, but you have to pretend you don't know, and then I'll help it, but you have to try to stop me because you don't understand, but then I do anyway, and I get in trouble, but later you understand, so then you let me help, and then we go out for ice cream. Okay?" Did you get all that? While you're trying to follow a recipe at the end of a busy day? These I fail miserably, to everyone's frustration. Eventually, she'll be able to hand me a script, and I think that'll take a load off of both of us.

Overall, I'm glad to see that Naomi's amazing imagination isn't going away anytime soon. I think I'd miss Emily's company almost as much as Naomi's pretending.

Kalina, age 11

And just like that, another year in the life of Kalina has gone by! It so happens that this year, Kalina's birthday fell on a Friday. She enthusiastically opted to invite friends over for a party that same day (which got my vote), as well as hold nature club, which conveniently fell on that date anyway. I knew it'd be a big day, but at least it'd pretty much be only one. Besides, it's fun!

Kalina was in a cheery mood all week, which is somewhat easy to do when you're picking out decorations and tablewear for your party, and anticipating all kinds of good things. A few of the best moments happened on Thursday, when Matt and I each managed to hang with our birthday girl for a few hours on our own. I took her to Jason's Deli (her favorite) and then helped her decorate for her birthday (she wanted to make a tree out of streamers--always an artist!). She enjoyed dinner and a walk with Matt, including a fast walk back home to bring fishing polls back to potentially snag a catfish (no luck).

According to Elise, Kalina began her special day by waking her up singing a whispered, "Happy birthday to meeeee..." Cute. But maybe not as cute for Elise. The girls all devoured chocolate Lucky Charms for breakfast, but fortunately saved a lot of the marshmallows for later. And then forgot about them. Shhhh.

Sweetly, the sisters began shoving presents at Kalina as soon as everyone shared breathing space, although Kalina declined them all until she had finished breakfast. Elise had spotted her first gift for Kalina, donut erasers, in Target long ago and hid them away so she could come back in claim them. Which, amazingly, we did! Elise also gave her a pyramid Rubick's cube. Naomi had remembered a book Kalina had gifted to another friend, as well as the longing look in Kalina's eye when she gave it away, and gave Kalina a copy of that same book. Nice work, girls!

The day being hot after a beautifully cool month of summer, we headed to the pool as soon as a few rooms were deemed clean and ready for the party. This is how, by the way, wise moms manage to get kids to somewhat cheerfully work on their birthday. I felt so smart. The pool was lovely, as was a lunch of pasta.

After lunch, we opened a card game and played through it, with Kalina winning every round, Naomi doing a different activity entirely (thank goodness--it would've been a disaster for her), Elise trying her hardest to keep up, and me trying my hardest to fail without anyone noticing, just so we could keep the mood upbeat. Matt, working summer hours, soon arrived home and we enjoyed an hour or so of calm before the storm of activity that would soon follow. Kalina opened a music player, a world puzzle, a whole ton of books and cat pajamas, among other things.

Then it was time for Nature Club! We lectured the girls about the dangers of bacteria in stagnant water, and directed them to a spot we had deemed "safe" for them to wade in the stream. In truth, I know nothing about such matters--just that some places in the stream look really gross, and others look relatively okay. And they all totally believed it. The weather being so hot, we made the girls drink plenty of water, and then turned on the sprinkler for a few minutes. It's amazing how wet one can get in just a few minutes of sprinkler time. Matt went after a large catfish and a large carp, much to the girls' delight, and then started teaching everyone how to start fires. In a very safe, well-supervised fire pit, of course. Elise had the idea to try flint and steel, and Kalina, just when we were about to give up and move on, actually ignited her cotton in a burst of birthday magic.

The cotton caught fire just as
Matt was about to say, "Let's
try again another time!"

Although I'd planned for about 20-25 minutes to catch my breath between Nature Club pickup and birthday party dropoff, I instead got all of about 30 seconds. After letting Nature Club run late (so Kalina could ignite the cotton) and as Kalina was frantically changing out of her wet clothes, I was frantically searching the house for cash for the pizza delivery guy (their card machines weren't working) when I noticed people standing on the doorstep. Apparently, I'd missed the doorbell and both the first guest and the pizza guy were 10 minutes early. I literally had to tell the poor guest in our entryway to "wait here for just a minute, I'm so, so, sorry, what pretty flowers, I need to pay the pizza guy, I promise Kalina will be here in just a second" and the poor pizza guy to also wait, but on the doorstep. In the end, a birthday-girl-sister earned her keep by unknowingly lending me $27 from her envelope of allowance money. Thanks, Elise, hope you enjoyed the pizza! (As of the typing of this blog, it's already been repaid.)

After this hurried transition, however, I was able to get the table ready and welcome other guests a little more appropriately, and even catch my breath.

Kalina, meanwhile, was enjoying the outdoors with her buddies. When they came in, she was engrossed in a Harry Potter trivia contest with two of them. One would quote a line from one of the 7 thick books, and the others would compete to say which book and character the quote had come from. All this completely from memory. As two more guests apparently either weren't interested in Harry Potter or weren't allowed to read it, I reluctantly diverted attention away from the game. They all embarked on Two Truths and a Lie, practicing their deception skills instead of their free-recall memory. But who's counting? Actually, it was super fun.

One challenge during this time was to actually let Kalina enjoy her party without being too loved by her sisters. Although Matt and I felt a little terrible pulling Elise and, to a lesser extent Naomi, away, we knew our oldest probably needed a little time to feel, well, old on her birthday.

It helped that the escape room game we were playing was clearly rated for ages 10+. Normally I don't point to age ratings, but sometimes it's necessary so the birthday girl doesn't get drowned out by younger enthusiastic sisters. Meant in the nicest way, of course.

Kalina, who adores ice cream but, in true Odegaard style, is somewhat ambivalent toward cake, opted for a Dairy Queen Oreo blizzard cake this year for her birthday. I love making birthday cakes for my girls, but I couldn't help but silently cheer that I could bypass baking on this busy week with the help of a phone, a credit card, and a helpful husband on his way home from work. Plus, the cake tasted amazing. She lit the candles (fruit themed!), and we managed to sing before the cake melted.

After we ate and I whisked away the dishes and Matt whisked away the (reluctant) younger sisters, it was time to break out the escape room game. I explained the concept and the girls immediately insisted they actually wanted to be locked in a room. As most of the locking rooms are bathrooms, we settled on simply closing the door to the bunny's room. Then, they'd have a bunny and an escape room, so, win-win.

But first, snacks. I'd set out a big bowl of cheese balls, another of saltwater taffy and a third of veggie straws. Never mind the fact that the girls had just wolfed down pizza, watermelon and large pieces of very filling ice-cream cake. They devoured the snacks like a swarm of locusts, as though dinner and dessert had been a work of fiction.

Then, Kalina grabbed the timer, we opened the box, and they were off! I left them to it, delivering water, allowing endless snack refills, as though the previous snack had been a dream, and occasionally providing clues (many of which they didn't really need). I'd initially been concerned that the girls wouldn't be interested in an escape room--that it might go over their heads, or be too intense for a party. As it turned out, neither of these things were obstacles. The game's puzzles definitely took some figuring out, and I had to help them initially to learn what kind of solving to do, and occasionally we had trouble sharing/feeling left out, but overall the girls worked together, did an awesome job and had a ton of fun. As the game features an extra 30-minute add-on, we might just get together again to finish up.

Best Kalina quote during the game.

"Maybe it's not about what we see. Maybe it's about what we don't see."

They're breaking out of the
bunny room!

What a fun party! Kalina declared the day "amazing" and went to bed a super happy, well-loved 11-year-old. Mission accomplished.

At 11, Kalina is, ever, always, herself, and no one else. She was never an impressionable baby ("Look, Kalina, all these other children sleep through the night!"), nor an impressionable toddler ("See, everyone else is okay not being within arms' reach of their mommies!"), or an impressionable preschooler, young kid, or anything else. While she does seem to actually appreciate the well-timed tip every so often ("Maybe don't wear floral patterns on top of completely contrasting floral patterns"), she happily marches to the beat of her own tune. Which she has composed beautifully.

In fact, Kalina composes so many things beautifully that we can no longer tell her piano compositions apart from her regular pieces. She knows chords and note relationships with a greater depth of understanding than I've ever had, and is constantly amazed at what she can come up with. Starting the ball rolling on actually practicing piano...that's another story, for another blog. Not the birthday one.

When Kalina learns things, she learns them well. She immediately picked up on machine sewing this year, applying her skills to new and different creations. She's also taken crochet to new heights, crocheting fruit-themed bookmarks and actual picture designs that she plots out with graph paper, including a tree landscape and the solar system. She's much more adept at switching colors with ease than I am, and much more creative about her crocheting as well.

Kalina loves cacti, Harry Potter anything, watermelon, cold pasta, sushi (just what it looks like; she's never actually eaten any), swimming, biking, geography, tornadoes, knots, The Greatest Showman, camping, small children, thunderstorms, walks, tennis shoes and socks.

She likes to pretend to be a cat (sometimes to the annoyance of her sisters), can't take one nature photo without taking a dozen, and still considers "rainbow" her favorite color, because she just can't decide. Kalina does not like: pink, dresses, skirts, jewelry, spelling practice, most chores and amusement park rides.

The girl writes better than most adults, specializing in vibrant descriptions. She's nearly mastered the five-paragraph essay and plays cleverly with words. Lately she's decided that science writing, probably for children, would be a good career route, because she could incorporate photography, too. Her big ideas still usually cross the line into impossibility, but I'm glad she still has them.

Kalina still enjoys the "magic" of self-opening doors at places like the grocery store and the library, theatrically flourishing her hands as if she's in command and making me smile every time. She's an orderly girl and maintains a well-organized desk, bed, nightstand and closet shelf with no prompting from me. Thank goodness.

New this year is the whole idea that Kalina can "babysit" her sisters at home for short periods of time without me. When alone with Naomi, she often plays with Calico Critters, or other sweet little games. She's a bit nervous to use the phone, and she won't stay home completely by herself, but so far we've had no mishaps.

She'll happily spend most of her free time reading, but sometimes arranges Legos, crochets, explores the creek or helps me in the kitchen. Less happily, she antagonizes her sisters and has this passive-aggressive way of digging in her heels...but I digress.

Kalina's generally sweet, clever, helpful, creative, quiet, cautious and fun. She waffles between complete ambivalence and supreme engagement. This year we learned the word "introvert," which has helped her understand herself and her frequent need to recharge. She's very loyal to family and still generally doesn't mind if Elise joins in with her and her friends--just occasionally, which we all understand, even Elise.

We're ever, always so grateful this amazing 11-year-old is part of our family! Here's to another wonderful year!

Pull on your adventure shoes

Naomi packed two essentials,
other than bunnies.

"We could almost camp this weekend," mentioned Matt. And it was off to the races. The whole trip felt like a whim, but considering we'd been half-trying to camp for a good year and a half, we pretty much had the routine down. In fact, we'd already booked campsites two other weekends, only to have our plans destroyed by reasonable threats of tornadoes. You just don't do that with small children.

On Wednesday, I hurriedly booked the campsite for Friday and Saturday, at a park I'd dredged up using a single Facebook recommendation. I googled exactly 3 dutch oven recipes and jotted down a quick grocery list. And I told the children. Whenever you tell the kids, you'd better be serious, because they don't let you take it back. Only more tornadoes could stop us now!

On Thursday, I gathered food, pre-prepped recipes with Kalina and started packing. On Friday morning, I threatened to cancel the trip if no one could possibly manage to please just pack a bag with actual clothes instead of all stuffed animals. C'mon, guys, let's step it up. Meanwhile, Matt spent a solid 4 hours gathering, inspecting, packing and preparing all the other equipment. I was pretty sure we'd forgotten something, but a careful review of our lists revealed we were at least close. Not bad for such a fly-by-night idea.

And after our previously scheduled meeting of Nature Club on Friday, we were off! Into Friday rush-hour traffic, but nevertheless on our way. In a party kind of mood, I let the girls gorge on Veggie Straws and granola bars the whole way. After all, I didn't really care if they finished their campfire hot dogs or not.

And we arrived! "This isn't at all what I expected," moaned Elise.

What?

Kalina hangs the clothesline
while her sisters simply perch.
Sometimes all you need is a
fence to perch on.

Having actually camped twice before (aside from various backyards), and only in large group campsites, the girls were not prepared for typical state park sites. We quickly realized they'd pictured choosing their own campsite from a large meadow, or under a few trees, not backing in to a small gravel clearing. Nevertheless, they joyfully alighted from the van and immediately began exploring the small area, climbing things, and engaging in all too many narrow misses with the plentiful poison ivy.

While Elise and Naomi claimed perches on the fence that was to keep them from falling over the steep dropoff below, Kalina, still jazzed about the whole idea of camping, actually helped, helping Matt pitch our giant tent while I settled the "kitchen." In between assignments, she eagerly posted the clothesline. And fetched water. And even carried stuff. Elise and Naomi mostly buzzed around like houseflies, but that was fun, too.

Plenty of help around camp!

Soon, we were roasting hot dogs for supper (Naomi decided her "outside of a hot dog" would be better with chips and ketchup inside), and then shortly after, roasting marshmallows for dessert. Elise experimented with a stuffed marshmallow recipe she'd found in her Ranger Rick magazine, and Naomi continually asked for more. The girls relished washing their own dishes in the chilly dishwater, or at least didn't complain, which is new for us.

As the sun set, we abandoned our marshmallows in favor of attending the ranger presentation on spiders. Although it was super dry (the weather, too), we nevertheless enjoyed our rustic wooden benches and watching slides projected outside under a darkening sky. Matt asked good questions, as always, keeping the ranger busy with her smartphone. By the time it was over, the fireflies were out.

The raccoons, meanwhile, had been busy throwing themselves at our hanging garbage bag, with some success. Their success would've been greater had their been more actual food scraps in the bag.

We made our last bathroom stop, brushed our teeth al fresco, and then waited while Matt set up cots. And waited a little bit longer. And then we settled in for a story and a good night's sleep. It worked! We were camping!

The next morning at 5:29, amid raucous birdsong, Naomi and I looked each other in the eye and mutually decided we'd try to go back to sleep. And then at 7:00, we woke up for real, and soon Matt, then Kalina, and finally our deep-sleeping Elise were rousted out. I was super excited to try out my first dutch-oven recipe, baked oatmeal. Kalina had measured the dry ingredients the day before, so I added just a couple of liquids and poured the mixture into the dutch oven. The coals, having warmed surprisingly fast, cooked our oatmeal by the time the girls and I had made the walk to the bathroom and back.

I prided myself on remembering chocolate chips for our topping. Naomi also added a little ketchup, and then a little more until it was just right. And then she actually ate it. Here we were thinking she was a picky eater, and as it turned out, she just needed a little more ketchup in her life. Lesson learned.

They all fit!

We'd brought Grandpa Tom's canoe, and wanted to take it out first thing. So we cleaned up the dishes. And got dressed. And put on sunscreen. And brushed our teeth. And melted down about something. And found all our gear. And packed food away from raccoons. And managed the fire. By 9:00, we were ready, and poor Matt had to shift his expectations for, "Let's get on the lake first thing!" But he survived.

The lake was tiny, but still and beautiful and full of life. We immediately zeroed in on goslings and on tiny frogs. In fact, I'm not sure Elise saw more than a few square feet of the lake in the first 10 minutes, her nose to the ground like a bloodhound seeking out anything slimy she could pick up or wallow in. I think we were all surprised when Naomi decided she wanted to ride in the canoe, despite having been informed that canoes are tippy. Secretly not wanting to let the shore go just yet, Elise graciously offered to let Naomi take her presumed spot. As shore patrol, I took my post by Elise, and alternately hauled buckets or watched for frogs as she carried out her studies.

In the canoe, Naomi shrieked only for the first 20 seconds or so, until she quieted into a calmly terrified state. And then eventually began to enjoy herself. Kalina, meanwhile, quickly learned principles of paddling and steering a canoe. She took to it like, well, a duck takes to water. And is now ready for a kayak, she tells us. After a while, we switched up seating arrangements, several times, until everyone had a turn doing everything they wanted to do--even me! By now, it was rather warm and the lake was getting busier--time to hit the trails.

A stream and a really long
crinoid fossil!

Since lunchtime was approaching, we tackled a smaller trail that we knew had a great stream access point, something that has become increasingly important lately. Naomi, Kalina and I shared the lead while Elise floated from snail to snail, admiring, naming, handling and subsequently "rescuing" each one. Each was precious, unique, and praiseworthy--a treasure, or a rare jewel. The hike was going to take three days.

We were able to convince Elise to speed things up with the promise of a stream, and fortunately the stream soon came into view. Naomi, increasingly adventurous, followed her sisters in and they all splashed around happily for a while. Kalina caught a crayfish and found her largest section of crinoid yet!

Kalina enjoying a camp lunch

All too soon, it was time to make our way back to camp and cook lunch and chill. I admit I was highly motivated to cook, if only to prove that you can actually camp and enjoy halfway decent food, too. We were soon chowing down on quite decent macaroni and cheese--even Naomi, once we pulled out the ketchup. In fact, the kids are still talking about that mac and cheese.

Elise pulled out her tooth!

It was around this time that Elise disappeared into the tent for a bit. She emerged a few minutes later with a big smile and a newly released tooth! The tooth had been loose for a while and Grandpa had said, a few days ago, that it only needed a few more days. Elise decided that the only thing that could make the camping trip any better would be to lose her tooth during it, so she pulled it herself. That's determination for you, right there. We put it in a baggie and, surprisingly, didn't lose it (again) before surrendering it to the tooth fairy herself.

The afternoon was spent embarking on a longer hike--one that was apparently out to get us. Naomi, refreshed and uncharacteristically gung-ho, proudly led the way for the first third. Soon, it became clear that only by walking nearly tightrope-style along the trail would be be able to avoid the poison ivy. This is when the hike became much less fun. The experience degraded even further when we started noticing ticks on each other. Lovely scenery, but we couldn't tear our eyes away from the edges of the trail and each others' bare legs. Fortunately, a stream halfway through kept our spirits up.

Chillin' with some bunnies
and a new favorite book.

In the stream, Elise found a jawbone with teeth! She wanted to keep it, but we reminded her that it's against the rules to keep anything from a state park. But, well, we all do it once in a great while, right? We ended up letting Elise remove one tooth as a souvenir. No sooner had she pocketed her treasure than Naomi's inner rule-breaker alarm sounded:

"Mommy, is it okay to keep things from state parks?" she worriedly questioned, confirming what she knew was true.

"But Mommy, Elise can't keep the tooth! She has to put it back! Elise, put it back!" We went on like this, with Naomi growing increasingly hysterical and Elise edging slowly away.

The decision hadn't been mine, but I was left to explain. Being a rules-follower myself, my answers were rather lame. Because we really should all just follow the rules, they're there for a reason and besides, then we all know what to expect.

Kalina's idea of relaxing: a
cot and a good book.

Soon, we needed to pull in the experts. I patiently explained the situation to Matt. In true Matt style, he fixed the problem in two seconds. Having Elise hand him the tooth (I'm amazed she trusted him at this point, but she did), he employed sleight-of-hand techniques worth of a magician to then quickly toss a piece of a stick far into the woods. Naomi's sobs abated immediately.

Unfortunately, he convinced Elise, too, who teared up as quickly as Naomi pacified. Fortunately, she's used to secret signals from me, being both a communicative and mature child, and soon thereafter Matt surreptitiously transferred the tooth back into Elise's hot little hand. Crisis averted, and Naomi can rest easy in her rules-following world a while longer, although I admit I'm still suffering a bit of cognitive dissonance over the matter.

Two little sweeties, after they'd been
scrubbed, soaped and inspected.

The hike dragged on. We finally made it back to the lake, where all three girls found fresh energy when it came to playing in a stream offshoot with a couple smaller children. After Elise, and then Naomi, took spills on the slippery rocks, we knew it was time to get back to the campsite. The next 45 minutes were spent on poison ivy and tick damage control.

And then another spectacular dinner! Despite pizza dough that didn't seem like it was going to cooperate, we ended up cooking up and polishing off two amazing dutch-oven pizzas. They tasted wood-fired, and restaurant-quality. We broke out another Ranger Rick activity at this point: filling in blanks to make our own spooky/funny adventure stories.

This shot only looks candid:
Elise is a pro at posing and
making it look natural (and
good!)

After a few good laughs and more campfire treats, and we raced down to the lake to try to catch the sun setting. We missed the actual sunset by seconds, having stopped to watch a deer watch us on the way. We nevertheless found a big glob of frog eggs, and then hustled back for the second half of a ranger presentation on snakes. And another night in the tent! This time we made it to sleep a little bit sooner.

I forgot one thing on this camping trip, and it happened to be the syrup for the hearty camp stove pancakes Matt whipped up the next morning while I trekked to the bathroom with the girls. They were still tasty with grape jam and/or leftover cherry pie filling from the campfire treats the night before. Powered up, we again headed for the lake with the canoe.

This time, Matt figured out how to get everyone but me into the boat--Kalina with a paddle, Elise with a net, and Naomi on Matt's lap. They chased frogs for quite a while. I got to be the on-shore frog-spotter. Then, after another hike down the nice hiking trail, and more fun in the stream, we had to break the news that it was time for lunch and tear-down.

Real mac and cheese, real
ingredients! And everyone
ate it! Super easy and so
fun!

As we hadn't initially planned on making it at the park until lunch time, we had to scramble a bit for lunch ingredients. Elise roasted the rest of our hot dogs, super annoyed that she had to cook them fully since we weren't quite confident in our cooler's ability to keep everything as cool as it needed to be, while everyone else began the process of packing up. Along the way we outlawed fence-sitting, since we'd made it this far with no one topping backwards into the "abyss." In the end, we pulled away with about 12 minutes to spare.

What an amazing weekend! I was impressed by the fact that all three rose to the challenge: Kalina really stepping up to take on some more grownup roles, Elise, um, just doing her thing, and Naomi trying some new challenges ranging from a different macaroni and cheese recipe to canoeing to leading the way on tricky hiking trails. Matt and I also felt a strong sense of accomplishment: not getting overly cranky (mostly), and planning a pretty awesome trip that will undoubtedly lead to more.

Happy Trails

Let's just say, for instance, that over breakfast you discovered a long, windy snail slime trail stretching for several feet down the middle of your large kitchen table that mysteriously ended at the (covered) butter dish. The snail is nowhere to be found, and the 8-year-old is insisting that she's down not one, but two precious pet snails. That were apparently left uncovered on the kitchen table all night. Would you:

1. Leave out food as bait (the 8-year-old's suggestion)

2. Dispose of the butter, clean everything, find a lid and a better place for the remaining snails, let the 8-year-old know that everyone is entitled to one occurrence of escaped pets but not really more, and then try to forget that there's a snail or two roaming the house. And not go barefoot. (What I'm doing)

3. Burn down the house. (What I kind of want to do)

4. Ruminate on all the unanswered questions. About parenting, life, and why there weren't two snail trails if two snails are indeed missing, why the lid was left off, why the snails were on the kitchen table in the first place, whether or not snails are actually attracted to butter, and what kind of predator must roam our house at night to have snatched away a snail or two out of thin air. And of course, where are the snail(s) and what will it feel like to step/sit on one/them?!?

Elise loves her snails. We've learned a lot already. Their names are: Biggle (the biggest one), Tiger (one that has a striped shell, except they all do, Billy and Bob (twins) and another few I've lost track of. Some are shyer than others, but their antenna are really cool when they sink into their heads. They like dark places and always climb upwards--to the point that I'm actually pretty amazed there aren't more snails roaming around our house. Yesterday the snails spent large portions of their lives riding around on her finger, being loved.

Meanwhile, Easter is totally Naomi's season. As soon Naomi and pink, furry, sparkly bunny ears crossed paths in Target, they were on her head--to stay (thanks to the allowance she'd saved up). She wears them everywhere. If the conditions become unfavorable to bunny ears--windy, for instance--she simply holds them in her hand until she no longer has to worry about them blowing away. And although she never notices the sidelong looks people give her in public, she readily accepts their comments and compliments with a matter-of-fact "thank you." Yes, I know they're adorable, thanks for noticing.

I hesitated to let her wear her bunny ears to various classes, and piano lessons, and even occasionally ran the idea past her teachers in case they felt like bunny ears might be distracting. Due partly to the fact that Naomi sees them as an extension of herself, rather than an accessory, the bunny ears cause no more ruckus than her regular ears do. And possibly because we homeschool, no one we come across seems to bat an eye at the fact that for several weeks now Naomi makes virtually every public appearance as a bunny. Or maybe they don't care because she's so stinkin' cute in them.

I enjoyed hanging out one-on-one with my little bunny a little bit extra this week as her sisters took standardized tests. It was a good, learning experience for everyone: Kalina learned that next time, she should make sure her ruler has centimeters on it (not really her fault--she just grabbed one!); Elise learned how to jump rope during testing, where a threatened bird species is nesting near the testing site, and good places to find snails; and Naomi learned place value. In one sitting. Well. And she thinks it's fun.

Which boggles my mind: how can a little girl who thinks she's a bunny and that her stuffed bunnies are her sisters breeze past 100 in counting (her goal was 1000, until Elise interrupted her) and laughingly tell me that I would need 10 tens to make 100? In addition to math, we scootered to the park and pretended to run away from dogs, worked on an Easter sticker book, braved glitter, and so much more.

For some reason, I'm not able to write captions today, but all of these photos came from our backyard photo shoot. Elise is posing in some of her favorite places (including the fort!), Naomi alternated normal poses for Mommy with bunny poses, and Kalina's pictures turned out beautiful despite the fact that she's hiding a very skinned knee.