the squibix family blog

He's had a birthday party every year, but you know it's not really the same when you're turning one, or two, or three. Four is the real deal though, and last year felt like our first experience throwing a winter party—which is to say, one where the kids might need to be inside the whole time. I think we got it now. The pirate theme absolutely demanded a treasure hunt, and unlike the one at Zion's 5-year-old pirate party it would have to be indoors. I had my doubts the kids would be able to interpret the maps I drew of our house, so I enlisted parents to help if needed (not big siblings—that would have been a disaster!). But it turns out Lijah is great at reading maps! And while he still can't find something lying on the ground if he's standing right over it, his friends were prepared to handle that part of the task. There was plenty of gold (twix bars) to share at the end of the hunt.

Besides the treasure, we also had lots of arts and crafts supplies available, which were appreciated by adults and kids alike. And there was lots of food. Especially potato chips. With all my planning for indoor fun, the weather was actually pretty nice Saturday, so after Lijah opened his presents we all went out to run around and ride bikes on the street. The best part of March is making snowballs with your bare hands... just for target practice though. No fun to be hit with a snowball while wearing a t-shirt!

We capped the celebration week with one more party, this one at Leah's parents', on Sunday evening. Lijah got a yellow sweatsuit with a tiger face on the hood; he may take it off in a week or two, maybe.

Besides the outing, we also observed the day by taking down the paper snowflakes and baking equinox cookies, activities which are now traditional. We didn't make flowers to replace the snowflakes, though, unlike last year; instead our art time was taken up with illustrating adjectives. Not seasonal, but just as fun. Since friends came over in the afternoon and stayed for dinner we also didn't manage to follow through on my plan of building a bonfire and burning the snowflakes... maybe we can do that tomorrow.

If only the concert had started at 5:00 instead of 7:00, we would have loved the whole thing! It's hard being out of step with the wider scheduling of our culture...

I started off with a department meeting at church. I love working with the kids there, and I get to collaborate with great people, so that meeting was entirely fun and relaxing. I was a little nervous going into the coop gathering, since we're kicking off a new semester and I wasn't sure if we were even going to have anyone in the group this spring. I'm a little more in charge than last year too, so I was paying attention. I needen't have worried: we had a fine crowd, and all of us were excited to share our ideas for the things we can do together over the next couple months. The calendar's already filling up—in fact, we have our first outing together tomorrow morning.

Town Meeting is a completely different feel. Where the coop group is looking to work together and came into the meeting ready to find common ground, there's lots more dissension in the high school auditorium when the politically active members of Bedford's citizenry gather to deliberate. It can be stressful sometimes, hearing people's strong views (especially when said views are completely wrong!). But again, I came out of the meeting feeling really positive. All the people there were passionate about wanting the best for our town, even if they disagreed about what that was, and while their arguments were occasionally passionate (or even sarcastic) there was also a sense of shared responsibility and camaraderie that was fun to be a part of. And I'm really glad that there are these folks going to every town meeting and holding the Selectmen to account; I'm the least fiscally conservative person you'll ever meet, so I'm there to vote for all the spending, so it's good that there are some grumpy old folks ready to make sure we really need a handicap ramp to the front of Old Town Hall (I hope we don't; that one didn't pass).

Still, as interesting as it all was it may have been a little much for one day. Today we went hiking. That's more my speed.

This morning we met up with some of our coop partners for a presentation at the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge. I enjoyed hearing the ranger talk to the group about signs of spring in the woods, and specifically vernal pools; Harvey and Zion report that they didn't, but both of them raised their hands to offer answers or comments several times so it couldn't have been too horrible (Lijah just called out without raising his hand, especially after he got a big laugh from the crowd for his first comment). Following the lesson we were directed outside to look at a real vernal pool. Amusingly, the ranger had us drive the half mile—if that!—to the pool, which he told us was too far to walk. It's not entirely spring yet so the pool life wasn't in full swing, but we were able to net a few macro-invertebrates (a new term I learned!) and watch them swim around in tubs. The adults were interested at least.

All that took just an hour and a half, so when everyone else left we took to the trails to get some walking in. Unfortunately I hadn't prepared by reading that Wikipedia page I linked above, so I didn't know what the reserve had to offer and the trail we picked at random was pretty dull. By the time we realized where the pond was we were about done—tired out from all the direct instruction—so we didn't even get to check it out up close. If only we had headed straight there—and if only I had realized there were WWII bunkers hidden in the woods!—we may have had a longer and more adventurous visit. Oh well, next time.