Getting Lost

Often times, the day starts and I feel lost. It's my own dang fault for not waking up at before the kids and getting my act together. Maybe when my baby starts sleeping through the night again, I will have the energy for bright and early mornings. Until then, I will continue to wake up in a fog and get lost in the day.

The days when it's really bad are the days I decide to let it all go. Sure, we continue with our routine-reading our 5 subjects for 45 minutes (Bible, poetry/Literature, history, geography, math). We sit at the table for half an hour and practice writing and phonics, but then, we're free. Free to find a patch of woods to get lost in. And we all breathe in the fresh air and pretend to be somewhere else, someone else. We get lost in our imaginations. We lose track of time. It's been so so good to just get lost with my little clan.

The Stimpson Family Nature Reserve is a new spot for us. We barely made it half a mile down the trail because of all the interesting stops made along the way. This hike is deep in the mossy forest with mushrooms galore! Two small lakes can also be found and admired from the trail which is super flat. Like I said, we didn't get very far, but we had a great time hunting for bison, bears and even rhinos!!

One of our newest spots to roam in a little trail that crosses through downtown Bellingham. It has convenient little stops near the library and post office. Halfway down the trail beneath a beautiful bridge, there is a rushing waterfall. We love to stand beside it and feel it's power.

Last week, we went a little further down the trail and discovered something pretty special. It just so happened to be salmon run season!! We watched hundreds of big strong salmon swimming upstream while dozens of people fished for them.

We've learned a lot about salmon, their life cycle and how to appropriately fish for them. The boys were interviewing everyone around them!

We've been fortunate to find numerous totem poles throughout the city, which go perfectly with our Native American unit study this month!



The Big Rock Garden is down Sylvan road off Alabama. It's a sculpture park just 5 minutes from our house. Sometimes we meet friends there for a nice walk and some nature journaling. It's been a great place for deep thought and conversation with my boys.

These are just a few of our favorite places in the city. They are prefect for fall weather when the tide is high and the beaches are cold.

And sometimes, you DO just go to the beach because you need a view with more perspective than your dirty kitchen. Boulevard Park is the perfect beach for chilly weather because of the coffee shop nearby. We spend 30 minutes doing school work while sipping on hot chocolate and an hour exploring the beach.

The more we get outside, the harder it is to come back in!