Reunion Weekend

Not enough time to add more pics and write more about our weekend in California - I promise I'll do it next week! Right now we are heading out for a weekend at the lake house. Must put away the rest of the summer stuff - canoe and kayaks! Maybe it will be warm enough for one last paddle around the lake. We are bringing our winter gear of course, who knows how cold it might get!

We had a fabo time in California, it was of course too short. But, we are busy planning some trips for next winter/summer to come back. Seby & Zane had the most fun playing with all their cousins. Cody & Graham really like Muir Woods and seeing other sights.

Smith Reunion

Here are all the grandkids with the grandparents!

We had a great time on our too quick trip to California!

It was so great to see everyone and we will have to plan another (longer) trip out sometime in the spring/summer.

I will post more about our weekend and pics too! Must get to bed so I can get up at the crack of dawn to drive Graham out to the Land School in Wisconsin.

Alum Campout & Fall Festival

Today was the Fall Festival for the kid's school. This is the biggest event at the Land School for the school community. Graham has been out at the Land School since September 24th! So it was fun to get to see him too! Last night Slade drove out with Cody and four friends who all graduated last year. It was the first Alum Camp Out at the Land School. Slade camped out too. As it turns out all the kids crashed in the basement of the Homestead (the building where the dorms are). Slade stayed outside in the tent! It sounds like it was a great time for all and a new tradition that all are looking forward to continuing.

Here is Graham helping prepare dinner for the residency kids and the alums. Also visiting were a group of kids from Great Rivers (a Montessori High School in St. Paul) and a Montessori school from Connecticut that was also started by Larry & Pat Schaefer (our school founders).



Here is Graham sitting with kids from the Connecticut school.



Some of the alums at the campfire - texting of course!



Mr. D singing and playing the guitar.


These are the alums that Slade drove out.





Here Zane and some friends are playing in one of the many farm "buildings."


Seby bobbing for apples.


Graham sneaking up on Seby to say hello!


Here Zane and his good friend Chole are looking for the perfect pumpkin.



Zane has found his favorites.


Slade and Zane back from a hay ride around the farm.


The homestead from the hay ride that Seby and I went on. What a view Graham has been having for these last few weeks!


Our awesome school community musicians are giving a great show.


Two of the Land School teachers and two others I don't know are giving us all a taste for a very interesting dance. I can't even remember what it was called. It was quite lively though!


Slade and Zane making a wreath out of straw.


Zane face painting. First year he wasn't spiderman!

Asher Payton Zipkin

Our dear friend, Jill, has had a child. Being our most-modern friend, she had him in the most-modern of ways. She hired a surrogote. He was born September 4th and is the cutest thing! We went for a visit when he was just over a week old and then tonight we were over with some other friends who were in town from NY. Jill is such a natural at being a mother, it is quite wonderful to watch.



Here is Zane with Katie (in from NY) and another Zane (friends from the burbs here in MN).

Roses

Look at our pretty flowers this week. I saw Erika coming home with handfuls of roses, from the look on her face I don't want to know where she picked them from. She also picked some lovely flowers that were going to seed, so we spread the seeds on some of the green patches in the alley. We will see what makes it thru the winter!

Last weekend it was 85 degrees with high humidity. This weekend I think our high is 50!

It is amazing to sit at my desk with a beautiful bouquet of roses and smell their rich aroma, while the leaves are almost all off the trees outside and it is hard to believe that any flowers could be surviving our cold snap.

Camp Friendship

This is group that Cody spent the weekend with at Camp Friendship. It was the first weekend retreat for his class "Coming of Age." There will be two more weekends at different venues. This camp did a lot of teamwork. Saturday they did a a rope climbing exercise with one partner. He was really glad that he went and had a great time. Some of these kids he has taken classes with for the last three years - so he is finding some good friends here.



Cody had to get on the wall to show us just how tall he is!



Graham's allergies are getting better and better. He can now eat dairy and chocolate! He just had to make some chocolate chip cookies! Next week is the big Fall Festival at the Land School and all the kids on the residency make something to sell. Graham is going to do chocolate chip cookies - something Cody always did. We went to The Wedge (our local organic grocery store) and bought 5 lbs of chocolate chips!

100 Steps

Today we took place in an event called "100 Steps for Montessori" -- 100 Steps for Montessori is a sponsored walk/run being carried out by children around the world to raise awareness of Montessori during the Centenary year as well as to raise funds for their schools. The hope is that when the footsteps of those who have walked/run fom Montessori schools around the world are added together, they will span the equator!

The walk the kids did was five miles, 2 1/2 miles up along the Mississippi River and back to our starting place. Here are Graham and some friends after they finished walking.



I was taking picures of most of the kids as they returned. Here is Seby running to me.



Seby is hiding behind a tree to surprise Slade and Zane and Graham has just come from behind a hiding spot.



Zane is extra happy to be able to be carried!



Can you believe that Graham has grown over an inch since he left two weeks ago? He is back just for the weekend and then returns to the Land School for another four weeks.



Zane has been doing a lot of embroidery at school - many days he brings home hearts, circles, etc. Friday he brought home the shape of his foot!



Here Zane is very busy doing his "work" - he is writing a note to put on a birthday present for tomorrow. The present is a book of "My Father's Dragon" - favorite book on tapes that Auntie Chriss gave Cody & Graham years ago. Seby & Zane have been using them for months and we now buy them for gifts. We couldn't get the tapes this time and got the book instead. Zane looked at all the pictures and said "So that is how it is supposed to look."



Tonight Seby had to take a picture of Slade & Graham with their hats turned up in "ralley cap" mode. They were watching the Chicago Cubbies playing. The ralley caps didn't help - the Cubbies lost.

More Flowers!

Aren't these beauties?

Erika raided a few gardens for these gems.

Project Homeless Connect

Today Erika and volunteered at Project Homeless Connect. Here we are during the orientation before we were assigned a "guest."



We are now heading out to get paired up with a guest.

This event is a one-stop shop model for delivering services to people experiencing homelessness. Twice each year, Hennepin County and the City of Minneapolis will be partnering with service providers, businesses, citizens, and faith communities to bring multiple resources to one location where people can come and find the services they need. These services include: housing, employment, medical care, mental health care, benefits and legal assistance, eye doctors, haircuts, transportation assistance, food and clothing.

We spent most of the day with one guest. The two of us kept seeing each other in the hallways and many lines we had to wait it. In the afternoon it was very helpful to have the two of us working together to help both our guests. We all would take turns waiting in lines to get them all their needs met. My guest received a haircut, got some assistance for some mental health issues, made an appointment to work with a resource agency for employment and other needs and both of them got eye exams and will each receive new glasses, they also both are set up to get state ids - which are crucial in getting employment.

We both agreed that we will want to do it again next year. Of course I felt very guilty going home to my large home and knowing that I would be making a dinner from the vast sources of food in our fridge and/or freezer, and then shower in a warm clean shower and sleep on a clean bed WITH SHEETS! My guest has been homeless for two years and two days ago got into a transition house with a room that has a murphy bed and a half bath. There are no sheets on his bed, no covers, no pillows and no towels or other needs to shower. Luckily I was able to get him lined up with getting these needs met, but oh did I want to go get some of our extra sheets, etc to give to him. There is a very clear promise that you do not get personal with the folks you are helping, no sharing phone numbers or anything. It was painful to not do it anyway.

It was very rewarding and amazing how many folks I saw at the event that I knew from church or the school.

Graham has been at the Land School for two weeks now. He comes home for the weekend on Friday and we look forward to having him back with us.