Back in the game again

Oh February. I don't mind January and I enjoy celebrating my dad's birth, but this year I decided to give up the first month of the year.

The bills still had to be paid and I went to work (somewhat joyfully). However, all extra tasks went undone. It felt good to slack for a month. It felt good to hibernate, not feeling obligated by anyone or anything. It felt liberating.

Alas, the energy couldn't be maintained forever. I found an inspiring teacher blog to follow. Many of the ideas I read about I later tried out on my own preschoolers and will use for writing a new blog about preschool teachings. I am still working with the way I present the preschoolers within the posts, and so will keep the new website undercover for awhile. I am trying to show the exploration concepts and the way the kids interact with the activities through photos and descriptions without using faces or names.

Reed and I did four weeks of a fitness boot camp in January too. Hey, it's cheaper then couples counseling and an acupuncturist said I need more activity to burn up the fire in my belly, so there it was. And the exercise is great! In one evening, Reed and I could go from not speaking to each other to motivating each other as we shared in the pain of the workouts. On the car ride back home, we could compare notes about which activity was brutal or what we really enjoyed as we congratulated ourselves for another great night.

Oh the pain. I can only laugh through the pain. I love going to that happy place inside the mind as the 30th jump squat burns my thigh muscles to pieces. What else can be done? I signed up for this and it is great! It's like labor really. Temporary, crazy intense pain so that a person can step through a threshold of a whole new perspective, and into a new thought process.

I saw in the paper last week that a student from HSU would be guiding a walk through the Community forest looking for salamanders. The boys and I were on board with that idea, so Saturday morning found us gathering on a street corner near the forest with several other families.

Education at its purest from Trisha Sand on Vimeo.

Another afternoon after I came home from work, we decided to go for a bike ride out through the Arcata Bottoms and across the Mad River bridge.





It was a wonderful ride. We parked by the bridge and rode out to the beach. The dogs were with us the whole way.

North and Sky were a little excited about being out as the evening darkened. Once released from the bike seats, they could have played on the rocks for hours.

And North would have too, until he discovered he could climb up the fence.

Once he got up to the top, things got a little tricky. He was adamant that he could climb over the top and down to the bridge path. Reed and I were not OK with that idea so we were in a bit of a stand-off for a while. Finally I suggested that Reed tickle North's knees and thus cause him to let go of the fencing.

Holiday treat

Christmas train from Trisha Sand on Vimeo.