Bird Watching - And 'Surprise' Days Off

Madagascar Wagtail

Commonly seen flying in our yard, these cute little yellow and gray birds 'wag' their tails while walking around in the grass.

At the edge of our property stands a raffia palm. This tree has at least doubled in size since we arrived in 2012. These toy-like cones fall from it's branches, and they are so strange--With an appearance like plastic, and heavier than they appear.

Of course, bunches of bananas emerge from various banana trees close by.

      

Kids wanting to show me tricks on the trampoline. The trunk of the raffia palm can be seen on the left side.

These are amazing birds to watch! Bright green wings dress these 'bandit' eyed hunters. Before I even searched the bird name, my older son told me it was a Madagascar Bee-Eater. Sure enough, after capturing this photo, we located the bird in our trusty Indian Ocean Birdwatching book and he was right! The whole time we thought their dives and swoops towards the lake were efforts to snatch unsuspecting fish... nope! These birds are expert bee hunters.

My favorite place to workout!

This week we had a "Surprise" Day off. Just because we can. Not totally my idea.  :)  Sarah Mackenzie was sharing about making memories in our homeschool. There are so many reasons why we choose to homeschool, not being the least---the ability to set our own schedule! So, I have scheduled these surprise days off throughout our school year, and my kids were so excited about this in the middle of our week. We spent the morning at the local pool, and just had fun together. Considering the past months of feeling quite confined and like there's nothing to do, (plus it's been too cold to do much of anything away from the fireplace) I didn't realize how much we needed this outing until my oldest daughter (14yrs) even commented that she loved the morning swim. Don't underestimate the power of a small, undeserved break. :)

 

A book on Sonlight's Summer reader list that I should be finishing up soon. A story where two worlds--fairy-tale and reality--collide. This one is set in the days of World War II.