We stayed in a lovely cabin near Rollinsville for my birthday, after a whirl around the carousel in Nederland.

 

One of the highlights was my birthday cake, adapted from the Joy of Cooking (1964) with a cream cheese chocolate icing. Glory wanted to decorate it, went outside to collect bits of autumn, and came up with this beautiful creation:

We did our part-time school day even more part time, with the joy of doing math in one’s pajamas. Art was pretty low-key; Glory and I did contour drawings of aspen leaves, which turned out wonderfully.

And the hiking–glorious! We hiked at the Moffat Tunnel, which is very beautiful, but they had the Big Fan on constantly for some reason. We also did a bit of the Hessie Trailhead–the aspen groves there are very magical right now!

It was warm enough to have morning tea outdoors

Happy 38 to me!

Week 3 has been more successful school-wise! Emmett was nearly enthusiastic about doing work some days. Monday we hiked the Ceran St. Vrain trail, with, apparently, everyone who had Labor Day off. It appears to be a heavily used trail, but I think this was exceptional. E and G loved their “dirt slide”, and Sulien kept wanting to go in the St. Vrain–brr! The trail is shady, and has large campsites, though they aren’t exactly secluded.

We went to the library and the Egyptian store, since we are reading about ancient Egypt, and got a kit to make papyrus. The process can take two weeks! I am not impressed by the history book Emmett’s class is using, Story of the World by Bauer, but the chapters are short, so we have plenty of time for other books on the subject. Glory lead Wednesday craft time, and we made paper puppets (her own invention). Piano is going well for Emmett; he seems to really like it.

I finished their art smocks, and used some scraps to make Sulien a reversible sun hat. Both projects are from Oliver + S: Things to Sew. This book doesn’t have any of their awesome clothing patterns, but the projects in it are as well-written as their single patterns.

Nature Friday was close to home, with a walk to Golden Ponds and the river. Emmett found some claws, and we saw the cutest frog in the world. Saturday had horse riding, and the finishing of the house being painted! Now we are taking apart our old screen door to use on the back door, and have gotten some lovely red oak to make a storm door. Three cheers for being able to avoid Home Depot.