Wacky weather

We've had some crazy weather here the last few days. First, we had rain, rain and more rain. In fact, we had so much rain that some seagulls got confused and decided to take up residence in my backyard for a couple of days!

Then, this evening I was having dinner at a friend's house when we had to get all the kids indoors because the wind really picked up and branches were falling from trees. The kids all rushed to the basement screaming, "tornado, tornado!" They're a little dramatic!

When I got home, my husband called for me to come outside to see a beautiful double rainbow. The photos do not do it justice. I think we have some more unsettled weather in the forecast this week!

I was curious about what causes a double rainbow and here is an explanation I found at eo.ucar.edu/rainbows/

What makes a double rainbow?Sometimes we see two rainbows at once, what causes this? We have followed the path of a ray of sunlight as it enters and is reflected inside the raindrop. But not all of the energy of the ray escapes the raindrop after it is reflected once. A part of the ray is reflected again and travels along inside the drop to emerge from the drop. The rainbow we normally see is called the primary rainbow and is produced by one internal reflection; the secondary rainbow arises from two internal reflections and the rays exit the drop at an angle of 50 degrees° rather than the 42°degrees for the red primary bow. Blue light emerges at an even larger angle of 53 degrees°. his effect produces a secondary rainbow that has its colors reversed compared to the primary, as illustrated in the drawing, adapted from the Science Universe Series Sight, Light, and Color.
It is possible for light to be reflected more than twice within a raindrop, and one can calculate where the higher order rainbows might be seen; but these are never seen in normal circumstances.

Happy stuff this week

Enjoying wishing wells.

Look at that happy face and the little upturned toe. I love it!

Pretending to be a baby.

This is an adult cradle at Shelburne Museum. I was told by the guide that the cradle was built by the Shakers (this one is a replica) and the elderly and infirm would use this as a sort of day bed. It would be placed in the kitchen by the hearth.

Growling like a bear-yes, my kids do this a lot!

Climbing trees before the rain comes.

Creating spring napkins.

Coloring on rocks with rocks.

Little kids, little dog, big dog, big sculptures. . .all in NJ

Scenes from NJ

Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ

Taking off!

I'm taking off to NJ this evening to visit a good friend from high school who I haven't seen in years. Just me, no husband or kids. I'm excited for some good ol' female bonding time. Anyway, I've been busy getting things in the garden and doing a bit of cleaning before I leave so I haven't done too much with the kids today. We did get in one fun project though-homemade stomp rockets! If you're interested in making one you can go to the exploratorium web site and do a search for stomp rockets.
"Now what are they up to?" says puddles."Wow, it works!"Have a great Memorial Day weekend everyone!

It's Great To Be Alive Celebration

Yesterday I was thinking about birthdays and all the little holidays we celebrate and I thought, why don't we ever have a real celebration just because it's great to be alive on this amazing planet? So I went out last night and picked up a few supplies and we celebrated. First, there were the streamers. J came downstairs this morning and said, "isn't it a little early to put up streamers for B's birthday?" His birthday is a month away. Oh, I forgot to mention that this celebration was a surprise.

Then there was the decorating and filling of the water balloons. It was steamy here today. . .mid 80's! Some of the balloons weren't quite in a celebratory mood.
Next, it was outside for some fun. The fun mostly consisted of chasing me around the backyard and pelting me with the balloons and the water splat balls.

J and B got some new celebratory ducks for the pool.

Time for some lemonade! We headed inside for some lunch and to cool off and then enjoyed some ice cream cake out on the deck. Yum, yum!

Now it's time for some shaving cream fun.

Wrestling anyone?

To the slide!

Time to rinse off and go meet friends at the beach. Well, B is still in wrestling mode.

Aaaaahhhhh. Beautiful Lake Champlain! Those are the Adirondack mountains in the background.

It was a glorious day and I'd have to say we enjoyed life to its fullest.