Even when it’s your birthday and you’re surrounded by friends,

it’s easy to feel a little bit

So we recommend that you step on to the Relax-A-Lator,

check the tire pressure,

and go for a spin

to see the Musical Monkeys.

Happy Birthday! Hope it was a good one!!

Love, Kristen, Sophie & Leo

Leo insists that it wasn’t really the first day of Kindergarten because the parents got to stay today.  According to him, Kindergarten starts Monday when he gets dropped off.  Well okay!

Ethan and Jonah provided some comic relief this very hot afternoon.

We have a new holiday.  Though Japan may have a Boy’s Day (May 5) and a Girl’s Day (March 3) and former East Germany has Kindertag (June 1), only Massachusetts has “Boy and Girl Day” (August 21).

Boy and Girl Day was originated by Sabine and Violette Smith and is celebrated on the third Thursday of August.

Here are some photos from the celebration in Groveland.

Just like last year, we enjoyed the peaches right off the tree at Brooksby Farm in Peabody, MA.

Harvest: A Year in the Life of an Organic Farm by Nicola Smith

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Contrary to what other reviewers said, this made me think, “Why would anyone do it?” The photos are beautiful and the writing is excellent — you are a fly on the wall and get to witness the good, the bad & the ugly (fights between the couple). It definitely made me appreciate the farmers at our farmers market a lot more.

School As a Journey: The Eight-Year Odyssey of a Waldorf Teacher and His Class by Torin M. Finser

rating: 4 of 5 stars
With Leo about to start at a Waldorf Kindergarten, I thought this might be a good way to learn about Waldorf schools. It was interesting to read and gave a teacher’s perspective about what having a class for eight years was like.

Rudolf Steiner: An Introduction to His Life and Work by Gary Lachman

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Very readable and I definitely learned about Steiner and his times. I’ll never be a convert to Anthroposophy, but I have a new understanding of his very interesting life.

We saw someone doing this game a few years ago here in Swampscott.  A perfect beach game if the beach is sloped and you have a few minutes to build it.  The original set-up we saw had multiple holes worth varying points, but the kids just liked the one hole.  We used croquet balls and dug a gutter all the way around to catch the balls.

For the second Thursday in a row, we went to Green Meadows Farm in Hamilton, MA (near the Topsfield/Wenham borders).  It’s probably the only CSA started by a Major General of the U.S. Army .