Wolf Sanctuary Field Trip

Our family day last week saw us trekking across Lancaster County to the Wolf Sanctuary of PA in Litizt.  Our home school group had organized a field trip, and about twenty of us showed up for a very chilly tour of a pretty unique place. They have the wolves divided up into different packs according to who gets along.  While we were there we saw a few "friendly" scuffles among the packs, and these still looked scary when you aren't used to them.

The girls especially liked the all-sanctuary howl we heard. One alpha male will start to howl, and then each pack will join in over the course of a minute or two, until all 44 wolves are wailing away.  We all chose our favorite wolf; mine was the peace-loving Geronimo. He is part of the largest pack but avoids all conflict by staying out of the huddles.  Then he steals the others' buried food when they are sleeping.  I don't condone that last part, but at least he doesn't bite anyone.

These wolves are mostly rescues or the pups of rescues.  Our tour guide said they had just lost the grandson of the *Dances with Wolves* wolf to old age recently.  I think the thesis of the tour was "wolves do not make good pets unless you want to seriously annoy your neighbors and endanger your family." Hunters donate their kills to feed the wolves, and these carnivores crunch up the whole deer, bones and all, and just leave the hide and the hooves.

That was a busy day, because we also had to pack for Pearl's journey with her daddy to Boston.  They flew out early Friday morning for a karate event and to visit friends.  I'm told it was nonstop play with the three other little girls up in Massachusetts, complete with a talent show (here is Pearl showing a one step). 

Sapphire also benefited from a whole weekend of grandparent attention. I picked her up Sunday night. We had a peaceful snow day on Monday. I made a five foot snow man for the girls, but since Sapphire gets cold so quickly, I was pretty much on my own. Sapphire and I spent part of our quiet afternoons practicing her letters--and I wish you could hear the cute way she talks about "my Letters." This book and shapes she's using were a neat find at our local library: How to Build an A.

In the quiet of a half-empty house, I worked on curtains for the room Ruby shares with Sapphire. I've been putting off replacing these curtains since we moved in 9.5 years ago. Now I want some serious darkness to keep those little girls asleep past 6am when June rolls around.  This required panels with blackout fabric backing.  My plan is to discreetly place Velcro on the sill edges to really block the light. The sewing machine started acting up before I could finish the final window.

Trip Plans

Pearl and I enjoyed an afternoon at the Prancing Pig.  She is such a careful, delicate painter. I find the hardest part is choosing a piece to paint.

People are interested in Ruby's language acquisition, and it is coming along. Three weeks ago she developed a habit of taking a very demanding "NOW!" on the end of her sentences, sort of the way I do when I've asked the kids to do something once and it doesn't seem to be happening. The result? A toddler who insists "Grapes NOW!" in that very tone. "Cereal NOW!" "Socks NOW!" It was cute, but we saw the need to put a stop to it *immediately*.

In June I'll be making a trip to Northern Europe. This week Pearl and I are studying Europe. We have found many neat chart and map-making sites online.  Here I've created a map of the cities and countries I'll be visiting (in pink). The ones I saw during a semester abroad trip in 1999 and my trips with Jasper are in green.  I'm very excited, especially now that the grueling decision making is over.  I enjoyed researching hotels and means of transport, but now I've booked what needed to be booked (thank you Rick Steves) and I'm just reading for fun.

My traveling buddy and I have decided to try a night train--and while I know it won't be anything like the huge train compartment I remember from the Cary Grant movie North by Northwest, I am still a little excited about it! We're also taking an overnight ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo, and then an amazing scenic railway tour across the Norwegian peninsula to the medieval capital of the country, Bergen.  I didn't even know Bergen existed four months ago!  to be honest, I wasn't really sure which Scandinavian country was which four months ago.  Finland isn't technically Scandinavian, but Denmark is.  And since we'll have day trip to Malmo, Sweden, we'll be in all three Scandinavian nations on this two week trip.  Plus, with my few days on my own, I'll be seeing Reykjavik Iceland (which I can now spell without thinking), Salzburg, Austria, and then Munich, Hamburg, and Lubeck, Germany with my friend.


Finally, here is the video I came home from class to find waiting for me when everyone else was asleep one night.  Note the pile of tissues--such trauma!

 

And here's a photo of Sapphire and one of Ruby so Uncle Cary can't say I left anyone out.

Musicals and Menus and Six Month Review

Last weekend we enjoyed a bounty of high school musicals.  Sapphire and I went to see "Annie" Saturday night.  She was thrilled to see her big church friends in the pit. The dog and the threat of bad guys were other highlights that occasionally stopped the squirming.  "Annie" is a fairly complicated plot for a three year old, I now realize.

On Sunday Pearl, Sapphire, and I drove up to see "Joseph" at the high school where my brother teaches.  The girls have these lyrics memorized, so hearing other voices and seeing a stage production was mesmerizing for Pearl, at least.  Sapphire loved the flashing lights and disco ball.  Pharaoh, her favorite character, did not live up to her image of him from the 1999 film version, so she was disappointed.  My kids always like the bad guys/autocrats.

During intermission we toured Uncle Matthew's very tidy classroom, and afterwards we went to a Thai restaurant.

We've all be studying South America as our current continent. I say all of us, because even Jasper can't walk away from the documentaries showcasing the Amazon or anacondas. The girls have been walking around in a dazzling red poncho he brought home from Bolivia in 2003.

On Friday we used this focus to try a Colombian restaurant in Lancaster named El Maizal (the Cornfield).  Of course Ruby ate everything. She's very into international cuisine.  The other two tasted a bit. Pearl liked the white rice and Sapphire finally found her favorite when the flan course came out.  Unbeknownst to me, I ordered a very think slice of breaded fried pork which tasted just perfect with a squeeze of lime.  It was just a tiny simple restaurant, but I enjoyed the experience.  Maybe someday the other girls will too. 

imitating her big sister's pose

A social worker from our adoption agency visited us Monday to complete our six month post adoption review. This is the second of six (I think?) that China requires of parents. It is a costly visit because of all the paperwork that has to be filled out and sent to China, but Jinny makes it very pleasant. Pearl took her on a tour of the house after Jasper and I answered the form questions and chatted a bit.


The tour includes the basement (formerly "the lair") and the attic.  Poor girl had to see my basement and attic in one day! I try to keep them tidy, but rotating three girls' clothing sizes, shoes, and toys does not make for a super orderly attic, at least not in this house.  It was another milestone in this year of firsts.

Jaspher overlooking Machu Picchu, Peru, 2003