I had great hopes for a day of using as few of our precious natural resources as possible. Making a great lesson for our kids. Slashing my carbon footprint. Living like the pioneers. Being a great example to my kids.
Well......
I had planned to bike to school with Owen.
But I came home just late enough from work (overnight) that we were too rushed to try to attempt it. (The bike route to work includes crossing a very major intersection -- the reason we do not make a regular habit of bike riding. Drivers in my town are crazy enough -- add in rushing to work at 8 a.m., and the distinct unawareness of bikers {both bicycle and motorcycle} and it is not a safety risk I'm willing to take.)
Instead Owen ate his breakfast in the car on the way to school. Sigh. (I am embarrassed to admit how often this happens. Getting out of work 45 minutes before he has to be at school, doesn't help, though.)
I had to run to the store on my way home.... and I forgot my reusable bags. Sigh.
Well, you can't use plastic bags on Earth Day... that's just wrong. So I bought some new ones. Bright, Red, Shiny. Okay, not shiny. But Canvas.
Whoppee!
After sleep and school, we spent the afternoon and evening outside.
We prepared hobo suppers, so we wouldn't have to use electricity to make supper:
and put them in the fire pit out back:
The kids played heartily outdoors -- a brand new hole in the knee to prove the exuberance of the day:
A fantastic city was created in the sandbox: wizards, knights, construction workers and a few Bob the Builder characters were all invited. I listened to the storyline the children had created -- Owen had essentially made a video game scenario out of the sandbox city. A little dependent on the electronics? Maybe. But the creativity that went with the construction was encouraging.
I'm not sure how Earth-conscious it was -- but I pulled weeds, and cleared out a few more flower gardens of the winter debris.
Hey -- it makes my little section of the earth a little prettier, right?
And in the end... the hobo suppers were a flop. At 8:45 we finally took them inside to finish cooking on the stove. The kids were famished. They ate with vigor.
We did our best to stay away from things that required electricity/resources -- but by 10 p.m. we had to check on the results of the PA Primary. sigh. Maybe we should have kept the TV off.
I'm not sure exactly how environmentally-conscious our day was -- Earth Day ended up being more about appreciating the Earth... than saving it. But I'd like to think the effort we made that day, and everyday... is worth something.
Well......
I had planned to bike to school with Owen.
But I came home just late enough from work (overnight) that we were too rushed to try to attempt it. (The bike route to work includes crossing a very major intersection -- the reason we do not make a regular habit of bike riding. Drivers in my town are crazy enough -- add in rushing to work at 8 a.m., and the distinct unawareness of bikers {both bicycle and motorcycle} and it is not a safety risk I'm willing to take.)
Instead Owen ate his breakfast in the car on the way to school. Sigh. (I am embarrassed to admit how often this happens. Getting out of work 45 minutes before he has to be at school, doesn't help, though.)
I had to run to the store on my way home.... and I forgot my reusable bags. Sigh.
Well, you can't use plastic bags on Earth Day... that's just wrong. So I bought some new ones. Bright, Red, Shiny. Okay, not shiny. But Canvas.
Whoppee!
After sleep and school, we spent the afternoon and evening outside.
We prepared hobo suppers, so we wouldn't have to use electricity to make supper:
and put them in the fire pit out back:
The kids played heartily outdoors -- a brand new hole in the knee to prove the exuberance of the day:
A fantastic city was created in the sandbox: wizards, knights, construction workers and a few Bob the Builder characters were all invited. I listened to the storyline the children had created -- Owen had essentially made a video game scenario out of the sandbox city. A little dependent on the electronics? Maybe. But the creativity that went with the construction was encouraging.
I'm not sure how Earth-conscious it was -- but I pulled weeds, and cleared out a few more flower gardens of the winter debris.
Hey -- it makes my little section of the earth a little prettier, right?
And in the end... the hobo suppers were a flop. At 8:45 we finally took them inside to finish cooking on the stove. The kids were famished. They ate with vigor.
We did our best to stay away from things that required electricity/resources -- but by 10 p.m. we had to check on the results of the PA Primary. sigh. Maybe we should have kept the TV off.
I'm not sure exactly how environmentally-conscious our day was -- Earth Day ended up being more about appreciating the Earth... than saving it. But I'd like to think the effort we made that day, and everyday... is worth something.
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