A Day Off...Maybe

Yesterday, our family took the day off from formal school lessons.  My husband had the day off, and whenever possible, we follow the "when Daddy has off from work, we have off from school" mantra.

We began the morning with a three and a half mile hike through part of a nearby state park.

During our hike, we observed the unusual

{part of a tree}

and the unnatural.

When we returned home, the children quickly exited the car to play outside with a few neighborhood friends.  However, after lunch, all four children wandered off by themselves to different parts of the house.

Our oldest had retrieved his model railroad set from the attic.  He was piecing it together on the dining room table.   

I found our youngest sorting and putting in order Skip-Bo cards on the family room floor.

Later, he made his way outside to help my husband build the new garden fence that will keep the dog out of our vegetables.

Our youngest daughter was in the kitchen.  She had a deck of cards spread over the kitchen table in a game of Solitaire.  Meanwhile, the book Addy, by Connie Porter, was being read aloud from the library CDs she had recently checked out.

And, our oldest daughter?  Well, she was doing one of her favorite things.  She was making music.  That afternoon, she was playing the organ, teaching herself It Is Well with My Soul. 

I am sure these unrecorded lessons occur more often than I notice, but yesterday, I am so grateful I noticed.