Raising Maine

Kid Tracks blog is moving!

After almost four years of blogging for MaineToday.com, I'm moving to a new home - RaisingMaine.com

It's a big step for Kid Tracks and I'm sad to leave my old entries behind. But trying something new is part of the spirit of my Kid Tracks blog so I know everything will work out in the end.

During this move, there'll likely be some blips (like email notifications of my latest entries) but just be patient with me while I figure all that out.

In the meantime, don't desert me!

You can find my latest entries on RaisingMaine.com.

Here's to exploring new worlds ....

;-)

GLOBE at Night Campaign

I stumbled across a cool sky observation activity to do with your family that is going on now through March 8.

Many people have never seen a sky full of stars because of the increase in light pollution. The website GLOBE at Night is asking people all over the world to sign up as an observer to help create a map to record what stars are being seen in different places around the globe.

You don't have to know all your stars/constellations to join the observation team (just Orion). The website presents a series of sky images and you choose the map that most closely resembles what you can see in the sky on the night you make your observation.

It does take a little effort on the part of the observer to find their lat/long coordinates for their observing location (i.e., your house) but the rest is pretty easy. No GPS is required (Google Earth can help find your coordinates as well as other mapping websites that are listed on GLOBE's site).

The observation recording started yesterday and continues through March 8. You can sign up at any time before that date to record your observation. You can do it once or multiple nights, it's up to you.

They had 60 countries participate in the observation project last year and the results were pretty interesting.

GLOBE at Night

Snowshoeing and 'guy' things

The girls did some cross country skiing at Fuller Farm yesterday before having a snowshoeing adventure in the backyard with Fino.

L.'s friend made a jump on the hill and L. thought it was really fun. Its great to see how at ease the girls are on their 'skinny' skis.

Fino borrowed two pairs of snowshoes from his friend Amy and we had one pair of our own. Since I was feeling under-the-weather yesterday anyway, I opted out of the backyard adventure.

I was crashed on the couch for about 30 minutes (two hours of skiing wiped me out) before G. came flying in to the house.

"Mommy! Mommy! Daddy fell in the river!"

(It's actually a narrow stream about two feet deep at the most.)

In my groggy, not quite functional state I asked, "Is he still stuck?"

"Well no, but he says his foot is hurt."

"OK, but is he walking back home?"

"Yeah he is but he says he can't feel his foot. You have to help him!"

G. watched me slowly pick myself off the couch (abdominal pain does not lend itself to fast movements) and decided I wasn't going to be much help so she darted back outside again.

A few minutes later Fino walked in the door just as I was reaching for my coat.

His snowshoes and boots were covered in a thick layer of snow and ice and he was making the ooooh and aaaah sounds of someone in pain.

"What happened?" I asked, still at little out of it.

He recounted the events leading up to his icy tumble that included "joking around," "teasing the girls," "they warned me about the water but I didn't listen to them" and "I jumped on the log without checking it out first."

Once he finished, my sympathy for his plight waned and I continued to watch him fumbling with the equipment straps while walking around on the hallway carpet.

"Fino, you're going to rip the carpet with those snowshoe spikes. Take those things off."

"I can't get them off. My feet are frozen."

So I reached down and pulled off the snowshoe straps and his boots while the girls were twittering around him.

"Mommy, will daddy's feet be OK?"

"Yes, his feet will be fine. Are you ever going to do what he did?"

"No way mom."

"No, daddy didn't make a good decision today."

As I ran warm water in the bathtub for Fino to soak he reddish/purplish feet, he summed up the incident.

"Sorry mama, it was a guy thing."