Why I'll be taking my children to Burning Man for the seventh year!

I first heard about Burning Man about 10 years ago. It's a week long art festival that happens every year the week before Labor Day in the Black Rock Desert just North of Reno NV. They build a virtual city in the middle to the desert on Indian land and 50,000 people show up. People camp in villages at Burning Man, some with 1,000 people in them and some just little groups together. Burning Man is about radical creative Self Expression, people are in costumes, wild costumes, some are naked, there are 100s of amazing art installations, some over 100 ft tall, many that you can climb on! The art is funny, wild, many pieces have a real message to deliver, some just take your breath away beautiful.

Burning Man is a different experience for everyone and you can find whatever you are looking for. Just like in life, it's all available and you have to make lots of choices about what you do and who you hang out with.

Some people come to Burning Man to party, to dance all night long, to explore spirituality or sexuality, to learn, listen to great speakers on every topic, to do yoga, contact improv, to meditate, to perform, to spin fire (there are 5,000 fire performers every year at Burning Man), to play, to dress up, to get loose, to forget who they are in the default world and discover a more authentic "unconditioned" self , to experience profound opening and expansion, to get real, to explore and discover. There are hundred of workshops on every topic offered, you can get a massage, a haircut, a pedicure, a tantric class, your whole body painted with glitter, you can make great new friends and have amazing experiences together and you won't even know their real names (most people have playa names they go by.. mine is gypsy mama) or what they do for a living.. and frankly you don't care.. people are open, loving, helpful, offering gifts and saying yes to all kinds of things they may not say yes to at home!

Burning Man is a gift economy, everyone is offering different things, services, hugs, jewelry, lessons, entertainment, food, etc.. There is nothing for sale here except ice and coffee.

So I took my kids to Burning Man because I met an 11 yr old girl at a homeschool camping trip 7 years ago that rocked my world. A friend told me that there was a family of Burners on the camping trip and they'd been 3x. I was very excited to meet them. I saw this girl from about 100 yards away. I felt her. I walked up to her (I'd never met her and did not know her name) I reached out and put my hands on the sides of her waist and I pushed my belly up against her's (I have no idea why) and I rubbed my belly against her's. She went with it.. she smiled like she know this was what we were supposed to be doing..

I said to her I hear you've been to 3 burns, she nodded her head. And has it shaped you as a person I asked, oh yes, she replied. Will you tell me about it, I asked? Yes she said and she started telling me stories about her experiences on the playa.

After just 10 minutes of talking to her I knew we would go to the Burn that year, I changed our plans for the summer to plan to be there and I knew that bringing my kids would be a huge part of our homeschooling experience.

We camped in Kidsville, a family camp of about 400-500 people. Kids play on trampolines and climbing structures from morning till night, every family offers activities, rides on their art cars, kid swapping so parents can get out and do some adult things and share meals. We usually split our time between hanging out in kidsville and roaming the playa and climbing on art and participating in all of the hundreds of activities offered. There are not a lot of kids at Burning Man, I've found that most people are really happy to see my kids, to talk with them, to offer things to them and to play with them.

A few of the highlights, my kids favorite activities  - dodgeball camp - last year we played dodgeball every night, a few kids there, mostly adults, rocking music and lots of fun! Smores camp, they serve smores every night at 7pm around a big fire.. big hit! There are camps with obstacle courses, giant swings, trampolines, mini golf courses, trapeze ropes to walk, rings to swing on, hula hooping, fire spinning, fire hooping, costumes camps, camps offering food - ramon, bacon, yummy stuff.  Haircut camps, Reese got a mohawk last year! The kids get to battle in Thunderdome with foam bats and bungee harnesses on.. Last year my kids were invited to play Fire Dodgeball, yes they wore big gloves and flung a giant ball on fire at the other team, crazy! And the most incredible music, art, performance art, art cars roaming the playa and amazing inspiring people really enjoying themselves and sharing their merriment.

My kids love Burning Man, they make friends, play all day, get their hearts and minds opened and get to see tens of thousands of adults playing like kids just for the fun of it.

We'll be in Kidsville again this year, it's at 530 & D. If you are on the playa, stop by and say hi, just ask someone where Gypsy Mama's camp is.

Argue with Reality at your own Peril..

Being a mom I'm often asking myself, what do I really want for my kids? What am I modeling for them? What are my actions teaching them? I felt growing up that my parents told me to "do as I say not as I do." My response was always "but your actions are so loud, I can't hear your words!"

More often these days I know that the most important thing I can demonstrate for my children is that I am aware even in my most afflictive thoughts and feelings that there is this "well being" that is always on, a stable ground in the midst of the tsunami of emotions. My kids and I have a code word we use with each other when we notice big upset, we simply say, Remember! Remember who you are, remember you can take a deep breath, remember that no matter how you feel, you are always ok, coming back the "okness" is always an option, it's always there.  This simple reminder to Remember came out of this experience below.

About a year ago, I was having a conversation with a few friends, I'd enrolled my kids in a musical and they were really upset after the first day of rehearsal. It's never easy when your child has a total meltdown and refuses to participate in an activity that I know they'll likely enjoy once they are over the "thing". So they are both very upset and I found myself getting derailed by their big feelings.

Instead of just opening my heart to my children and offering my highest gift -my own total stability - I fell into a story that the gal running the theater didn't really do a good job of making the kids comfortable the first day. Instead of fully allowing my kids to have their experience and being willing to acknowledge my own discomfort in seeing my kids so upset. I blamed, I projected, I made her wrong and thus, moved away from the intense sensation in myself and in my kids. I got overwhelmed and fell into the habit of blame. Then I started to tel the story to my friends.

Anyone relate? So I'm in my little fit, criticizing the theater gal and suddenly my friend Mikki Willis said to me, JoAnne, maybe you should really just stop complaining and criticizing (especially in front of your boys). I was floored.. I heard him, I resonated with what he was suggesting, but I was so deep in my justified "story" that what he was suggesting was not even on my radar.

Anyone relate? No matter how much spiritual work you've done (I've done quite a bit), we all have these pockets of unconsciousness, these places we find ourselves where we are deep in a story of "wouldn't it be better if ________ " (fill in the blank). Wouldn't it be better if they would do this? Act like this? not have done that? All of these "stories" are an argument with reality. They are all saying that it's not ok what's here now.

To really get what I'm saying here you've got to know the difference between what is here now and you're story about what is here now.. The clearer we get, the more we see, the less deluded we are, the less hypnotized, wrapped up in stories, the less we blame, criticize, complain or make anyone or anything wrong.

The clearer we are, the more grounded we are, the less we argue with what is. It took me about a year, but this became very clear, I made the pledge recently to not blame, criticize, complain or make anyone or anything wrong. It's been the greatest liberation I've every known and a gift I am moved to share with others.

This is what I want to model for my children. To learn to be present with themselves, to know what is arising in them and to meet it fully with an open heart and open mind. To take full responsibility for my own stable, well being. This capacity to be completely clear that no one can make me happy and no one can make me unhappy, that is up to me. It's up to me, I determine my own attitude, how I see the world, where I fight and struggle with myself and others or if I can find the space of surrender within.

In the commitment to not complain, not to argue with life, not to blame others as if they are the cause of my upset, but to stay lovingly present with myself as emotions arise, to allow them fully and let them land in the ground like fertilizer for my own soil. This accepting of full responsibility for my own experience and commitment to stay present with what arises is where I've found great liberation and great empowerment. It's the end of believing that I'm a victim of life and the end of believing that I'm in lack or that I don't have what I need to thrive and be happy and content. What greater gift could I offer myself or could I model for my children?

On Children Kahlil Gibran
 Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
 They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts.
 You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
 You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
 You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
 For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Since I first read this book many years ago.. this passage on children stops me cold.. you may strive to be like them but seek not to make them like you.. I so appreciate about what is unconditioned in children, it reminds me of my own unconditioned nature. Babies especially, I can see it in them immediately, they are free, they are not feeling separate, worrying about me or mine or lack..
So often I take my kids to the park and I hear moms of toddlers who are touching some kids toy.. that's not yours! They don't really care I often think..

Why do we need to teach separation and lack? From my perspective it's so much more important to learn from our kids, remember our own unconditioned reality, where we don't need to classify and categorize or label.. of course we can help our kids to navigate certain things, to focus on solutions, to empower themselves by honoring them mostly.

 There is such an opportunity for mindfulness in how we want to train our children, it's so important to honor who and what they are as we try to give them skills to have more flow as they go through life. The priority is to remember who they are: whole, complete and perfect, deep wisdom is within them, they know why they are here and what they are here to do on some level and my job is to remember this always. I need to trust that they have access to their own deep wisdom and continuously point them back to that as the guiding force.

To treat my kids with the same respect I'd give any other adult person as best as I can.. truly there are no small souls! Let your bending in the archers hand be for gladness.. this really speaks to me.. my experience of parenting has absolutely bent me.. it's shaped me, it's opened my heart in ways I could not imagine.. my children are here to teach me about unconditional love.. I have no doubt about that.. they are here to bring me back to the recognition of my own true nature, so sweet!

the game of unschooling..

I was so fortunate to meet a few families who were homeschooling before I had children. The kids impressed me, they were bright, well adjusted and had a sense of peace about them. When Reese was just 8 months old, I attended a 5 day homeschooling conference and listened to about 30 different speakers share. I was blown away.. again.. I was 34, I'd been around, I'd had 2 careers, gotten a Masters Degree, traveled and once again a whole new world opened up to me, just like with homebirthing, attachment parenting, co sleeping, not vaccinating, a whole world of choices opened up and once again I seemed to be strongly internally guided away from the mainstream. I listened to a speaker at the conference who shared that the two primary language arts were not reading and writing but speaking and listening. There are many people who are quite proficient at reading and writing as skills but they are not very good at really deeply listening and expressing their truth, being true to themselves, speaking up and being in integrity with their highest heart expression. I felt so strongly that children come in with a sense of who they really are, the fullness and greatness of who they are, they are here for a reason and somewhere inside of them they know what they are here to do and how they are to contribute. I felt that it was not my job to mold them as I see fit, but to see them for who they really are, see the perfection in them, what was whole, complete and perfect. My job was to listen to them, to love them, to provide a container for them to grow and flourish and thrive! This path of unschooling, homeschooling without a strict curriculum, giving my children space, freedom and time to pursue what they love, to choose how they spend their time, to allow a lot of time for play and exploration. with less direction and more inspiration and exposure. Our conditioning says we need to condition our kids, make them mind, teach them, mold them.. etc. and there is some of that that is beneficial.. but for the most part, I believe we need to celebrate that which is unconditioned in all of us, but more often expressed in them.. what is always free & open, our infinite potential .. Our children are here to teach us more than we are here to teach them. love this quote, it says it best, it's been a guide for me for many years.. by Kahlil Gibran “Your children are not your children. They are sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you. And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For thir souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the make upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness. For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He also loves the bow that is stable.”

Evolution and the ever changing flow of life..

I've gotten inspired to breathe some new life into my parenting blog.. so here goes.. My boys are 12 and almost 9 now.. each year is full of new experiences for us, I keep learning more and more how to relax as a mom, how to trust my innate inner knowing, to appreciate my kids more deeply each day... and truly I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the clarity I had since before they were even born about what was really important: to spend time together, to honor and respect each other, to be very present and to see one another deeply at the essence not just at the surface. So many things influenced me along the way. I was 8 years sober and 33 years old when my oldest Reese was born, I'd been on a conscious spiritual path for 10 years, I'd done loads of therapy of all kinds, I'd had amazing healing in my own life, in my relationships, I'd transformed in many ways. I had been a lover of kids and babies (and animals) for most of my life, I got to spend every weekend with my niece (from age 2 mos to 2 years) for 2 years prior to my son being born, I was really ready to be a mom. I learned about homeschooling before my kids were born, I attended a 5 day homeschooling conference when Reese was 7 mos old, my eyes were opened, I was amazed by the homeschooled kids that I met, I resonated so deeply with how respectful and honoring it felt to let you children learn at their own rate and pace, to let them learn what was interesting for them, to not institutionalize them and put them in an environment where they were forced to learn stuff for 8 hours a day that they did not care about, be graded and rated and compared and labeled I was so drawn to want to be with my kids.. the thought of sending my 5 yr old off for 3-6 hours a day to let someone else teach him, learn with him, share all of his amazing discoveries with him was not remotely interesting. I'd had 2 careers and gone back to school, gotten a Masters degree, achieved and accomplished.. now I was ready to be a mommy full time. Here I am 12 years later and I still feel the same way! I still want to homeschool. I am still loving being with my kids, following and fueling their passions, discovering and delighting in who they are each day. Even though I've gone back to work in the last 6 months and our schedule does not look the same as when we played all day and traveled all the time, we are still homeschooling and spending tons of time playing and learning and growing together. My kids are thriving, I am thriving, life is delightful and I'm loving it.

Noticing the amazing colors of life?

Listening to an amazing book with my kids, The Giver, I read it in 7th grade I think.
What rich dialogue we are having, this is the beauty of homeschooling and I'm cherishing this time with my boys.
A story about one solution to eliminate pain, suffering, war, violence, death, all the sorrow of life.. the cost for this is called sameness and it is the elimination of joy, love, nature, color, variety and individuality and choices.. but here's the catch.. the people in this culture don't know what they are missing..
One boy in the story is selected at age 12 to have this special job, no one here chooses their own job, or their own spouse, their children, they are given a job, based on their interests at age 12 for life. They request a spouse and children, they live with a spouse for the time of raising children and then they go to live with childless adults, they don't have sex, they take a pill to suppress these extreme feelings. All of this is governed by the rules, if they break the rules, they are disciplined and if it continues they are released. Jonas our main character is selected to be the holder of all the memories of the past, memories of all the things that the culture has taken away to offer a world of safety, predictability, sameness. He learns about weather, snow, animals, war, death, suffering, he learns that release is actually killed and he suffers greatly.
As Jonas's eyes are opened, of course he chooses free choice, life with pain and color, reality rather than lying and having ones emotions cut off.
As I listened to the story when he actually sees color for the first time, sees a bird, clouds.. he is in awe..
I started to ask myself .. how often am I in awe of the colors of life? all of the colors? in awe?
The sad news is that when I am caught up in my thoughts, my pain, my story, my limitation -like the culture where there are no real deep feelings, I don't notice the beauty of life, the color, the vibrance, the incredible aliveness of each moment. I don't notice the perfection of all of life because I am caught up in the limited descriptions and intense but ultimately passing experiences. These endless stories of what's what, how i feel, what i think, what's wrong, how much i hurt, who hurt me.. these stories are like the pills to make the urges go away, they cut me off from the vibrancy of life, give me a half life, seem to cut me off from the infinite expression of what I truly am.

it takes a village..

When we came back to Boulder in December... i've never been more aware of the value of my "village" ...
two of my oldest dearest mommy friends live here in colorado now.. my good friend Ali had just bought a house and was
planning on renting the back unit behind her house.. to us! we had a homeschool community here, i had a satsang community, an AA community, a dance community, great mom friends, both of the boys had made such good friends here.. they played sports, and we involved in many activities they loved.. combine that with the beauty of Boulder, the seasons, and the small town feel... it was an easy move.. parenting and homeschooling mostly on my own has been amazing and challenging, the support of a village and ideally a community of fellow inspired homeschooling families is so where i long to be be...

So we got to live next door to the Zeljo's.. an homeschooling family of 4 boys.. such a beautiful gift..
When I really boil it down.. the most important thing really is the village.. how rich is our relating? what is the quality of our friendships? I feel like it's my job to share my kids with the world.. to have a very rich experience with them.. which seems to be mostly about really knowing who they are, their innate beauty and perfection. To remember .. who I really am, who they really are.. beyond the current description of the moment.. big picture.. really remember the essence, this is the key to all really consistent joyful relating, the key to real love, it's the key to trusting in the unfolding..

the village is a metaphor ....for the model of trusting and relying on source, presence, well being, awareness, clarity, God, whatever you want to call this... that always is here, always on, fully expressing.. it's that on which we can always rely..
it takes a village.. it takes this tremendous trust in our own capacity to fully know ourselves, to recognize that all that we are just an expression of all that is .. so in this realization of what we actually are.. we are in unity/village awareness.. once more it's the work is within.. here first.. what is realized here can outpicture in our world..

Unconditional Love and Physical Education

LIfe learning is so different than the way we learned in school ... learning by subjects.. now we'll do science, math, english, social studies.. life really is not divided up like that.. it's all mixed up together.. and there are so many "subjects" that we did not cover in elementary school.. like how to love yourself and others.. how to live from your heart, to really know yourself, to live from your own internal guide.. how to listen to yourself, your own interior guidance, to really feel deeply into yourself and be true to that.. nope i did not learn that in school or college or church. I am trying to model this for my kids, to encourage them to tap into their own gifts and talents.. to give them the space, support and encouragement to even know that they do have unique things to offer and to celebrate that we all have offerings, gifts and the beauty is in the diversity.. not in us all being the same, comparing ourselves to each other and competing..
One of the best parts about living next door to the Zeljo family is that they have 2 wonderful things.. puppies and babies.. I love other peoples dogs and other peoples babies!! Who better to learn this most valuable lesson of unconditional love from than animals and babies.. huh??? It's been such a joy to share space with this most wonderful family, we are so grateful..
While it's not easy to live your whole life at the beach and then move away.. the mountains here in Boulder are a pretty reasonable replacement.. here's Luc rock climbing at Mt Sanitas.. that's physical education right.. ok cross that off the list.

Luc reads a book..

One of the most interesting parts of unschooling (flying without a curriculum) is wondering when you child will actually want to read.. don't get me wrong... there's necessary reading and well.... book reading.. Reese learned to read kind of when he was 5, he started reading (or memorizing) Yu gi oh cards.. he memorized 100's of cards, but he didn't pick up a book and read it till he was 8. or 9.. the book was Diary of a Wimpy kid.. it was Kaia's book, she left it in my car, Reese picked it up and read it.. in a day I think.. in the last 2 years, he's maybe read 10 actual chapter books.. not the hottest topic around.. of course Luc must copy everything Reese the magnificent does.. even resisting reading.. Reese once said.. when i told him we were going to the library.. NOOOO the library is worse than the dentist... OMG we laughed about that for months..
Well I am happy to report that Reese got the newest Dairy of a Wimpy Kid book for Christmas and low and behold.. Luc picked it up the other day.. and started reading it.. and he's only 7... so go figure he beat Reese by at least a year.

Ali my neighboor and I hosted a fun Science class for the kids.. it went pretty well.. we had about 14 kids, 7 of them were into the science (none of ours mind you.. actually the were doing Physics - making a sailing paper airplanes) and I had a ball doing Wizard to attentive other peoples kids, while my wild one's did their own thing entirely. Here is beautiful Gianni.. in the Wizards hat.
Yes there is a reason that we homeschool. They are freestylers.. in life.. reminds me of Luc when he was 4 and i tried to teach him to ski.. there we were on the bunny hill.. i am telling him to do the pizza (wedge stop) and french fries (straight skies), he was not having it.. "I am not doing pizza or french fries!" and off he would go down the hill, really fast, at the bottom he would spin around several times and stop. this went on all day.. an instructor skiing by took one look at him and summed it up with one word.. "freestyler"! Yeah i replied.. in life!

Parties, Aerial Arts and Knex

There's nothing better than packing up all your stuff and digging it all out 6 months later, it's like rediscovering your old toys.. All of our Legos, Knex, beads for jewelry, if that was not enough, there was all the Christmas gifts too.. remote control cars... such abundance.. Reese built some amazing swords out of Knex.. then of course we had a battle.. Most of the fun involves some type of battle, wrestling, tickling, some kind of game that we are playing.. currently Reese is very involved in Maplestory, Runescape is out, Magic the Gathering is in, Luc also likes Maplestory, but he also likes Club Penguin again.. we've also rediscovered all our board games, Settlers of Caton, & Florence. We pulled out art sets out cause we had to make Birthday cards.. for Reese who turned 11 in Jan, NIckie, our neighboor, and Jon Jon who invited us to a Zip line party.
Luc got to have a private session at Frequent Flyers an aerial arts studio in town.. He loved it.. we definitely want to take some classes there soon, what a great work out too.

January in Boulder

After an amazing Christmas, we hit the road for Boulder, we had a great 2 day drive, got very excited when we saw the snow and arrived on Dec 27th at about 3pm.. i had a friend (the best kind of friends.. they ones that show up and help you move!) meet me at storage, i got a truck, we got my bed, couch and coffee table out of storage.. and i was moving into our new place by 6pm.. It was impressive, me and Shawn moved a king size bed up stairs.. i felt very proud of myself. Our new little apartment is a cottage behind my friend Ali and Jon's house in North Boulder, they homeschool their 4 boys (11, 7, 2 and 5 mos) and they got 2 puppies for Christmas, what more could we want. Our place is 2 blocks from a great park and even more important we are 3 blocks from Gamers Guild where Reese can walk and play Magic the Gathering with other kids (and adults) everyday. Yes Reese has made good friends with Budge the owner, a dad of 3, who seems to love to play Magic with Reese every afternoon, Reese had died and gone to heaven!
Luc was very happy to reconnect with his buddy Eya, a friend we met 3 years ago here in Boulder, they are Lego and game fiends.. with big off the chart energy... friends are what it's all about!
We took a great trip to the Denver Botanical Gardens to see a very famous sculpture exhibit.. the kids were a bit perplexed at the giant abstract sculptures, but we still spent an hour in the snow freezing our butts off seeing everyone of the pieces and doing our scavenger hunt, we made totems, played with clay and of course spent time in the hot house garden room. playing chase..

Thanksgiving in Colorado, Christmas in LA

two weeks in Boulder got us fired up to go back to colorado.. they highlight for the kids was the endless play with Kaia, Noah, Conner and Ryan, Devin and Luka.. and that's just the start... the highlight for me was watching sunrises over Machintosh Lake, a definite spiritual experience! We had a great two weeks in Colorado and made plans to return here for several months, kids really wanted to do christmas in LA, so we spent 4 weeks back in CA staying with Judy and Grandma Lynne.. We made loads of Christmas crafts, Luc and I beaded many bracelets for gifts, Reese made earrings and necklaces, we spent christmas eve with Dean in his old house where his boys were born, david and suelyn came as well as dennis & claire. It was so nice to be with so much of my moms family!! Hope and Austin came for a short visit, but that was the best part of the day!! We got to spend lots of time with Kiki and Myev before the holiday, Luc and Myev did some cooking, decorating together. Chirstmas morning was awesome... Steve spent the day with the boys, Luc was building legos galore.. spaceships that we had to try to transport to Colorado in tact, boys got lots of great clothes for Christmas! Early the next morning we packed up and hit the road.
We arrived in Boulder on the afternoon of the 27th, I rented a truck, called a friend, got our bed and couch out of storage and we spent our first night in our new home in North Boulder. We rented a guest cottage from my friend Ali, so we were next door to this wonderful family with their awesome 4 boys.. ages 11, 7, 2 & 5 mos. they had puppies and a baby.. I was in heaven. Their boys love nerf wars and legos too.. what a gift.

HS Musical, Soccer.. fall in Ojai

We went to Magic Mountain 3 times this summer, this was my favorite activity when i was a kid.. nothing has changed, my kids love roller coasters, what makes roller coasters better, having your friends there.. we went in June for Lucs bday, I surprised myself, Reese asked me to ride the Riddler with him and I did, i loved it, I road X2, Terminator, Tatsu, a few more.. we went back 2 mos later just cause and then again in Sept for Zane's bday.. this time it was kids and dads, but they had fun without me.. Zane and Reese played Soccer together.. it was an ironic year, Lucs team the Golden Jets, kicked butt, they were undefeated, Luc scored 2 goals in the season, he was very happy. Reese's team went the whole season with out a win, but they did tie an undefeated team which felt like a victory.. The good thing about soccer in Ojai is all the games are at one location, not like in boulder where i am driving around trying to be in two places at one time.. we met so many nice parents and kids playing soccer, it's was Luc's first season and he loved it. Luc made a good buddy Cash, Reese connected with Zane and Phoenix, such nice kids..
Both of the boys were in High School Musical the play, Reese played Troy Bolton, the jock who wants to also be a singer/actor, Luc played a basketball player and a skater, they did an amazing job, Reese had several solos, the main male lead, i was so proud of him.. he also did some voice lessons and piano with a cool teacher we met at Burning man..
We got to spend lots of time with Judy, Sierra, Canyon and Chloe, we even got to adopt Chloe for a week or so and pretend that we had a dog, she is an angel.. We went rock climbing, lots of time at parks and beach in Ventura, of course we spent some time with them up in big bear too... Luc and Canyon are best buds..
We tried out a new program Grounded by Nature, a kids wilderness program, did not quite work out for Luc, these boys just don't want to do structured activities unless they are really into the activity.. the homeschool charter worked out better, they boys got to take 4 fun classes a week, tennis, art, lego engineering, wilderness survival, etc.. they had some friends there and really enjoyed it. Reese especially liked tennis..
Kaia and Noah and Lex came to La for Halloween, of course we went to Grandma Lynne's party and handed out 5 million pieces of candy to the masses of kids.. Reese was Gangster Elmo again, Luc wore his Ninja outfit that he got for Burning Man, he looked very cool. Mid November we headed to Colorado for 2 weeks to see all our friends.. Lex was off to Peru so we got to hang with Kaia and Noah for 10 days.. Of course Martha made the best Thanksgiving dinner ever..

Bhaktifest and Homeschool Camping trip in Carpinteria

So it's 5 months later, I'm catching up and that's great right? We has such a fun summer and the end of the summer was spectacular.. we went to Burning Man, next weekend we went to Bhakti Fest.. and I have to say I had some very peak experiences there, sitting 10 feet in front of Devi Premal and Mittin.. heart to heart with so many lovely souls.. Krishna Das was totally beautiful... the entire weekend was very fun, 3 yoga classes a day, Donna De Lory was there.. nothing I love more than Kirtan and Yoga.. Kaia and Noah showed up the last day and kids played in the fountains and Reese the entrepreneur made necklaces and earrings and sold then and made $160 in one day.. he was so cute camped out in front of the water station, beading away, taking custom orders and talking to so many people.. he was in his element.

The very next weekend we went on a homeschool camping trip to Carpintera.. my girlfriend Nancy went to Italy and her 5 yr old Evan spent the week with us.. my boys love him, we hula hooped, did some acro yoga, played with the 4 kittens the Judy and company brought, met a wonderful new friend who is a tantrika, shaman, doula homeschooling mom of 5 .. , played games, saw old friends.. such a fun time..

Burning Man - Metropolis.. the new earth..

Yes, we left in late August for Burning Man for our forth year in a row.. we we have an RV, we have NO excuse not to be there..
this year my cousins son Nathan rode up with us, that was a real treat.. he is 21, really alive and fun, he's been to 10 festivals this summer and he was on fire about Burning Man.. he'd been making necklaces and jewelry to offer as gifts and Reese got inspired and I bought him a bunch of beads and he started making necklaces, wire wrapping beads and making earrings, it was very cool..
We picked up a couple from Winnipeg in Reno (they spent 3 days on a bus to get to Reno) and they rode 7 hours into the burn with us. I drove up from Ojai, picked Steve up at the Reno airport and we drove in together.. Reese and Luc had a ball sharing stories of past burns with the 3 virgins ( someone who has not been to Burning Man before) and we happily arrived at Kidsville (our camp where we stay every year with 100 or so other families) early Monday morning.

The boys had these amazing custom Ninja outfits that Steve bought for them this year, I think they wore them almost everyday! Reese got to fire spin for a second time when a group of performers came to visit kidsville, he was a big hit. both boys also got to spin some fire poi (as well as the 2 other boys that were their friends that we claimed to be their parents.. haha) We had a blast roaming the playa, climbing on art, oohing and aahing at the amazing creativity, hooping at various camps, eating dinner as we roamed various camps and we were offered Bacon, turkey dinner and most exciting Top Ramon (offered in a giant tub), we played on a great obstacle course, battled with giant turkey legs, and watch the grown ups act like kids at Thunderdome bashing each other with foam bats! All over the playa, folks took our photos, gifted the kids cool stuff, offered us rides on art cars .. the usual gig..

I did some late night dancing, checked out the big rave camps, did some yoga, learned some acro yoga, thai massage, had a reiki session, did the human carcass wash twice (that's a blast you wash others and get washed using squirt bottles), did some contact improv, and some other cool adult activities that I won't write about here..

We had great weather this year and as usual got our hearts very filled up with all the love on the playa..

Elevate Party - Reese the fire spinner!

Just a week or so after we moved to our new home in Ojai, the Elevate crew (the is the company Steve works for now, www.elevate.us ) threw a big party at Glen Muse (our new home). Amazing party, see some great photos at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=14220060&id=634875642&ref=fbx_album
met incredible folks, we had some amazing fire spinners on hand, and Reese got to twirl a fire hoop, a dream of his!! Top notch entertainment, singers, DJ's, sweet kids and loving heart centered folks.. that feel like a new family coming together!!

CA Homeschool Conference.. what a blast..

We were so fortunate to not only spend the summer in the South Bay and be able to see all our friends, including Colleen and her brood who were in LA for a month.. It's amazing how the kids are growing up.. her baby (that i was graced with attending his unassisted home birth) is 5, her oldest is 18, got to spend a few days with him and take him to a few meetings, that was a treat! Reese loved seeing NIgel, Janina, Iman and baby Andre! We took Colleen to the contact improv in Santa Monica and boy she loved that, such a beautiful intimate dance!

We spent 3 days in Ontario at the CHN conference, Steve came with us, hooray, and my mom came out for a day also!! Such an impressive line up of talks, my favorites were a mom who talked about a book group for kids (thats on my list of things i want to do.. can't wait to do a poetry discussion and read Rumi), another talk called WIld Days, that was all about nature exploration and letting kids explore and discover, an expert on green living & urban gardening, Laura from MBNS our old nursery school gave a great heart centered communication workshop and Steve raved about the dads panel. We want to host an unschooling panel next year! Reese gave an amazing performance at the talent show hooping as well as hosting and teaching Magic the gathering duals. Luc spent 8+hours a day building Kapla blocks creations alone, with friends, with daddy and grandma.. whatever..
So many of our friends were there, it felt like a family reunion, without the drama..

Hermosa, Manhattan, Big Bear, San Clemente & RV trips.

Quite the summer adventure and it continues.. We packed up our apartment in Boulder end of May, we had a great winter and spring there, loved our place on Mapleton Ave (even with the 2 month roof construction project), we loved being in our own space, we loved our roomates Daniel and Scott, we had lots of kids over and stayed home and played games a ton.. the highlights of Boulder were Magic Tournaments ( 2 nights a week and Luc got to play legos with Tris and mommy got time alone, of course i went to yoga... ), Kids Night Out at the Longmont Rec Center (and of course time with our best buds Ryan, Connor, Kaia and Noah), Sleep Overs with Tim, Joey and Miranda.. oh how I miss them, 3 of the most beautiful and amazing kids I know, rock climbing and hiking at Mt Senitas, Clay Class with Mira at her awesome house up Boulder Canyon, Improv Class at Rocky Mntn Theater for kids, hanging with our friends Eya, Oliver, Levi, Jaylin, Tony & Hattie, Will and Nickie, our unschoolers park day, visiting the Planetarium, dancing at Rhythm Sanctuary on Thurs nights and the kids who showed up to play legos!!

But Daddy was in California and had only seen kids for a few days at a time on visits so we had to come out and have more daddy time and visit all the relatives in LA. We started with a week in Hermosa Beach, took a 12 day RV trip with my sis Melinda and her kids Hope and Austin up to Santa Rosa, camped in Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay on the beach, went to SF (melinda had not been there before), visited the Exploratorium (the most fun Science Museum in SF), saw the Redwoods, swam in the Russian River and went to the Harmony Festival (great music, shopping, eco green village, lectures, dancing, frolic, hooping). Reese was Mr Independent, he had his own phone and was off and exploring on his own most of the weekend.

We spent a very relaxing week in San Clemente at our timeshare, did very little, played at the beach, shuffleboard, ping pong, swam, chilled and played lots of games with my mom & Bryan, Mindy and kids.. my boys had a blast with Daddy playing games, they love beating him ...

We rented a studio apt in Manhattan Beach for a month and really enjoyed the beach, homeschooler park day, beach day, speech club (yes Reese made quite a showing one week when he won all 3 awards in one day, best speech, best impromptu and best evaluator!), my girlfriend Colleen who moved her brood up to Canada was in town for a month visiting and we loved seeing them!

Highlight of the summer were the 2 productions the kids got to do: Sleeping Beauty (Reese played the Prince Philip who delivers true loves kiss to awaken the princess and Luc played a goon working for the evil Malificient, he was a scream! Also got to do Annie and Reese played Rooster Hannigan the down on his luck brother of Ms Hannigan who pretends to be Annie's parent to collect the reward, Luc played a dog catcher (his big line.. seen any strange mutts around here? ), a policeman, a laundry boy and a servant of Oliver Warbucks.. he was a busy little guy. The boys were both amazing, they spent 40-50 hours in rehearsal time on each show in just 10 days each! They made great friends, showed great maturity dealing with all the down time as they rehearsed multiple casts and of course memorized every song and everyone's lines in both shows! Mommy got a few hours to herself and enjoyed lots of Bikrim Yoga, runs on the beach and time with friends! Nothing quite like the joy of watching my kids work really hard, be really passionate about something and perform so beautifully on stage!

singing the songs..

One of the best parts of spending the summer in Hermosa Beach is the family theater group we've participated in the last 3 summers. Thanks to Alexis the boys got to do High School Musical 2 summers ago and fell in love with musical theater! Reese will be playing Rooster in Annie next Saturday and he is thrilled to always be cast in lead roles. We listen to the songs non stop, they practice for 5 hours a day for 2 weeks straight and then the performance. Luc will be playing multiple roles as a cop, laundry man, dog catcher and radio station worker.

Last night Luc and I lay in bed and he was singing one of the songs in Annie that has a line "I'm richer than Midas", Daddy Worbucks sings the song after his heart has opened finally as Annie enters into his life and he realizes how lonely and unhappy he was (despite his wealth and success) when he had no one to truly love.
"Who's Midas?' Luc asks and we have a whole discussion about King Midas and how love makes you rich not possessions. But money is useful for getting stuff you want, luc commented.. but we are rich in love, that's for sure.. then he started asking about President Roosevelt (who is in the Annie play). "We're white right mom? yes, "was President Roosevelt white?" yes, but Obama is not right? right, "who is the second black president mom?" well there is no second, Obama is still in office and he is the first.. "there is a lot of brown people in the world huh?', yeah.. then he sings 3 lines from "Tomorrow, tomorrow I love ya tomorrow, you're always a day away".. and sings himself to sleep..

radical neglect is all i can say..

In May of 2009, we left Boulder mid month headed to Nevada, picked up our RV and drove it to Portland for the Life is Good
Unschooling Conference. We ended up spending 2 full weeks hanging with the unschoolers in Portland, who by the way have an unschoolers park day every day of the week in some area of Portland.. wow..

The parks in Portland are amazing, huge, the most beautiful trees I've ever seen.. we went to a different park everyday, exploring many areas of the vast city of Portland and really enjoyed our time connecting with many we met from the conference. I also had several nice visits with my great aunt Louise, my Grandma Dorothy's only living sibling.. they are the 2 youngest of 5 kids and it's just them still here..

We left Portland and headed south to the coast to visit my friend Lily who lives at the beach, got craving seeing our friends and family in LA and dropped our RV off and headed for Southern California