A whittle wood goes a long way

Jeremy, my 10 year old, decided that this would be the year or the wood whittling. He searched the woods for the perfect piece of wood, and then plopped himself in a camping chair and began to whittle an adorable little pencil. He got the point so sharp that I told him he should stick it into the remains of the previous nights fire, blacken the tip and write with it.

His whittling and wood carving talents garnered him a following, his cousins now wanted knives. Every night, as the adults were preparing dinner, the kids would sit at our camp site with their knives and perfect piece of wood and begin to carve. Every so often someone would yell out, "DON'T GET TOO CLOSE! YOU ARE IN MY BLOOD CIRCLE!" For some reason that always cracked me up.

The girls were carving what looked like arrows, and the boys decided to comb the woods for sticks that looked like bows. What an adventure this turned out to be!

Of course they had to find one for my baby, who is not my favorite, nor is he adorable. Help me. I am captivated by the cuteness.

Before he shot his arrow, he told me that I had to countdown and say blast off. 3-2-1-BLASTOFF! We did that about 6,842 times, give or take.

And here he is, the mastermind. Jeremy is like MacGyver. He can take an ordinary item and turn it into something fun and awesome. What a mind he has. If only I was half as creative as this awesome kid.

He wanted me to capture the arrow as if flew out of the bow, but I could not do it with the zoom lens. And let me tell you, those arrows really took flight and flew some distance.

I love the way the woods beckon the kids to be inventive. I love the way the books that we have read this year and listened to on tape have helped to channel their creativity. The Sign of the Beaver and Farmer Boy directly influenced the projects they worked on in the woods. I have great kids. I really do.