Backyard Adventures
Fun mini-adventures that you can do right in your own backyard — literally. I’ve always been an advocate that anything can be an adventure if you have eyes of wonder. Once I was told that if you want to meet god, you need go no further than a flower. So, for me, I have often sought adventures close to home. And, now I am lucky to have my own garden.
UPDATE: All our kid-friendly Backyard Adventures have been moved to Dreamaplay and updated with new content. These are inspirational exercises to help kids (and adults) find their passions, dreams and life goals.
A new way of seeing
Rachel Hugens, world traveler by bicycle, shares the biggest lesson she learned after 25 years on and off the road. Avid traveler or armchair traveler, this will change your life, too!
Send your name to Mars
Join Scott on his mission to Mars. Well… really it is just his name etched in silicon that will be going on NASA’s 2020 Mars Rover, but anyone can join.
Spot the International Space Station
Here is an easy backyard adventure that I have done 3 times already. You can easily spot the International Space Station flying overhead. It looks a lot like a fast airplane except that’s a lot higher and traveling thousands of miles an hour.
Lumenocity
Cincinnati’s Lumenocity is a classical music performance by the symphony, which uses lasers to illuminate the Music Hall building with animations.
Rain Barrel
This rain barrel took me about 2 hours to install and cost only $50 USD. The next day there was a huge rainstorm and it filled up in about 10 minutes.
Jumping jacks on a frozen lake
Here’s another item to add to your bucket list. Walking on top of a frozen lake is a simple and fun adventure many people can do near their home.
Grow Food NOT Grass
What better way to have a backyard adventure than to grow a garden? Here is my new “Grow Food NOT Grass” sign that I made using a wood burner, a nice piece of walnut and some scraps. This goes with the terraced garden that I built in the spring. Actually, this is the front lawn,
Are you a flutterby?
Do you stop to smell the flowers and sip the nectar of life? Or do you just flutter past everything and let your wings get caught in the winds of life?
Where are you from?
I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, Planet Earth, Sol System, Milky Way Galaxy, the Known Universe, and have called various places home.
An adventure back home
I had a great time at the 170th year of the Waukesha County Fair, including: all-you-can-drink chocolate milk for a dollar. Here I am feeding a Bengal Tiger a small piece of beef.
An elephant-sized lesson in recycling
Last week I got to visit a school in the Chicago area. The art teacher Ms. Holly, of Todd Hall Elementary School, thought of making an elephant sculpture out of recyclable laundry detergent bottles. This is a great, life-sized example of just how much stuff we use — most of it, unfortunately, doesn’t get recycled.
Classroom composting
Illustration of the new children’s book has begun at the Waukesha STEM Academy charter school. Above one of 18 art classes is working on their drawings for “Ruby the Red Worm’s Dirty Job”.
Father and Son Launch iPhone Into Space
Backyard Adventures. Cool fun mini-expeditions helping students and parents become modern argonauts. Second in my series of Backyard Adventures is The Final Frontier.