The Bervabu Chronicles http://the-bervabu-chronicles.posterous.com An ongoing report of our family adventures posterous.com Tue, 15 May 2012 18:47:13 -0700 The news from Lake WE-BE-GONE http://the-bervabu-chronicles.posterous.com/131007532 http://the-bervabu-chronicles.posterous.com/131007532

Okay, so it's been a while since we posted on our blog.  Too busy having fun and learning.  So, here's an update on what we've been up to.

Since our last post, we have had lots of great visits from friends.  Paul Dreyer, a gifted outdoor educator and friend, visited us in March while there was still a bit of snow on the ground and led the boys in an all-day snow science and avalanche safety class, including some fun buried avalanche beacon hunts. 

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David Lasky paid us a quick visit, and we joined him on a tour of a local organic farm with a huge greenhouse.  After our challenges with high altitude gardening in Nederland, it was inspiring to see how productive (and wet!) the farm is at 8800 feet.  You could see Sumaya's thumb get greener throughout the tour.  We're itching to get a garden started here, and we were excited to learn that Crested Butte recently passed an ordinance allowing chickens on residential lots.  Jason's Paleo Diet regimen includes about three dozen eggs per week, so having our own chickens would come in handy.  Stay tuned.

We then headed out on a hut trip to a hut in Gothic, only a few miles from our house, joined by the Brewer and Lynch families from Nederland.  We got lucky with beautiful weather, and had our usual relaxing and physically active hut experience.  The Gothic hut is located in a spectacular valley, and is part of the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory complex, which is largely dormant in winter.  We did a bit of backcountry skiing, some more beacon hunting, played lots of games and charades, and ate lots of meat.

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After our hut trip, we spent some time with Karel and Alice Starek, who were in town visiting over Spring Break.  Some tasty meals together, some fun snow hiking, and always great conversation.  The Stareks are one of Jason's inspirations for living a life of integrity, matching ideals with commitments.  Check here: http://fineartinhomebuilding.wordpress.com/ for a link to a blog detailing the construction of their new home and farm project, after their last architectural masterpiece in the mountain burned down in the Four Mile Fire of 2010.

Next up was our trip to Nicaragua.  Sumaya, former world traveler, was starting to get a twitch that would only go away if she went once again to some off-the-beaten path destination.  We were clear that we were in search of an adventure, and not a vacation.  After considerable research on a good place to go where we could all practice our Spanish, do some service work, and get to some remote villages, we chose Nicaragua.   

It's always difficult to capture the essence of an adventure like this.  We experienced the amazing natural beauty of the beaches, the volcanoes, the waterfalls, the lakes, and the islands.  We spent time in extremely impoverished villages and communities, including some service work preparing and serving lunch in "the dump," a community of people displaced by a hurricane over a decade ago, and who now seem forgotten and relegated to a very hard life. 

We saw oxcarts traveling down the road next to automobiles.  We got transported back in time as we watched the village life on the shores of Lake Nicaragua on Isla Ometepe, where the women wash clothes on rock platforms in the lake, while locals fish and livestock strolls down to the water for a drink.  We played, too.  Boogie boarding.  Horseback riding.  Surfing lessons.  Biking on the beach. Fishing, and sledding down the side of a volcano (the boys' favorites).

We ended our trip in Granada, a historic city with 400 year-old churches, and hidden treasures inside of thick-walled streets.  Poking into the right spots revealed lush interior gardens and even a pool to jump into on a hot afternoon.  One of the highlights was a trip to the local market, an extremely sensual experience, if mildly claustrophobic.  It was a city block jammed with about 400 stalls teeming with humanity.

The blowfish Spencer caught fishing in the estuary:

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Boogieboarding fun!

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After sledding to the bottom of Cerro Negro volcano:

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Watch out for exploding volcanoes and earthquakes!

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Sumaya on Isla de Ometepe (with Lake Nicaragua and a lovely volcano in the background):

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Recent homeschool projects and topics have included flight and weather; the art of Michelangelo; Roman aqueducts; and geographic studies of Stonehenge, The Sphinx, the Panama Canal and the Forbidden City.  Here's a photo of some hot dogs cooking up in the boys' solar cooker:

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After returning from Nicaragua, Jason had successful sinus surgery.  His sense of smell is slowly returning, although the post-op recovery has taken far longer than expected.

Things are moving along nicely with our relocation to Crested Butte.  We close on a house in town on June 1st, and just went under contract on our house in Nederland.  Moving to a smaller house means we've got quite a few pieces of extra furniture that need a new home.  If you are a Ned or Boulder local, and are in need of a King size Tempurpedic mattress, a classic Eames style lounge chair, a sideboard, a Mexican pine trunk, an L-shaped desk, a filing cabinet, a dresser, or a full-size pickup truck with 164,000 miles on it, let us know.  We have special price for you. 

Sumaya recently signed her contract for teaching next year at Western State College.  A long-time dream finally coming to fruition.  She has been given free reign to design her own course on democracy and democratic theory, which has provided a handy excuse for her to geek out on all sorts of books that explore the concepts that are so vital to our freedoms, but which we seldom have the opportunity to discuss in any meaningful way with others.  Sumaya with a book on democracy and a strong cup of coffee is a formidable morning conversationalist.

Meanwhile, Jason, in full retreat from the rigors of the intellectual life, is geeking out on getting bulk orders of duct tape and finding just the right set of tire levers for HeroKits.  If all goes well, HeroKits should be available for purchase by mid-summer.  Stay tuned.

The boys, not to be left in the entrepreneurial dust, have recently acquired their own cash cow, also known as the lemonade stand bike cart, which will soon be gracing the trailheads and gathering places of Crested Butte.

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Hugs to all of you from the Bervabus.

 

 

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Sun, 04 Mar 2012 07:51:06 -0800 If you have some time... http://the-bervabu-chronicles.posterous.com/if-you-have-some-time http://the-bervabu-chronicles.posterous.com/if-you-have-some-time

Well, it's been a while since our last post, so settle in for a long one...

Shortly after our last update, we headed out of town to meet up with Sumaya's family in Barbados to celebrate her mom Susan's 70th birthday.  The Abu-Haidars bid on and won a wonderful vacation home at a school auction, and of course we think supporting school auctions is a great thing to do, so we had no choice but to luxuriate while spending some very enjoyable time with Susan, Munir, brother Ramzi and sister-in-law Nancie. 

We quickly got the hang of driving on the left side of the road, although we didn't understand why other drivers couldn't figure out that whenever our wipers went on, we were about to make a turn.  We braved the roads several times for some fascinating outings.  We went on a hike at Welchman Hall Gully (http://www.welchmanhallgullybarbados.com/), which offered a self-guided tour of dozens of plants, flowers, and trees.  We followed this up with a trip to the Barbados Wildife Reserve, which allowed us to walk among the animals along serpentine trails that led in and out of patches of forest.  We also went to the Flower Forest, where we were reminded that the divine can be found in the amazingly intricate designs of nature.  One of the highlights of the week was sailing on a catamaran, with stops to snorkel with sea turtles, who were irresistably drawn to us, despite one of the crew putting lots of food in the water for them.  Owen, Ramzi, Nancie and Jason tried their hand at deep sea fishing.  The brook trout from Colorado had sent word to their southern sea-going cousins that they had nothing to fear from us Bervs, and so we went 6 hours without a single opportunity to reel in a big fish that would inevitably be reported as much bigger in this blog. 

Upon returning from Barbados, we spent a few days in Hurricania, also known as Nederland.  It was great to connect with friends and play some hockey.  We also got to watch through the window as the snow blew sideways for a few days.  This pesky wind has also recently been responsible for blowing off half the roof and a couple of skylights at the former Watershed School building.  Geez. 

Jason had a quick stop in Denver for a doctor's appointment, and then we hit the road.  For those of you not familiar with Jason's health saga, here it is in a nutshell:  after two years of crazy weird symptoms including a total loss of sense of smell and taste, asthma that came on like a tidal wave, and a total allergy to ibuprofen, aspirin, and alcohol (grape juice, anyone?), he got a diagnosis last fall that finally made sense.  Something called Triad Asthma, which only befalls short, swarthy men who start schools and marry their soulmates (karma's a bitch).  After lots of testing and scanning, Jason is due to return to Denver at the end of April for sinus surgery to roto-rooter out his sinuses, which are completely occluded, and then begin aspirin desensitization (flood the system with aspirin, and then take a maintenance dose everyday for the rest of my life).  Although the mechanism is unclear, this procedure has proven successful for approximately 80% of Triad Asthma sufferers, and holds the hope that Jason may be able to smell and taste again, while also experiencing significant improvement in asthma symptoms.  The only side effect is that from time to time Jason may spontaneously yell "what the f*#k is that smell?"

Upon returning to Crested Butte, we were treated to lots of great snow to play in (family powder day!), as well as the beginning of the Town League hockey playoffs (4 games in 1 week).  We are amply exercised, and not currently suffering from a vitamin D deficiency.  The sledding hill might soon be renamed in Spencer's honor.

Here's the latest in our homeschool adventures:

Exploring the Solar System and the Universe!!
Sumaya and the boys spent a week exploring the mysteries of our universe and solar system. They started with a mobile of the solar system that Owen has had for years and asked the basic question: is is to scale and if it were to scale, could you fit it an a building (even a BIG building)? They found a helpful online calculator that helps you figure out the correct size for all the planets and their distance from the sun when you punch in the size of the sun you wish to use. They punched in many options, but eventually settled on a 5 inch star. They then cut out and colored planets with the correct size (learned a lot about each planet as they did this! Check out kidsastronomy.com). With a 5 inch start, the earth is a mere 0.04 inches! They then wrote down the distance each planet would be from the sun according to the chosen scale. They bought 12 rolls of adding machine paper (130 ft each roll) and went to a nearby road that has little traffic on it. After gluing the sun to the beginning of the first roll, they continued to roll out roll after roll (10 in all!)  pasting the planets at the right distances from the sun. Their whole solar system model ended up being about 1/3 of a mile long! Conclusion: it would be impossible even for a museum to make an accurate model of the solar system using the same scale for both the planets and their distance from the sun. Even if a museum used a building 7 city blocks long, it would be hard to make it interesting considering that many of the planets would be barely visible at this scale.  It would be even more unrealistic for a toy manufacturer to make a model that would fit into a child's room!

Next, the cosmic exploration trio turned to a documentary series written and narrated by Stephen Hawking called "Into the universe". They learned about the origins of the universe, the likelihood of life existing somewhere other than on our planet, how stars are formed, how galaxies work. We highly recommend these videos! (they're on netflix). Stephen Hawking is our hero.

On the construction front, the boys have recently built bird houses and wooden boats, further honing their skills with drills, saws, and palm sanders.  The welding supplies just arrived in the mail, and we are hoping to begin construction soon on a trailer that can be pulled behind the boys' bikes.

Here are some photos of the boys' boats and their inaugural sail on "Lake Managua":

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Spanish lessons for the boys continue, and family ceramics class began on Friday, where we got to start throwing pots on a wheel.  So much fun to play with clay, and lots of lessons to be learned along the way.  Sumaya, to no one's surprise, turns out to be a natural potter.  Jason, on the other hand, is re-evaluating his relationship to "modern art." 

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We are excited that this month will be chock full of visitors.  Bridget and Colin Fearing from Nederland arrive later today for a few days of fun.  Paul Dreyer is scheduled to come out in a few weeks, and has offered to teach a snow science course for the boys. Then the Brewers and Lynches from Nederland join us over Spring Break for a hut trip in Gothic, not far from the ski area.  And we'll get to see the Starek family at the end of the month.  Yay! We love seeing friends.

We'll be traveling for much of April.  We just booked our tickets to Nicaragua, for some Spanish language learning, some volunteering, and some surfing lessons.  Please let us know if you have any tips or suggestions for travel in Nicaragua.

Muchos abrazos from Crested Butte.

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Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:12:07 -0800 The latest from CB... http://the-bervabu-chronicles.posterous.com/97814093 http://the-bervabu-chronicles.posterous.com/97814093

Lately we've been settling into our routine with homeschool, hockey (lots of hockey), and being up on the mountain. 

THE HOMESCHOOL REPORT:

Our trebuchet project has been perfected with additional counterweights and we got a record launch of nearly 70 feet.  We are eyeing a few distant houses for a stealth fruit attack.  We need to clean out the fridge anyway. 

We moved on from catapults to building bridges out of popsicle sticks.  The boys built some impressive structures. Here's Spence testing his first bridge:

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Owen with his first bridge:

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Owen testing his second (super burly) bridge.  (Owen and the two 10 pound weights = 95 pounds):

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The bridge broke after Sumaya stood atop it.  So we know that the bridge holds somewhere between 95 and 260 pounds.  (Sumaya has really bulked up here in CB.)

We've all been enjoying Sumaya's geography adventures and learning about cool places all around the world.  Recent destinations have included Mauna Loa, Antarctica, Hadrian's Wall, and the Terra Cotta Warriors of China.  The boys are sent on (virtual) missions to these places and return chock full of amazing facts. 

Spanish class and cooking class with CB locals have also provided some fun for the boys, as well as a bit of a break for us homeschool teachers.  The boys have begun cooking dinners on Sunday nights - partly as a way to learn the ropes, and partly because they have had enough of dad's Paleo dinners.  Why doesn't everyone love meat three to five times a day?

While also serving as art teacher, Sumaya has rediscovered her love of watercolor painting, and can often be found in a blissful state trying to capture the subtle hues of this cute little mining town and the breathtaking mountains that surround us in every direction.  Husband is in awe of this latest bit of skill, and wonders if there is anything she cannot do (well).

TROOPER THE MENACE (a report filed by Spencer)

I played with Trooper for an hour straight.  We played fetch.  I threw a stick and he’d come back and then drop it next to me.  It was kind of fun.

 But, there’s another side of Trooper.  He is a menace.  Whatever you leave outside, he finds it and destroys it.  It started with Owen’s new soccer ball that he got for Christmas.  It lasted two days in Crested Butte before Trooper popped it.  Then, when we were launching oranges in our trebuchet, Trooper stole our orange and tore it up. Same thing happened with our tennis ball ammunition.  Next, we were playing with legos in the driveway.  We walked to town and when we came back, Trooper had stolen some of our lego pieces.  Next, you would think dogs eat bones, but not this one.  He ate my sled!  He chewed the whole side of it right off. 

 Another time, he followed us to town, and stole a basket from in front of a thrift store.  When we told Trooper’s owner, she said this wasn’t the first time he’d taken a tour through town.

 Yesterday, Trooper wasn’t feeling so well and he took a huge explosive poop in our yard. 

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 Now we try not to leave anything outside.  I’ll still play fetch with him, but I wouldn’t say he’s a good dog.

THE SPORTS REPORT

This past week we had 9 hockey games.  NINE.  Sumaya got to play against the talented gals from Western State College.  Jason realized that the first game of his career, in which he scored twice, is likely to be the pinnacle of his hockey life, and that it's all downhill from here. Spencer played in a tournament all weekend, including a game against a former neighbor, Anthony Turco, who now plays for Durango.  We got to see Anthony, his brother Nicholas, and dad Rich for a few hours on Saturday at our house. 

Owen and Spencer are getting to know the mountain well, and led Jason on an all-mountain ski tour last week.  We were bummed that the mega-storm that hit Nederland skipped CB entirely, but the skiing has still been pretty great. 

Owen is quickly becoming King of the Hill at the local sledding hill.  Thankfully, Trooper didn't eat all of our sleds.  If there is an X-games event for sledding, Owen is ready for the competition.

Sumaya and Jason have also found time for some great skate skiing, some good winter biking, and a bit of yoga.  We are currently ranked 1,563rd (out of 1600) on the Crested Butte athletic couples competition.  We have yet to win any national or world events, which might put us in the top 500. 

HERO KITS

Lest it appear that there is no work happening here at Bervabu Headquarters, I am pleased to report that progress is being made on Hero Kits.  It has been a surprising pleasure to work with inanimate objects rather than people, and a rough prototype is now complete.

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VISIT TO NEDERLAND

We'll be back in Nederland later this week for a brief visit, before jetting off to join Sumaya's family to celebrate her mom's 70th birthday.  We hope to see as many of our Ned friends as possible while we're home.

 

 

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Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:14:06 -0800 Snow, Snow, Snow! http://the-bervabu-chronicles.posterous.com/95545359 http://the-bervabu-chronicles.posterous.com/95545359

Three big storms later, the Butte is finally a winter wonderland. We got 15 inches in the last 24 hours.

We loved sharing the winter fun with the Achtenhagen family last week! Skiing, snowshoeing, skating, sledding, and fort-building. Yeehaw! So fun to see friends here in Crested Butte. 

With a much-needed quiet Sunday on our hands, we sent Jason up to the mountain to savor the powder while Sumaya, Owen and Spence finished the absurdly difficult K'nex roller coaster that we've been working on for weeks:

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A family walk to town for groceries was full of snowy fun, massive icicles and two boys jumping into every snowbank along the way and terrorizing more than a few of the local dogs with their hoots and hollers.

 

On the homeschool front.... Secret agents Berv and Berv have been sent on several top sercret missions to exciting locations around the globe. Agent Owen has been to the Parthenon and to Easter Island, and agent Spencer loved his mission to the Pyramids of Giza. While he professed to be less interested in his second destination, Machu Picchu, agent Spencer had a whole lot to report about the architecture, stormwater drainage and possible reasons for the disappearance of the people who built this amazing city.

Here are the latest photos of where the two agents were spotted last:

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We would tell you about this week's exciting destinations, but we're sworn to secrecy, so stay tuned for future updates. On a side note, we'd like to thank PBS and National Geographic for the terrific documentaries on so many of our planet's most intersting destinations. They sure come in handy.

Last week's art project included cool metal art in the style of 14th century Italian master Lorenzo Ghiberti. Nothing like tin foil, black tempera paint and cardboard to make for some really cool looking art.

On the docket for math last week: playing "math dice" while having a delicious lunch at Sherpas in downtown CB. If you haven't checked out this simple but cool math game, give it a shot some time. Jason and Sumaya enjoyed it just as much as the boys did. Spencer worked with addition and subtraction, Owen worked with multiplication and division, while Sumaya took on the Maine state math champ (1984) working with roots and exponents. Cool!

Coming up this week: Popsicle stick bridge building, limerick writing, and our first Spanish class with a super nice local lady from mexico. Stay tuned!

 

 

 

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Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:54:00 -0800 The fun begins... (2nd try with videos) http://the-bervabu-chronicles.posterous.com/the-fun-begins http://the-bervabu-chronicles.posterous.com/the-fun-begins

Okay. So, we're pretty well settled here in Crested Butte.

All 4 of us have joined a hockey team.  It seems that the locals here are born with skates on.  A bit painful during the birth, but good training overall for the uber-women who inhabit this valley.  Spencer has overcome his jitters and is now enjoying his thrice-weekly practices on one of several rinks in town.  Owen fits in great with his team, and has his first game tomorrow afternoon.  (Updates to come...).  Sumaya has joined the infamous Red Ladies women's hockey team, and has got her groove back.  Jason played in his first-ever hockey game in the Town League, and got 2 goals and one busted rib. On the injured reserve for a bit.

Owen and Spencer had a great first snowboarding lesson over the weekend, and seem to have a knack for knuckle-dragging.  Unfortunately, snowboarding has turned them into punks. (see video)

Today they headed back to the hill to practice their turns (a short walk to the bus stop, a quick ride up to the mountain, and then a gorgeous sunny day).  Shaun White, watch your back.

And, in case you think it's all fun and games here in CB, homeshool is underway.  In addition to AAAAH (Abuhaidar's Art Academy At Home), where the kids have been doing art in the style of several of the great masters, and the arrival today of the ant farm, we have constructed a trebuchet (an assault weapon from the middle ages), and have begun storming castles around town.  Here are some pics and vids from our initial building and launches.

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We miss our friends and hope you'll come play with us.  We've already had a wonderful visit from Vera, Jason's mom, and next week the Achtenhagen family from Boulder will be visiting.  Reserve your spot now!

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Sun, 01 Jan 2012 19:19:00 -0800 Happy New Year! http://the-bervabu-chronicles.posterous.com/happy-new-year http://the-bervabu-chronicles.posterous.com/happy-new-year

After a long drive last Wednesday, we arrived in sunny and virtually snowless Crested Butte. We've spent some time unpacking, played some pond hockey and some rink hockey, went for a gorgeous moonlit snowshoe on New Year's Eve, and rang in the new year with a cross country ski to a cute little yurt in the woods, where we ate brunch and then skied back to our house. 

This afternoon, Craigslist provided the gift of a gently used ping pong table.  Jason has begun showing the family the ways of the ping-pong jedi.

The soft Crested Buttians claimed to be victim to a "wind storm" the other night when the gentle breeze hit 15 mph.  Dorothy, we're not in Nederland any more.

We read in the paper that the ski resort has already used up all of its snowmaking water allotment for the entire season.  Tomorrow we venture to the ski hill in our shorts and t-shirts to see if there are some good groomers to enjoy despite the freak drought.

Happy New Year to all of our friends and family. 

Let it snow. Let it snow. Let it snow!

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Fri, 18 Nov 2011 08:03:00 -0800 We're off to Crested Butte! http://the-bervabu-chronicles.posterous.com/were-off-to-crested-butte-10219 http://the-bervabu-chronicles.posterous.com/were-off-to-crested-butte-10219

Shortly after Christmas, we are headed to Crested Butte to enjoy a family adventure for several months. We plan to ski and snowboard together, learn together at the Bervabu Academy of Today, Tomorrow, and Yesterday (BATTY), and bring lots of joy into our lives. We'll be sharing news of our adventure here.

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