coasting...

I've not been very good about making time to post lately! I took far too many pictures, and there was never enough time to unload them.

Rewind to last weekend...

Ryan
and
AJ
went
to a
Learn
To Fly
event
at the
Fitch-
burg
airport.

They
brought
lunches
of To-
furky
and
lettuce
sand-
wiches;
succhini brownies; carrots; cucumber; a strawberry for Ryan.

And I went to a retirement party of sorts, down at Arcadia State Park in Rhode Island. I brought along sushi to celebrate...
I just used whatever veggies I had on hand: cucumber, scallion, lettuce, red bell pepper, kanpyo (pickled sweet gourd strips). It had to last for most of the day covered with plastic wrap and a dish towel with an ice blanket underneath. And then I added some rice balls roll in various furikake and toasted sesame seeds. I brought along some shoyu and tiny paper cups. It all worked out pretty well! With the exception of leaving my platter behind and not realizing it until I was 10 minutes along home...at least it was only 10 minutes!

So with no time to shop or prepare, it was on to another week of "plain" bento...
Ryan's lunch on Monday: vegetable fried rice (mainly spinach & corn); homemade mango applesauce; smoked Tofurky slices; a strawberry.

When I returned hungry from a day of hiking during my weekend travels, I created a rather bizarre sandwich. But it turned out to be a hit and Ryan wanted it for lunch...
Ryan's lunch on Tuesday: carrots; grapes; sandwich of Veganaise, melted Daiya cheddar, smoked Tofurky, thinly sliced onion, dill pickle flats, lettuce.

Nothing like fresh hummus. I go ahead and eat it for breakfast after making it for the kids' lunch and snacks...
Ryan's lunch on Wednesday: grape gel cup; a strawberry; cucumber slices; baby carrots; flat pretzels; vegetable crackers; white bean & onion hummus.

Getting desperate by thursday! Definitely had to go grocery shopping by friday...
Ryan's lunch on Thursday: brown & white rice; steamed broccoli; meatless meatballs; apple slices; corn & peas.

But before friday arrived, I had to attend school "pride night". AJ was excited to stay up late and show off his classroom...





















Some highlights were his grass head, purple crayon drawing, wormery, garbage garden, and globe.

Both boys' classrooms this year face the interior of the school's inner courtyard.












Ryan enjoyed showing off
the class tadpoles, the balance
scales, a letter he'd written
to his brother (all of his
classmates had written to
a parent instead), and running
around the courtyard checking
out the new plantings and the
raised beds full of strawberry
plants with lots of little white
berries that were doing quite
well.

I'll hold off on Friday's post,
because there are simply
too many photos left for this post alone!