Monday, August 30, 2010

This Monday Morning

I didn't participate in the "Day in the Life" Bloghop on homeschool post. I knew from the first instruction that this would be a failure. Why? Because the blog asked you to describe a typical day of homeschooling in your family. It's the word "typical" that made this an impossible assignment.

Case in point, here's how our Monday morning went.

Monday mornings should be a time of sleepy children and sleepy mommies dragging themselves back into the routine. But on this particular Monday, Toa of Boy woke up and went to go talk to his hamsters. Nothing unusual there. Toa often spends a few moments every morning talking to his hamsters.

After a few minutes of two-way conversation, Toa the Hamster Whisperer told me, "I think he wants to come out and play."

In ten minutes, a hamster play pen had been set up, complete with an elaborate tunnel network of cardboard tubes. The hamster wheel was moved from the cage and mounted on the pen's fence. A small hamster scurried about the carpet gleefully, watched over by an equally gleeful young boy.

Two eggs were cooked, one for me and one for Toa, and Toa sat on the living room floor, watching his hamster while he had his breakfast. I retreated to the  kitchen table with my egg, my hot chocolate, my Bible, and my notebook.

A few short minutes later, Toa had scarfed his egg down and was in the kitchen carefully rinsing off his dishes and loading them in the dishwasher. I continued with my devotions while he returned to the living room.

So no one really knows how the hamster got out of its pen. I'm still convinced they have limited teleportation abilities.

Fortunately, the escapee was quickly contained in a paper towel tube and then returned safely to his home. And then the living room needed cleaned up and hamster stuff put away (which Toa of Boy did). And by then my hot chocolate was cold and I had barely started my devotions.

And suddenly, it was time for school. I had put on my clothes for exercising, but didn't quite get to it. I get partial credit for that, right?

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Nevada

I don't know any songs about Nevada. I need to change this. How else can I sing annoying ditties at my children?

So, in Utah, I found Antelope Island State Park (which has beaches and buffalo!) in the Great Salt Lake.

When we leave Utah, we'll be traveling nearly nine hours through Nevada to Reno, our next overnight stop. We need things to stop and do and see and places to eat.


The first community we'll hit after leaving the Salt Lake area is Wendover. Interestingly, there is an abandoned air force base there that housed the Enola Gay. I'm  not sure we would stop to tour it, but I found an interesting blog post about it.

I can't tell if Wells, Nevada is on our route or not, but I'm going to check it out more tomorrow. I looked through the historic walking tour, but most (all) the photos were historic, so its hard to tell what the area is like now. You know what the solution to that is? Google maps street views.  Here's the overview of Wells.

There are two state parks that look close to our route. South Fork State Park and Rye Patch. (Similarly, I have no interest NOW in stopping at another State Park. After all, we'll be hitting Antelope State Park that morning. We need something different.)

The Jedi says I should look to see if we're driving past any Native American points of interest or history. That's a good idea. I found a map of Native Lands in Nevada. So now, I'll do a google search on some of the tribes I-80 goes past and see what I can find.

I'm finding the Te-Moak Tribe, which looks to have three member tribes along I-80. I'm not seeing anything that looks inviting for a stop, which is a shame, since I'd love to patronize a business or tourist endeavor owned and operated by tribal members. There is one gift shop on the tribal lands near Wells NV. The Jedi says that we should stop there and pick something up. In Wells, there is a restaurant in the Wild West Inn. Once again, no reviews on google so...?

There are also some letterbox clues near Elko NV and near Battle Mountain NV. We don't have any letterbox hunts on our trip yet, and Sweetling wanted to do some (so does Mommy really.) I'll look into those and google map their start locations tomorrow. Maybe that would be a possibility for a short stop.

And here's what I found....in Elko County (where Wells is) an easy drive by letterbox just off the 292 Hunter exit of I-80. Perfect.

Yummy review for the  Dish Cafe in downtown Reno.

Colorado Hikes

Now, this is all weather dependent of course. But, another major factor is Nana, who will be traveling with us. Toa of Boy wants to climb a mountain in the Rockies. Nana won't be up for any mountain climbing, and might be restricted to very short, very level, slow strolls.

I checked two books out of the library, one was Open Road's Best National Parks with Kids, and the other was Fodor's Complete Guide to the National Parks of the West. Both had some great info about trails and hiking and planning a day trip to the Rocky Mountain National Park. I typed out the info I wanted into a word file that I saved in our California Travel folder.

But, I'd like to go to the Kasbah Moroccan Restaurant for dinner, which is north of Denver, east of Boulder....an an hour south of where we'd be spending the day at the Rocky Mountain National Park, and 2 hours south of where we'd be spending the night in Laramie Wyoming. Everyone see the problem? Drive a couple hours north of Denver to go hiking in the park, drive an hour back south to have dinner, drive two hours north to our hotel.


(No, the answer isn't skip the restaurant. This is as close as I'm ever going to get to a trip abroad to that region.)

Then I noticed that Boulder Mountain Park is neatly labeled on the google map just directly west of the restaurant. Surely that place has hiking trails too?

Thus began the hiking trails search. Which I shall now subject all of you to. Yet another reason my blog has such a soaring population of readers.

This is the hike Toa of Boy would like best. The Lily Mountain Trail. 6 miles. "This 1000-foot climb requires some huffing n’ puffing, followed by a short but fun rock scramble to the summit. As in every good climb, views from the summit are most rewarding."

Of course, that is NOT a Nana friendly trail. Nor is it any further south, but since part of this trip is about dreaming, I'm including it.



The Blue Lake Trail might be a smidgen further south. I don't know if its south enough to save us any drive time. It's still a 4.8 mile trail though. But, seems 'easy' in terms of trails. "The walk to Mitchell Lake is a tranquil meander through a stately subalpine forest. Children find it fairy-tale charming as they discover rock gnomes and flower angels along the way. The brisk trek to Blue Lake edges a year-round snowbank before reaching the waterfall-fed lake, which remains frozen until midsummer."

Mind you, we'll be there in early May. Snow and ice will await us.



Lastly, of the trails I found today, there is the Thunder Lake Trail. It's only 3.6 miles (only, right?) "The North Fork of the St. Vrain River treats hikers to two waterfalls, each appealing in markedly different ways. The short, gentle walk to Copeland Falls invites hikers to a soothing series of pools spilling over smooth boulders. The steeper climb to Calypso Cascades greets hikers with a torrent of water crashing through jagged rocks and fallen trees. The hike is a perfect destination for families with mixed ages or ambitions."

Cincinnati Dayscapes: Brookville Lake

Looking for a last summer fling? The beautiful Brookville Lake in Indiana is only an hour or so drive from Cincinnati.

We took a quick day trip there this Thursday, as our NOT Back to School Holiday. I mentioned this holiday and this trip to Vaya when she and Peach Boy came over for a visit. She looked at me and point blank asked, "You just make holidays up, don't you?"

Well, yes and no. Granted, neither Congress nor Hallmark have acknowledged a "Not Back to School Holiday", but other homeschooling families have. Its a day, usually on the first day that the local school district does go back to school, where you and your family celebrate some of the freedom you have as a homeschooling family. It wasn't my idea. In fact, I got the idea from other homeschooling blogs, where families go out to breakfast, or do some other commemorative event to celebrate the liberties they have through schooling at home.

The kids loved swimming at Brookville Lake when we went camping with Telephone and Company earlier this summer. It was only an hour drive from our house, so I thought it would make a perfect destination for a Not Back to School Holiday Field Trip. (Notice how when you put things in capitals, it makes the words seem ever so much more official?)

Since, the last few weeks of summer are upon us, I thought I'd share our experiences for any other family who is looking for one more summer outing before fall. Brookville Lake isn't far away, and it holds all the summer activities one could hope for.

We picked up Sweetling's good friend Pinkie and our own dear Tia Smurf and left Cincinnati around ten-ish, which means we got to Brookville a little after eleven. Actually, the specific park we were in is called Mounds State Recreation Area

From Cincinnati, we took 74 West to US 52 (exit 169). We followed 52 west through the town of Brookville, where it becomes Main Street. Main Street gently becomes IN-101 north, which we followed out of town, and up a large hill. You'll pass several park like entrances before you get to the Mounds State Recreation Area. The first entrance you'll pass will have a huge flag and a large Brookville Lake sign. This area has a boat ramp (if you boat) and a hiking trail. But no swimming beach. The second entrance you'll pass is called something like Garr Hill. We didn't go there at all to tell you what's there. The Mounds State Recreation Area will be farther on up the road. (Far enough further on that I was worried I had missed it somehow.) It doesn't have a huge sign, so be sharp eyed.

At the entrance to the park, there is a gate house. If you are from out of state, there is a $7 vehicle fee. At the gate house, be sure to ask for a park map. It has all the trail locations and descriptions that you'll need.

Upon arrival, we went hiking on one of the many beautiful trails. There are two trails I have been down and can personally recommend. The first was called a "Wildlife Wander Trail." We hit this trail during our camping trip and it was short, easy, and enjoyable. It's supposed to have a guided brochure by its trail sign, but there were none when we were there. I'd recommend asking for them at the entrance to the park if you're going to take this trail.

The trail we hiked during our most recent visit was the Glidewell Trail. This trail has a short loop and a long loop. We took half of the short loop, and then backtrailed back out of the woods. (The trail description said that the return trip on the short trail went through fields or meadows or some such. We had enough of that during our first visit, on another, not recommended, trail. The other trail was hot and scratchy and we weren't going to repeat that experience. This time, we stuck to the woods, like the good little elves we are.) On our hike, Toa collected a large, yet to be identified feather that might have come from a wild turkey. We marveled at several exquisitely woven orb webs. And, we admired the quiet beauty of the forest.


<--- See Sweetling demonstrating the importance of not choosing hiking trails through meadows in the summer?









After our hike, we drove down to the beach and had a picnic lunch on a patio with a picturesque view of the lake.

Because most every public school is back in session, we nearly had the beach to ourselves.Yet, the beach house was still open, so public restrooms and showers were still available to us. (As was the concession stand, if we had wanted to purchase ice cream....which we did not, since Tia Smurf had made us the most excellent key lime pie imaginable, from scratch, even zesting the limes and everything.)






The rest of the afternoon was spent playing in the water....





...looking for rocks and shells....



...being with good company....
















.....and just relaxing.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

(not) Alice's Restaurant

Well, walk right in, its around the back....

This is a search for restaurants along Rt 80 in Wyoming. I started with Ft Bridger, since we were planning on stopping there for a historical site. I found three restaurants with promising sounding names, but no reviews, and less than promising google street views.


After reading some amusing comments on a forum I found, I tried some restaurants in Green Rivers. They do have reviews, and some have webpages. And here they are:
Krazy Mouse breakfast specialty, traditional, relaxed family atmosphere, though some of the reviews mentioned slow service which is a major detractor since we're just stopping off for a bite
Arctic Circle (which looks to be a hamburger franchise, but with a name like that, who cares?)
 Penny's Dinner " a great little diner complete with 50's and 60's memorabilia. The menu was filled with local specials and the service was prompt." 

Well, what this hour and a half has taught me is this:

I now have three personal goals for our trip.
  1. Blog each day.
  2. Pick up a refridgerator magnet for each state.
  3. WRITE A REVIEW FOR EACH RESTAURANT WE VISIT.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Weekly Wrap-Up.....Going Native

This was our last week of the US in our "Exploring Countries and Cultures" curriculum from My Father's World. (The curriculum covered US in two weeks, we took three so that we could incorporate some trip planning into our school). Here are two art and history projects that can be used, regardless of your curriculum.

This week, we focused a little on Native American histories, languages, and cultures.

We read about the Navajo in Window on the World. Did you know that, according to the Window on the World authors, the Navajo are the only North American tribe with the whole Bible in their own language? The translation process took 40 years and was facilitated, in part, by a blind Navajo man who could read Braille and speak English. He would read an English Braille Bible and then translate aloud in Navajo.

We of course talked about the Navajo code talkers who were so key during World War II. We found the Navajo lands on a map and looked at pictures of the landscapes. We looked at some silver and turqouise jewelry. (Did you know Arizona is the only state to have official state neckwear?)

We did a google image search on Navajo sand art and then discussed the patterns and designs in the art. We found examples of radial symmetry and simple line symmetry. We talked about the subjects portrayed and the colors used (dictated by materials on hand to make the colored sands.)

Then we tried our hand at our own sand art paintings.
Some tips on making your own sand art:
  1. Use heavy/card stock paper.
  2. Pick natural colors. (Our sand color choices were limited to what we found in the kids craft aisle at Meijer because we didn't have time for a craft store run.)
  3. Use simple, symmetrical designs with large shapes. (Small details will get lost.)
  4. After drawing the design with a pencil, younger children should go over their designs with a black permanent marker. (Or an adult can do this step for them.)
  5. Put a little school glue in a clean milk jug lid or other small tray.
  6. Place the paper on a cookie sheet with edges for easier cleanup.
  7. Use a small paintbrush to quickly cover all areas that will be the same color. (So, cover with glue all the shapes that will be blue, for example.)
  8. Try to work from the center out, as much as possible. (So, in Sweetling's design, we should have covered the large green circle first. We didn't have this helpful hint when we were working, but in retrospect, that's what we should have done.)
  9. Sprinkle a fine layer of sand over the glue painted areas. Be sure to cover all the glue areas.
  10. Pick up the paper and let the excess sand slide off. (If desired, you can use a small funnel to slide the excess sand from the paper directly back into its bag.)
  11. Repeat the process with the next color of sand to be applied to the design.

The second native culture we spent a little time with was the Cherokee nation.

We learned about Sequoyah and how he invented the written Cherokee language. At the beginning of the week, we had kicked off our study of the book of Matthew by making bookmarks with the name of Matthew in its Greek letters. So, it seemed fitting to end our week by making bookmarks with our own names in Cherokee. (The top bookmark is Sweetlings, the middle is Toa's, who enjoyed the process so much he wanted to translate his last name into Cherokee as well, and the bottom yellow one is mine.)


We were able to do this project because of a wonderful online tutorial about the basics of the Cherokee language. Did you know that the Cherokee alphabet isn't a letter by letter alphabet, but a syllabic alphabet? Did you know that it took Sequoyah twelve years to perfect this system, and that the first person he taught it to was his little girl? Did you know that within a few months to two years after the introduction of this alphabet, nearly the entire Cherokee nation had taught itself to read and write in it? Did you know in about four years after the introduction of this alphabet, much of the Bible and many hymns had been translated into it? In seven yeas after its introduction, a newspaper was being published. (Which makes me question the claim that the Navajo are the only North American tribe to have the entire Bible in their own language. You do realize I'll be staying up late googling this, right? So, now its 12:18 am, and according to wikipedia, it appears that only portions of the Bible have been published in Cherokee. Here's another site that backs that up.)

To make your own Cherokee book marks, here's what to do:
  1. Have an adult or a teen read the introduction to the Cherokee alphabet. It's important to have a basic understanding of how a syllabic alphabet functions. There is even an audio file that illustrates how each symbol sounds when spoken.
  2. Have an adult or teen read the online instructions for how to write English names in Cherokee. Included on this page is a printable copy of the Cherokee alphabet, some examples of translating English names into Cherokee, and a phonetic guide for how the vowel sounds correspond.  
  3. Get a piece of paper and a pencil for each person, print the chart of the Cherokee alphabet for each person, and get whatever you are going to use for your bookmarks. (We wrote ours on wide, colored craft sticks. Later we're going to ask the Jedi to make us some holes on the ends of the bookmarks to attach some tassels.)
  4. On the piece of paper, each person writes their name in English first. (ie--Mommy)
  5. Under the English spelling, each person writes their name phonetically--breaking it into simple syllables and using the Cherokee vowel sounds (So, Mommy becomes MA - ME).
  6. Still on the paper, practice writing the Cherokee symbols for each syllable.
  7. Then, write the Cherokee symbols on your bookmark.
  8. Finally, use a permanent marker to trace over the Cherokee letters.

Other fun things we did this week---

Toa built a person (think the symbol for the Vancouver winter Olympics) and a sphynix out of the foam packing blocks that came in a recent shipment. (And yes, my school desk is usually that cluttered, thanks.)

Just as a happy aside, my anniversary present from the Jedi came in that box with those foam blocks. Check out how beautiful it is--
It's an aeolian harp. It's still sitting on the brown paper it was wrapped in, because it still has a little oil on it from the curing process (or whatever that is called). But the Jedi had it made specially to fit the dimensions of our living room window sill. Is it not gorgeous?

Back on the topic of our school week, I sent Toa on a quick scavenger hunt through the house when he needed a wiggle break. I told him to go find and bring back one thing that he liked--the first letter of each of the items had to line up with each of the letters of his name. Then he lined up the items on his desk and put magnetic letters under each of the items. I snapped a picture, but just realized I can't post it without revealing Toa's real name. (And then his secret identity would be exposed, and we'd be contending with cases of kryptonite for weeks.) But it was a fun, and easy break from bookwork.

Sweetling is on module 2 of her Apologia Biology. She needed to collect four samples of pond water for a study on the Kingdom Monera. So, off to the pond we went. We took Sweetling's camera and Toa's nature journal and had fun exploring a pond. 

Some of us got more into the activity than others....
And, one day this week, it was 76 degrees and beautiful, and Mommy decided to scrap our regular lessons in favor of an adventure, so we went letterboxing (our second letterbox hunt). This hunt took us to a treehouse, which we had never visited, in a local park.

Have I mentioned recently how much I'm loving having our freedom back? Love our new curriculum, love our new approach to schooling. I am so glad we made the change and am so grateful that the Jedi trusted me and supported me in making the switch.

If I can (meaning, if I can just copy and paste it), I'll leave you with John 3:16 in Cherokee.

ᎾᏍᎩᏰᏃ ᏂᎦᎥᎩ ᎤᏁᎳᏅᎯ ᎤᎨᏳᏒᎩ ᎡᎶᎯ, ᏕᏅᏲᏒᎩ ᎤᏤᎵᎦ ᎤᏪᏥ ᎤᏩᏒᎯᏳ ᎤᏕᏁᎸᎯ, ᎩᎶ ᎾᏍᎩ ᏱᎪᎯᏳᎲᏍᎦ ᎤᏲᎱᎯᏍᏗᏱ ᏂᎨᏒᎾ, ᎬᏂᏛᏉᏍᎩᏂ ᎤᏩᏛᏗ.
Read what other families did this week at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Just when you thought it was safe....

I'm back to trip planning. I think I left my readers somewhere in Kansas. At the end of Day Three. Huh.

Well, Day Four is easy. We're driving to Denver, where we have friends to visit. We are also hitting Rocky Mountain National Park and then ending our day in Laramie, Wyoming.Whether or not we hit something in Laramie is yet to be seen. Is this the same Laramie as Ft. Laramie on the Oregon Trail? I don't know. (It's not. Boo hoo.)


Here are the things that still are on our list for the drive out:
Old west town/ ghost town
Gold mine/Gold panning
Continental Divide
Letterboxing
Prairie Dogs
Great Salt Lake
Buffalo

Huh. The Bamford National Wildlife Refuge is just west of Laramie, but it "has no public access". So no buffalo or prairie dogs for us there. "See buffalo" and "where to see buffalo" aren't the helpful google search phrases I need.

(And in my internet quest, I forgot to go pick up Sweetling after her Tae Kwon Do class. Poor Sweetling.)

Here are possibilities for Wyoming:
 Fort Bridger--(4 hr 24 min from Laramie) History comes alive as visitors enjoy the many restored buildings, interpretive displays in the newly renovated museum, mountain man trading post and the archaeological exhibit adjacent to the museum.
April - October; 9 a.m. - 5:30 p.m; Most site grounds are open year round, museum/visitor center open weekends only April & October. vehicle day use fee $4.00

Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge--The 27,230 acre Refuge protects a mosaic of riparian, wetland, and upland shrub habitats along 36 miles of the Green River. The river is an oasis that bisects the vast high desert sagebrush plains of southwest Wyoming. (We'll probably pass on this one.)


 Muddy Creek Historic Backway--The Muddy Creek Historic Backway provides access to locations well off the beaten path. Twenty-five miles of back roads will lead you from a real western ghost town to Muddy Creek, one of the most famous camping spots of the western migration. The byway starts on WY-219 in the town of Fort Bridger.

Link Up- Favorite Books

In my defense, let me say that we truly are a family of readers. Really. You can ask any one of our local libarians, who knows us each by name.....and who has to check in the STACK of books we return each week. The check-out process is a self-check-out, so they are spared that part. I have considered getting us each a wheeled backpack or small trolley to lug our weekly library books in, but haven't sprung for that luxery yet. We have four shelves in our house dedicated to libary books, a shelf of a bookcase in each of the children's bedrooms, a shelf of a bookcase in the living room for our "book basket" books, and a shelf in my bedroom for my personal books. (Which sometimes sit for weeks before I can find time to read them, but, hey.)

So, I can only interpret the less than enthusiastic responses to this blog post as what you get from children after a full day of school, when they are ready to move on to some relaxing free time activities, and are less than ready to participate in a book discussion with their slightly unusual mother.

 Toa of Boy's response to my question of his favorite book was immediate. "I don't know!" He said with a grin, "I haven't read them all!"

"Yes," I acknowledged, "but of the books you've read, which has been your favorite?"

"I don't know," he stated again. "They are all so cute. I can't decide, Mommy!" At this point, he flopped on the couch, turned himself upside down, hung his head where his feet should be, and kicked his feet in the air knocking off the throw cover for the upteenth time that day. "I can't decide, Mommy. I can't decide!"

 Mommy went off in search of a conversation that did not involve watching my living room be undone piece by piece.

Here is how my interview with Sweetling went:

Sweetling: "I have lots of favorite books, and I really couldn't choose just one."

Me: "Do you have a few top picks you'd like to list?"

S: "The Harry Potter books."

M: "Because?"

S: "They are very well written and the plot is very well thought out."

M: "Do you have any other books you'd like to list."

S: (gives me a look only a preteen girl can master.)

M: "Well, you said you had a lot of books that were your favorite, so I just want to give you the opportunity to name a few others."

S: "Ok. The Molly Moon series." (At least, I think that's what she said. I had never heard of them, and I'm surely not going back upstairs to disturb the Sweetling again to ask for a clarification.)

M: (who isn't always that quick on the uptake) "Because?"

S: "Do I have to think of a reason for all of these?"

M: "No, I guess not."

S: (silent stare. Not quite the look, but close.)

M: "Do you want me to go away now?"

S: "Yes. Please."

So there you have it. I feel like I should sign off as, "Keeping it Real in Ohio."

Hop over to the Homeschool Village to participate in this link up and read what others have posted!

Making Memories: Letterboxing

What is letterboxing?


I can't tell you how many times I've been meaning to answer that question. I've had it posed to me multiple times on Facebook, over the phone, and in person.....  which just goes to show how much I've been talking about letterboxing this summer.

Letterboxing is like a treasure hunt. Letterboxing is like a scavenger hunt. Letterboxing is like solving a mystery. Letterboxing can be like an interactive nature hike. Letterboxing is sometimes like a mini-history lesson. But most importantly, letterboxing is fun and intriguing and a little bit addicting.
Plus, letterboxes are hidden all over North America, so no matter which state you live in or are visiting, you can probably find a letterbox hunt not too far away.

Here's how it works....one family or individual is inspired to hide a letterbox. Some letterboxes tell a personal story of a favorite vacation, are a memorial to a loved one, or relate to an unusual bit of local history.  In my area, I've found one letterbox hunt that relates to the underground railroad, one that is in honor of a late family pet, and one that was inspired by Ohio's state symbols.   

The hidden letterbox is a waterproof container of some kind and contains a handcarved rubber stamp and a log book. The hider then posts, or otherwise distributes clues about where the letter box is hidden. Sometimes the clues have very clear starting points, sometimes one must do some research about local history to find the starting point. (We haven't attempted the latter yet.)



From the starting point, the clues will give directions on how to follow a path to find the letterbox. (Such as, 'look to the east and you will see...." or "take the north branch of the path".) Letterboxes don't use GPS coordinates (that's geocaching). Sometimes the clues are pretty obvious....sometimes not so much.


(Thankfully, this was NOT a snake.  Since I was standing right under the thing, no one was happier than me to discover that it wasn't a snake.)







The letterbox itself will be hidden in some out of the way spot, mostly or completely obscured from view. When found, the finder is supposed to carefully remove the letterbox, without being seen by passerby, and carry it away from its hiding place....so as not to draw attention to its location.



The finder carries his or her own stamp, a stamp pad, a waterproof pen, and a log book of their own. (Yeah, I mixed singular and plural pronouns. Neener neener.) They use the stamp that was in the letterbox to stamp their own log book. They use their own stamp to stamp the log book that was in the letterbox. In both log books, they record the date it was found.

In the letterbox log, they write where they are from as well as their "trail" name, and any other notes they'd like to record for the hider of the letterbox as well us other finders who will read the log book later. In their own personal log book, they record the name of the letterbox, where they found it, and any other notes about the hunt.




When both log books are stamped and annotated, everything is placed back inside resealable plastic bags and put back in the letterbox, which is sealed and closed.  Then carefully place the letterbox in its original hidden location, being careful not to be observed, and being careful to leave the area looking undisturbed.



The morning of our first letterbox hunt, we were looking over our summer bucket list, trying to decide what to do that day. "Let's go letterboxing!" I declared. The kids weren't sure what letterboxing was, but I used my awesome power of persuasion to convince them to give it a try. (No, I didn't bribe or threaten them; thanks for the vote of confidence there.)

Just a few minutes later, Insight called. She had been trying to decide what to do that day, and was looking over our bucket list for ideas, and thought she and her boy might try letterboxing. A joint outing was quickly agreed upon.

If you'd like to try letterboxing on your own, here's what you need:

  1. A waterproof stamp pad
  2. A rubber stamp (you can buy supplies to carve your own at a craft store, or used a premade rubber stamp.) This stamp stands for you or your family. I've also seen families carve a small stamp for each person. 
  3. A permanent or scrapbooking marker
  4. A small log book
  5. A camera. I forgot mine, but Insight remembered hers....thus the lovely pictures.
  6. Shoes for walking/hiking.
  7. Insect repellent. (It just makes any walk through the woods more pleasant.) Sun screen if your walk isn't through a shady forest.
  8. A sense of adventure, a little patience, a dose of perseverance, and a smidgen of luck.
Read more about letterboxing, and find some clues for a letterbox hunt near you at letterboxing.org  This site has clues for letterbox hunts across North America. 

If you decide to try out letterboxing, please drop back in and let me know how it goes!


Check out more Field Trip ideas! (Plus, I'm so proud of myself for figuring out how to include a clickable graphic link!)

Monday, August 16, 2010

Not Me Monday: Kitchen Chairs

Mckmama- Not Me Monday


Yesterday, I did NOT write down a huge list of housework chores that needed done and then I did NOT decided partway through completing the list that I wanted to reupholster my kitchen chairs. I did NOT work myself into exhaustion trying to do a ton of housework and a big project at the same time. NOT at all. NOT me.

This was NOT at all like the same time last year when I also did NOT decide to reupholster the kitchen chairs at the last minute.

Last summer, I did NOT agree to co-host a baby shower with my sister for a very young first time mother. My sister and I did NOT both assume that the other one was taking car of the guest list and the invitations. We did NOT discover a week before the shower that neither of us had actually invited anyone. We did NOT keep that little oversight completely secret from the guest of honor. We then did NOT both totally over-invite to make up for this lapse, and then did NOT have more guests attending than I could possibly squeeze into my little living room.

The morning of the party, I did NOT drag my kitchen chairs into the living room to make up for the one loveseat and two small arm chairs that were the sole extent of my furniture. I did NOT stare at them in disgust, realizing for the first time how completely old and stained their fabric seats were. I did NOT, repeat NOT, leave immediately for the fabric store. I did NOT drag my sweet and innocent little girl along with me as a co-conspirator.

At the fabric store, I did NOT fall in love with the super-expensive, totally impractical, oriental silk like fabric. I did NOT have to rely on the voice of an eleven year old child to be the voice of reason talking me into the very affordable wipe-off vinyl fabric.

I did NOT get back home, flip all my chairs on their side, and I did NOT crazily take a phillips-head screwdriver to their bases. I did NOT punch out all six chair pads and leave them strewn all over two rooms of the house. This process did NOT produce enough crumbs to feed a starving person.

I certainly did NOT at that point grab the wood cleaner to begin scrubbing down the chair legs and backs.

I was NOT still in the middle of this process when my first guest arrived. She was NOT a family member who had come over early to help because she knew what a complete scatter-brain I was and knew I would need someone sane to keep things together. (She did NOT get there before my sister, who was at a niche grocery store picking up food items I had never heard of and can't remember for the life of me.) She also was NOT pregnant herself and was NOT super-excited about helping out with a baby shower. Walking into my house which looked like Freddy Krueger Does Chairs was NOT like a child waking up on Christmas morning to pieces of a disassembled bike all over the livring room.

Frantically trying to staple squares of vinyl fabric around the not quite square chair pads as the clock ticked down to time for the shower was NOT the first time I had ever used a staple gun. The staple gun did NOT run out of staples on the third chair pad. The Jedi had NOT left the house to run his own errands for the morning. I was NOT all alone with an empty staple gun, a disappointed pregnant woman, and six chairs in twelve pieces.

I did NOT raid the Jedi's workbench for the second time that morning.

I did NOT realize that even after I had managed to wrap and staple new fabric around the chair pads, that I couldn't actually screw the pads back on the chairs. I did NOT consider running back to the Jedi's workbench  for a roll of duct tape. I certainly did NOT ask the pregnant woman to sit on the chairs while I tried to screw the pad back in from underneath.

That is NOT exactly what we were doing when the Jedi walked back in the door. I certainly did NOT have to throw myself on the Jedi's mercy to get my chairs put back together while I cleaned up the massive mess of crumbs.

When my sister showed up and started putting together the most beautiful buffet ever, I did NOT pretend that nothing out of the ordinary had happened in my morning.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Weekly Wrap-Up.....Backwards Day

Thursday, Toa of Boy and I were sitting at the kitchen table having lunch. Toa said, "Can we have a backwards day tomorrow?"

"What," I asked, "is a backwards day?"

Backwards Day, it turns out, is when you say the exact opposite of what you mean. Not when you wear all your clothes backwards. That distinction was clearly made by Toa.

"So," I asked, "instead of saying 'Time for school,' I would say, 'Children, stay in your rooms; we're not doing school today'?"

"Yes!" squeals a delighted Toa.

At this point Sweetling ambled into the kitchen for lunch. We described to Sweetling what Backwards Day was and gave her some examples.

Sweetling got her lunch, sat down at the table, and looked at the two of us, considering this whole scheme. "This," she concluded in her most matter-of-fact Sweetling tone, "sounds like chaos. I think I'll stay in my room doing trip research."

Trip research is what we've spent the bulk of our school time doing this week, as is evidenced by the many travel related blog entries I've posted this week. In late April 2010, we're taking a three week round trip drive to California and back. It just so happens that we are studying America right now in our Exploring Countries and Cultures curriculum from My Father's World. I expanded the two week USA study into a three week unit so that we could take the bulk of this week and learn and read about the 16 states we'll be driving through in our trek.

We started by having the kids find and label these states, plus a few key others on a blank map of the US. Then I used google maps to pull up a map of our journey out to California, and the kids drew our route in our their maps, and traced it with a red marker. We did the same for our journey back.



Then we read how each state got its name and its nickname in Greetings from the 50 States. We looked at Our 50 States, A Family Adventure across America as well as some library books I had grabbed, each highlighting a different state. Each day, we read and learned about a group of three or so states, taking them in order that we would be driving. (So the first day, we read about Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri.) As we read, we made a big list of anything in that State, that was close to our driving route, that we might want to see. Doing so involved using google to pull up the location of the attraction and checking that location with our route.

It was really interesting, and highly motivating, since we were actually going to get to visit many of the places we were adding to our list. On Thursday morning, I was sitting in the living room at 7:30 am reading my Bible, and two pajama clad children wandered in. They pulled library books off the shelf and started looking through them and discussing them with each other. At one point, Toa jumped up and ran down to the school room to come flying back up the stairs with a large laminated map of the US so he could find one of the places they had been talking about. And, that entire scene, from getting out the books to running for a map, transpired without any input or prompting from me whatsoever.

By Friday, everyone was ready for a break from trip research (well, except that Sweetling would rather be in her room doing research on her computer than participating in Backwards Day.) But we took the morning rather slow, doing some Bible study on Matthew and reading aloud from Kingdom Tales. Then each of the kids had an hour or so of time for "independent explorations." Sweetling did more trip research on her own computer, and Toa of Boy made a diorama of Zumwhere.

Toa of Boy has been really into dioramas these past few weeks. Last night, we cleared off the top of his desk to make room to display his diorama collection. I also need to put out a plea on Facebook for some empty shoe boxes.

That afternoon, we picked up the Incredible's children and headed to Parky's Ark, for an afternoon of water play and ice cream. (Mommy was sick of being trapped inside by oppressive heat.)

Also this week, we made super awesome T-shirts with some old friends we hadn't gotten to see in a while. We had to leave our wet t-shirts there, drying in the sun, so I hope to have some pictures later. But in the meantime, check out this super amazing sun-activated fabric paint.

Lastly, I might have killed my digital camera, which explains the crappy photo quality this week. I swear, all I did was change the batteries and reset the time/date (which always needs redone when the batteries come out.) But now my camera won't turn on to take pictures. It'll turn on and review pictures on its storage card, so I don't think I have the batteries in wrong. But the picture taking function won't come on. I haven't told the Jedi about this yet. The church got struck with lightning again on Wedndesday and it fried a server, which for some unknown reason, had gotten unplugged and moved and plugged into an unprotected outlet. The Jedi was at church until midnight on Thursday trying to resurrect the machine, was back again for a short time last night, and is working on it again this morning. So, my small camera woes shall wait.

Oh, and, in case you were wondering, Backwards Day was a bit chaotic, but it was a lot of fun. Toa often has trouble enough listening to and following directions when they are straightforward. So saying, "Go upstairs (when he already is upstairs), and don't look at the ceiling above your desk for any markers or pencils that floated up while you weren't doing school later," was pretty much gibberish to him. But don't feel bad for him, cause he solved that particular conundrum of directions by making a mermaid out of the paper scraps left out from his diorama building. I'm not sure if the moral of the story is "mermaids make all things better," or, "when in doubt, create." As a mom, I'm hoping for the later interpretation.

Check out what others did this week on Weird Unscocialized Homeschoolers.

Facebook Friday: month of catch up

Again. Cause I never do anything regularly.

Fri/Sat, July 17th 12:44 am 
Tomorrow I'm blogging my little heart out :)

Sat, July 17th, 10:31 am
Which topic should I blog about first today... other stuff we did this
summer in general, letterboxing, or how to make a supercool pinata?

Sun, July 18th, 11:11 pm
Any tips on FINDING and then catching an escaped dwarf hamster?

Mon, July 19th, 7:51 am
Yay! Two hamsters safely back in their cage. I woke up this morning and the escapee was outside his cage, trying to climb the bars to get back in because his hamster brother was inside the cage running like mad on the wheel. What is freedom compared to the glories of running on the hamster wheel?

Tues, July 20th 11:55 am
We should have named Toa's hamsters Cain and Abel. After having the hamster cage to himself for a full night, Cain is unwilling to share with his brother. Abel had blood on his back this morning. After a $30 trip to petsmart, Abel now has his own cage.

Wed, July 21st, 8:59 pm
Things Toa learned at VBS tonight---1) Mummies only walk around in the movies. 2) If you harass teenage boys, they might just pick you up and put you inside the girls' bathroom.

Sun, July 25th, 4:16 pm
My kids had pizza for lunch and dinner on Friday and for lunch again on Saturday. Now its about time for Sunday dinner and I find myself thinking, if only we had some pizza....

Mon, July 26th, 8:40 am
I am now only one day behind with B90 (instead of three) and I can see the surface of my desk again. Things are looking up! Much better than waking up and realizing I had forgotten to turn the dishwasher on before I went to bed last night (AGAIN), trying to make toast without plugging in the toaster (AGAIN) and discovering I was 3 days behind in my reading.

Mon, July 26th, 10:56 pm
I remembered to turn my dishwasher ON!!!! Yes! I am THIS cool!

Tues, July 27th, 8:07 am
Jeremiah is a loo-ooo-ng book, but I finished it this morning :)

Wed, July 28th, 7:19 am
Why is it that whenever I put something "in a safe place", its pretty much guaranteed that I will never be able to find that item again?

Thurs, July 29th, 7:41 am
Guess where I happened to find my cordless kitchen phone this morning? In the hall linen closet, on top of the sheets. Hmmmmm..... (Yeah, its not really I mystery. I put it down there when I was grabbing sheets and blankets for our camping trip. But the good news is that I found it before we left the Jedi with a missing phone while we were gone.)

Sun, Aug 1st, 6;25 pm
uh. laundry (tons of it), homeschooling notifications to write, a day or two of B90 readings, school lesson preps for tomorrow and next week....and guess what I'm going to do tonight? NOTHING.

Mon, Aug 2nd, 3:59 pm
Olive Garden give away is a trap. If I could do an Admiral Ackbar voice for this, I would.

Thurs, Aug 5th, 10:16 am
I put money in the wrong meter this morning. There wasn't a ticket on my windshield. Does that mean I'm safe? Or will they do something sneaky like mail me a ticket?

Fri, Aug 6th, 2:43 pm
Someone snuck the book of Haggai in between Zephaniah and Zechariah. So, instead of only having three books to read in the old testament, I had four. Sneaky people.

Sun, Aug 8th, 3:08 pm
The problem with healthy sancks is that the aren't full of sugary chocolate goodness.

Mon, Aug 9th, 11:13pm
I got a *beautiful* aoelian harp for my anniversary :) !!!

Tues, Aug 10th, 1:03 pm
Apparently, if one does not rinse out one's straw after having a juice shake so that the straw doesn't get nasty...."nasty" does not mean that the straw comes to life at night to crawl around and hunt us down while we're sleeping in our beds. It sounded like a plausible explanation to me, but Sweetling said, "No, Mommy."

Tues, Aug 10th, 11:22 pm
Ta da! Homeschool notification ready to be taken to the post office tomorrow :)

Wed, Aug 11th, 12:50pm
adjective contest: best adjective to describe the heat is_______?? Winner gets, um,....to be "cool" of course!
>>>Oppressive! Stifiling! Unbearable! lol
>>>Hot! LOL
>>>Stultifying. (I think that is a word. If not, it should be.)
>>>abusive
>>>energy-draining
>>>firely. Actually, the adverb is really firelike, but I like firely better.
>>>In retrospect, fiery is the word. I just typed in "fire" and couldn't figure out how to turn it into an adjective. Blasted English spelling.

Thurs, Aug 12th, 7:52 am
I'm just here to preen my feathers and say that at 7:30 this morning, I had two children in their pjs on the living room floor looking through and discussing library books about the 50 states....(ta da.....) ....on their own initiative.

Thurs, Aug 12th, 11:57 am
Doing more trip planning today. There is a whole lot of nothing in central Kansas.

Fri, Aug 13th, 8:45 am
We're tired of being cooped up inside. Who's up for an outing to parky's ark today?

Fri, Aug 13th
parky's ark this afternoon....going once.....

Fri, Aug 13th
At home on a Friday night with no electricity. Time to break out the glowsticks and board games.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Whole Lot of Nothing

The Jedi left me with an assignment. Find some stopping off places on our route between Kansas City and Denver where we can get out and stretch our legs a little. Yeah.

Now, when the kids and I were looking through library books yesterday, we saw an illustration of castle rock in Kansas which looked really cool. So we wrote it down on our list of possibilities. Then we saw pictures of the real thing today.

Toa said, "I don't want to go there."

This is FIVE HOURS from Kansas City.

And, after five hours in the van, we need something. And, as mind-boggling as this might be, this lonely stand of rocks is the most interesting feature on our route. (One of the coolest things about this location is that Castle Rock is actually on privately own land, but the owner welcomes the public to visit this landmark.)

I found a website of photos of the area. Sweetling was upstairs looking through the book 101 Places You Gotta See before You're 12. I ran upstairs and got Sweetling, yelling, "Guess what? Guess what? I found the middle of nowhere! And we're going to drive right through it!"

Sweetling, giggling and excited, ran back downstairs with me where I showed her this photo I had found, aptly titled, "Nothing!"



Toa said, "We're going to have fun there!" And we all laughed.

But really, the badlands near castle rock look cool....

I'm trying to look at Google Maps and follow the directions given on the Castle Rock Badlands website to determine just how much off highway drive time this would be.

All right, I'm coming back to edit this post to say I have maligned Kansas. There is stuff to do and see, I just lack the google-fu to find it quickly. So, I'm not being fair when I say "nothing." I'm just blown away by the flat expanses of empty land.

Just 3 hours out of Kansas City is the city of Salina, Kansas. And 4 hours out of Kansas City is Hays, Kansas. 

In Salina, there is the Smoky Hill Museum, with free admission. I love free. It's open Tues-Fri 12-5, Sat 10-5, and Sun 1-5. And have I mentioned that it's free? Not just free to us 'cause we have a Cincy Museum Membership, but just free and open to the public. (This photo is from the blog of another visitor to Salina, Beth at Home and Abroad.)

Restaurant wise in Salina, I found some reviews for a 50's style hamburger dinner named Spangles. We'll be driving through this area around lunch time, so burgers and fries fast would be good.


In Hays, there is Frontier Park, with buffalo  and Historic Fort Hays. "Fort Fletcher, later renamed Fort Hays, was established on the Smoky Hill Trail in 1865. After the fort was virtually destroyed in a flash flood in 1867, it was relocated to a site now just south of the city of Hays. Four of the original structures, the stone blockhouse, guardhouse and two frame officers' quarters survive today...along with a modern visitor's center. " Admission to the fort is $3 for adults and $2 for students.

But, also in Hays is Stenberg Natural History Museum, which is on our list of reciprocal museums.(ie, free for us to visit.) And from Beth's blog, a restaurant recommendation in Hays with German food, Gella's Dinner. See, I do love my Jedi husband. (And kids eat free every Tuesday, if it happens we're traveling through Kansas on a Tuesday.)

I got excited with a blog that had a link to PrairieDogTown, but I think we'll skip that. Thanks. Even me, who really wants to see prairie dogs, doesn't want to spend the equivalent of three gallons of gas admission (per person, really?) for the animal equivalent of a circus side show.

So, plan A is drive from KC to Hays (a four and a half hour drive), then do lunch and the Stenberg Museum. Then drive the 5 hours 20 min to Denver.  (Depart KC at 9am, Hays at 1:30-4pm, Denver at 9:30pm--note that this has no dinner break and is, therefore, totally unrealistic.)

Plan B, which I like better, is drive from KC to Salina, 3 hrs, have burgers and tour the Smoky Hill Museum. Then drive another 4hr20mins to Burlington. Play on the playground at Outback Territory Park. Have dinner (cause we have to stop for dinner anyway), and then drive the other 2hr 40min to Denver. (Depart KC at 9am, Salina 12-2:30, Burlington 7-9pm, Denver at 11:40 pm. Which sucks getting into Denver so late.)

Plan C, cause I can't leave well enough alone. KC to Salina, as above, then 3hr20 minutes from Salina to Colby, Kansas. Then 3hr43min to Denver. (Depart KC at 9am, Salina 12-2:30, Colby 6-8, Denver at 11:40. I think we just need to pick something on the south side of Denver. We're going to be dead tired otherwise.)

Colby Research for Plan C:
Fike Park. Playground. Enough said.

Restaurants:
Montana Mike (steaks I think)
Gambino's Pizza (no web site)
Chester Fried Chicken. (no web site)
Butch's Smokehouse (no web site, but a description..."Dine-in, Carry out BBQ Restaurant. Meats are slow cooked over wood (oak-hickory-fruitwood) a variety of styles of BBQ from several parts of the US.  We also cater banquets-picnics-reunions and other events." If its a nice enough evening, I'd vote for getting a carry-out dinner from here and taking it to the park.)

Independence MO

Independence MO is 23 minutes east of Kansas City, where we plan on staying two nights. Independence MO was the historic jumping off place for many travelers along the Oregon Trail.

There are two things I'd like to do in Independence.

One of them is The National Frontier Trails Museum.

Its hours are 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Monday - Saturday or 12:30 - 4:30 p.m. Sunday and its admission rates are $5 for adults and $3 for children. They say most visitors take about one and a half hours to tour the exhibits.

The other thing I think would be cool, are the tour rides given in covered wagons. The Jedi might think it a bit touristy....but its a covered wagon, and I could ride in one :)


The wagon rides run from 9:30 to 4:30, and cost $7 per person for a 15 -20 minute tour (their shortest tour).

Now, when the Jedi and I were planning things out last night, we planned to drive straight through from St Louis to Kansas City, because there are a lot of things in Kansas City that the Jedi wants to do. So, we thought if we left St. Louis at 8pm, we'd arrive in KC around midnight to check into a hotel. We'd crash for the rest of that night, spend the day in KC, spend another night in the same hotel, and then be on the road again the next day.

I wonder if we grabbed a hotel on the east side of KC, the Missouri side, if we couldn't also do Independence MO first thing in the morning of our second day. If we hit the museum when it opened at 9am, we could be wrapped up in Independence by 11:30, and then go back to KC for a bbq lunch and have the rest of the afternoon and evening in Kansas City.


ooooo....check it out, Independence is nearly a suburb of Kansas City. I went searching for hotels on the east side of KC, and they were farther east than hotels in Independence!


I do the dance now.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Resources/Recipes for the Home

Here's a great blog entry on cutting down on processed foods, making from scratch, and staying in a budget.

And I think I can find some good recipes for inexpensive dinners over on Grocery Cart Challenge.

And My Sweet and Savory has recipes for "meatless mondays" that I might check out.

A link, to a link, for links to more sites for restaurants where kids eat free. Good research for our trip. (And a funny story with pictures for the Cow Appreciation Day at Chic-Fil-A.

Convenient frozen waffles from scratch.

Quick and easy way to remove most of the air for freezer bag packing. yeah, the grammar there stinks, but its late and I'm tired.

To compliment all the reasonably healthy recipes I found, here's one for peanut butter burritos. (Filled with chocolate chips and miniature marshmallows.) Of all the recipes I've found this week, guess which one I'm likely to actually try first?

And, finally, I am not the only one to have recipes go wrong, horribly, horribly wrong.

California Drive Plan Out

From city to city, not counting stops for food and sightseeing:

Drive plan out:


 Day 1. )   Cin-St Louis - 6hr; St Louis-KC - 4 hr

Day 2. )   Stuff in KC

Day 3. )   KC-Denver - 9 hr

Day 4. )   Stuff in Denver; Denver-Laramie - 2.5 hr

Day 5. )   Laramie-Salt Lake - 6 hr

Day 6. )   Salt Lake-Reno - 8 hr

Day 7.  )  Reno-Sacramento - 2.5 hr
 
Research Bamforth National Wildlife Refuge; stuff in central Kansas, western Kansas, or eastern Colorado; and, for return trip, Mojave National Preserve.

And check out this awesome van!!!! The family turned the outside of it into a traveling journal of their trip I showed the Jedi and he said, "Yeah, we're not doing that. But, it would be interesting to keep a log of that." So, no journaling all over the van  for me, but I do want to buy a special notebook to serve as a trip log :)

California Trip Planning--Indiana, Illinois, and St. Louis MO

We are California bound! Next spring or next fall, we will be taking a three week trek out to California through Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada. On the return trip will be driving home from California through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

For the next couple of days of school, we're doing some research together on places we'd like to stop and visit and things we'd like to do and see. My living room floor is covered in library books about the states. The kids and I have been reading through books, learning a bit about each state, and making a list of possible focal points as we read.

From our hometown of Cincinnati, it is only a two hour drive to Conner Prairie in Fisher, Indiana. Admission rates look to be about $13 for adults, and $9 for children. So $44 dollars for our family of four. If Nana comes with us, $56 for a family of 5.


Or, we have a Terre Haute Children's Museum, which is free with our Cincinnati Museum Membership. It's about 3 hours from Cincinnati. Granted, Conner's Praire would be way more cool from a learning perspective....but I'm not sure I want to spend $56 dollars so early in our trip, when we surely won't be spending the day there. So, Terre Haute, and not Conner's Prairie. Food wise in Terre Haute is the Clabbergirl Bakeshop.



Also in Muncie IN is Minnetrista (also free with our Cincinnati Museum Membership). I'd love to tell you what exactly it IS....but I'm not sure. A garden? A nature center? Ah, here we go, "Minnetrista is a museum and cultural center that serves the people of East Central Indiana. Minnetrista offers exhibits and programs for children, families, adults, scouts, teachers and students that focus on nature, history, gardens, and art." And, "Located in the center of Muncie, Minnetrista is an informal learning environment with 40+ acres, a museum, an historic home, a nature area, gardens, a cabin, and other educational buildings."

 I think I'll set Sweetling on a research project to figure out if we want to go to Minnetrista. If I ask the kids "children's museum" or "this other thing that might have some gardens and nature trails..." guess which one they'll pick? But if I say, hey Sweetling, check out this link and tell me what you think, then Minnetrista stands a chance.

(And, I'm an idiot. Guess what? The Terre Haute Children's Museum? That's in Terre Haute. The Minnetrista? That's in Munchie, NOT on our route.)




We have nothing for Illinois. YET. Rather, the things we saw in our library books were either way too north or way too south of our route along I-70.

Dinner, now, more later. Not that I'm addicted.

Dinner finished. I'm back. I know you missed me.

So, having discovered my lack of map skills, I'm ready for more humiliations. We are back to children's museum on the far side of Indiana. No cool artistic gardens for Mommy.

From Terre Haute, Indiana to St. Louis, Missouri is another 3 hour drive. What if we leave Cincy, drive three hours and stop to play and have lunch at Terre Haute. Then, we drive another three hours to St Louis. Now, sadly, that would get us to St Louis too late to go up in the Gateway Arch. Could we do dinner, spend the night, and do the arch before leaving the area the next morning? OR we could (ha ha), leave Cincy at 7am (when the pigs fly), stop in Terre Haute between 10am and 12 pm, and get to St. Louis at 3pm to go up in the arch.

The arch is open between 9:20am and 5:10pm during the time of year we'd be traveling. Tickets cost $10 for adults and $5 for kids. The last tram of the day runs from the bottom to the top 45 minutes before the arch closes.

Also of interest in St. Louis is the St. Louis Science Center, which claims to be one of the top 5 science centers in the United States. It's open between 9:30 and 5:30 Monday through Saturday. (And its a reciprical museum for our membership.)

Plus, we have friends in St. Louis that it would be nice to see again for dinner maybe.

Just for point of comparison, it's a straight 6hr drive from Cinci to St Louis. And you know that driving 6 hrs straight through with no stops isn't realistic with kids. But, neither do I really want to spend a whole day there either. Drat the museum AND the arch for closing so early.