Day 3: No Intervention Needed

Thursday was the Jedi’s birthday. It was absolutely fitting that we were in the barbeque capital of the world. However, we were also in Independence Missouri, which is now practically a suburb of Kansas City. Independence Missouri was also the jumping off point for the Oregon Trail. So, despite the fact that it was the Jedi’s birthday and despite the fact that the Jedi had been pseudo teasing that we would be getting barbeque for breakfast, we had breakfast at the hotel and headed out to the Frontier Trails Museum.
Right next door to the museum we found an unexpected treasure, the Chicago and Alton Depot.

We walked over for a picture….

….and this kind elderly gentleman came out and invited us in. He was more of a treasure than many of the artifacts in the depot. The depot itself was the original depot built in 1879. After it closed, it fell into disrepair and was scheduled to be demolished. A group came together to raise the funds needed to move it to a new location and refurbish it, keeping it as historically accurate as possible. It was full of things that had actually been in use in the depot, some of them original from 1879. Our guide said that when they started the refurbishing process, a gentleman stepped forward. He said back when the depot had been decommissioned, he had taken many items from the depot. Now, he said, he thought it was time to return them. Without his unauthorized preservation, many of the artifacts would have been lost forever.
Among the items returned were—

an original phone, which had been installed just 6 years after Bell had filed his patent;

an Edison glass jar battery, invented when he still worked for the railroad (I think);

and an Edison phonograph, a second edition model with a new volume control feature. (Our guide told us that the originals didn’t have a volume control…so that if you wanted it to play softer, you had to stuff a sock in it, which is where that phrase came from. ) Our guide played some Irish music on the phonograph for us.

But, cooler even than these things was our host himself. He demonstrated the telegraph devices for us, quickly clicking out each child’s name in Morse code as well as the different signals the stations used to quickly transmit information about trains and departures and whatnot. He showed us how they used to get messages to the engineers and conductors on the train…by tying the messages to large metal hoops attached to a long pole. Someone on the train would lean out and snatch the message from the hoop as the train steamed past. He said he broke his own wrist doing this, and it got him a day vacation from work.

He took us on a tour of the agent’s apartment upstairs, which was all furnished in period pieces. He talked us through what life would have been like for the family and which chores each child would do. A butter churn was in the kitchen. He said the wives of the agents would frequently fill their butter church by dipping a ladle into the milk jugs the farmers had stored downstairs to be shipped out on the next train. They would just take a little of the cream from off the top of each milk jug, in the hopes that their dipping wouldn’t be noticed. He said that’s where the phrase “skimming a little off the top” originated.

He was an absolute joy, and I loved listening to him. Back downstairs, the kids each bought a wooden train whistle, and he taught them each a few train signals for their whistles. Toa of Boy has been tooting away on his whistle ever since.

We then headed next door to our original destination of the Frontier Trails Museum.

I don’t really know what the kids thought of this museum; I was too lost in my own little world of covered wagon bliss.

One thing I did note, one of the sections was about the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the trappers and hunters that blazed the trail west. They had small squares of real animal fur as part of the display. Across the aisle, they had a glass case of full skin furs. Toa was grossed out by the full furs. Sweetling was intrigued. It was a complete reversal of what I would have expected. In the gift shop, Sweetling bought a coonskin cap. She was disappointed to later learn that it wasn’t made of real fur.

By then, it was lunch time, but my patient husband indulged me a little more by driving to a nearby field that still held the faintest traces of swales made by the wagon trains well over a century ago. I didn’t take any photos, because the faint corduroying of the field would never come through on a photo. Neither did I go all teary eyed over the experience of being at ground zero of the great overland migration, though I did come close.

Finally, we left my favorite period of history behind, and headed on to lunch at Oklahoma Joe’s. Anthony Bourdon listed Oklahoma Joe’s on his “Top 13 Places to Eat Before You Die.” Anthony said,

“Oklahoma Joe’s is the best barbeque in Kansas City, and that makes it the best barbeque in the world.”

Anthony Bourdon was dead on the money. Oklahoma Joe’s was awesome. As a measure of its awesomeness, my nearly vegetarian daughter who doesn’t really care for barbeque not only INHALED a full quarter chicken, but she was the first one finished with her food and WANTED MORE. Maybe it was the coonskin cap channeling some of its primal energy into her, but I think it was the awesome barbeque.
As Sweetling and I were in the bathroom washing our hands, the Jedi started chatting with the manager. By the time Sweetling and I came out, the manager was offering our family our own private tour of the kitchens and smokers of the restaurant. That was really cool. Our second unexpected special treat for the day.

I posted on Facebook that I might have to talk the Jedi into looking for a new job in Kansas City, just so I could eat at Oklahoma Joe’s on a regular basis. Luckily, the Jedi bought a large container of rub at their store, so we can recreate some of the Oklahoma Joe taste back in Cincy. I could then leave without having to grieve never getting that meat again. (The Jedi, of course, would have comment about meeting my meat needs, but I can’t repeat it here.)

In the afternoon, the Jedi had arranged a meeting with some friends in ministry to talk about adoption and orphan care. He dropped the kids and I off at Union Station in Kansas City because there was a little museum there called “Science City”. He thought it might be a nice little diversion from the kids while he was meeting with the ministry leaders.

Science City turned out to be our third unexpected special treat for the day.

I had expected something small and straightforward, but that place was large, interactive, engaging, and incredible.

We had a blast.

I think its something out old train stations that just channel all their energy into making amazing museums. This was the ceiling when we first walked into Union Station. Surrounded with all that artistic, historical, magnificant energy, how could the museum creators make anything less?

After the Jedi picked us up, our barbeque tour of force continued. We had several restaurants that we wanted to try, so we picked up some carry-out orders from two of the restaurants and took them back to the hotel to have a barbeque feast. In retrospect, while the other barbeque was all ok, we should have just gone back to Oklahoma Joe’s. Nothing else was even in the same league.

And, since we hadn’t gorged ourselves enough, we headed out for “frozen custard” as a night snack.

All in all, an absolute win of a day.

Read from Day 1
Back to Day 2
On to Day 4

Day 2: The American Way

Today’s blog post title is in honor of two things. First, an awesome quote I overheard between a father and his sons in the Space Exhibit of the St. Louis Science Center. Second, the last phrase of the oath I took at the end of my class to make me a Certified Barbeque Judge with the Kansas City Barbeque Society.

But I get ahead of myself.

On our first day in St. Louis, we stopped at the St. Louis’ Science Center. Our schedule was tight and we only had an hour at the museum. This was going to be fine, because we knew we were coming back the next day.

So, for our second day in St. Louis, that where we were heading first. (After a quick trip to Walmart. It was discovered that our electronically dependent family should never travel without our own power strip.)

We headed first to the Space exhibit, which was reached by crossing a pedestrian bridge over the interstate. Clever museum designers had included speed radar guns for the kids to use, telescopes, and glass windows on the floor. Needless to say, we enjoyed ourselves on the bridge.

The entrance to the space exhibit was really cool by my standards and the Jedi standards, because it had a lot of space age toys from the 50’s 60’s and 70’s on exhibit behind glass cases. This was less cool from Toa’s perspective, because all the toys were behind glass cases. And it received a “who cares” rating on the Sweetling scale.

BUT, beyond that were many exhibits, photos, and models detailing the history of space travel, and the possible future of space travel. That was a bit more cool on the Sweetling’s scale, but it was still all behind glass cases, so wasn’t rating high on Toa’s scale. My favorite part of the exhibit was two actual capsules from a Mercury and a Saturn rocket. Sadly, the lighting and the plexiglass prevented me from getting good photos of these artifacts. Playing near the capsules was a video showing the launch of these rockets, the re-entry and splash-down of the capsules, and the at-sea recovery of the astronaut, or astronauts. A father and his sons were watching the video. I didn’t catch the question posed by one of the boys, but I loved the father’s answer.

“Because we’re Americans. It’s what we do.”

I tried to interest Toa in the video, but it was way too passive for him. Instead, he found a giant elevator full of buttons, switches, and blinking lights. It was, of course, also “out of gas.” And therefore doooooommmmed.

After that clearly educational experience, we split up. When we had come the previous day, Toa really wanted to see the dinosaur display. After all, it had a robotic, life-sized model of a T-Rex standing over a fallen triceratops. The T-Rex was opening and shutting its enormous mouth and waving its bloody claws. The triceratops was still feeling kicking one leg and trying to lift its head despite multiple deep, bloody gouges in its side. What’s not to love about that? Sweetling, for some reason, had no interest in seeing that up close. So we split up. I took Toa to witness the dinosaur carnage, and the Jedi took Sweetling off to explore the exhibits on computer programming and design. (This area by the way, proved way to “elementary” for Sweetling. Toa and I went up there later, and we couldn’t figure any of it out so we gave up and went to find more dead things. Meanwhile, Sweetling and the Jedi had gone on to the section on building and engineering.)

All that to say, we had to split up on our second day, because Toa wanted to go explore the building section, which Sweetling had already been in the previous day.

The structure section had all kinds of “engineering vs the forces of nature”, hands-on experiences. It was a Toa of Boy dream come true. He got to try to blow the roofs of model houses with a air hose and nozzle to test what kind of roof would withstand a hurricane. He got to built three identical skyscrapers and then activate a motorized tabletop to simulate an earthquake and determine which kind of foundation best withstood the quake. He got to build different types of bridges and arches and see what kind of load each of them could bear before crumpling. In short, he got to wreck devastation upon the world. All he needed was a giant Godzilla suit and miniaturized Tokyo and his day would have been complete. We were way too busy to pause for pictures in this area, but I did snap a couple when he slowed down to build foam replicas of the Gateway Arch. He was even gentlemanly enough to give the little girl who helped the privilege of knocking it down. (Which she did while standing under it so the big blocks came down on her head.)

We did have fun, but all in all, we were a tiny bit underwhelmed with the St. Louis Science Center. It couldn’t hold a candle to Columbus’ COSI, and we had expected something on the COSI scale. We were more than ready to grab some individual pizzas for lunch and hit the road for Kansas City.

Our hotel in Kansas City was only about three and a half hours from St. Louis, since we were actual staying in Independence, Missouri. We crossed the Missouri River twice on the drive. I was all geeked out about that, because it was the Missouri River, which had played such a prominent role in the westward migration. But, no one else seemed to share my enthusiasm for this feature. I was also all geeked out about being west of the Mississippi when we first got out of our van in St. Louis, but I was alone in that too.

After checking in, we grabbed fried chicken to take to the hotel room for dinner, since I needed to be at my bbq judge training class at 6. The Jedi and the kids spent the evening in the hotel pool and walked to McD’s for smoothies. I drove myself to class, with a lot of help from the Tom-Tom.

The class was awesome. I sat in between a couple from Texas and two competitive bbqers who were there to “learn how to win”. We learned about contest rules and procedures and the process of judging. Then we got to practice judging and scoring bbq. The Jedi had sent me with some ziplocks and an ice tub for leftovers, but I pretty much cleared the samples off my plate between rounds. It was so good. I had a great time with my tablemates. I can’t wait to get to judge at my first real competition.

At the end of the experience, we all stood and raised our right hands to be sworn in as official barbeque judges. The end of the oath went something like,

“As a judge, I promise to strive for truth, justice, excellence in barbeque, and the upholding of the American way of life.”

Also of note is that it is officially stated in the rules that judges are not to use forks for eating while judging. I always thought the Jedi was joking about that point.

But no, it’s in there.

It’s because we’re Americans. It’s what we do.

Back to Day 1
On to Day 3

Day 1: Kicking It at the Gateway

Yesterday was Day One of our great road trip west!

We actually were rolling out of our driveway at 6:18 am, a feat I would never have imagined possible. We drove straight through Indiana and Illinois, with just a couple quick restroom stops. (And the obligatory rock collecting in Illinois, because Toa really wants to bring home rocks from each state. And, had Olney Illinois been closer to I-70, I would have petitioned for a detour to go see white squirrels. But it isn't and we didn't.)

We reached St. Louis just before noon, central time. The Gateway Arch was our first stop on our trip, a totally appropriate kick-off to our travels.

Let me just say that pictures simply do not do the Arch justice. It is beautiful, impressive, and, despite its enormous size, astonishingly graceful. My pictures especially won't do it justice, but I had to take some anyway.

As soon as we got close to the Arch, Toa of Boy immediately wanted to know if he could go “touch it”. Both kids ran up to the Arch, and the Jedi called after Toa, “careful not to push it too hard!”

Inside, we bought tickets for the 12:25 tram to the top. The Jedi, who is not a fan of heights, elected to stay on the ground. Sweetling, Toa, and I got in line for the tram. The tram is a line of eight capsules, which each seat five people. They looked like little space pods. We shared our space pod with a father and son who were down from Alaska. The doors to the little space pods were glass, so during the ride up and down, we could see out into the metal stairway that zig-zagged down through the arch.

After a three minute ride, we were at the top of the Arch. The floor itself slopped with the crest of the Arch. We spent several minutes peering out the observation windows and taking photos of the view.

Against Toa's protests, we spent a little bit of time walking through the Museum of Westward Expansion in the base of the Arch. Of course, no one knew mad bison lurked the corridors of the museum.

After that narrow escape, we left the Arch and had lunch at Pappy's Smokehouse. The ribs and the brisket were awesome, but I have to say that my absolute favorite were the sweet potato fries. The were thin fries, deep fried and sprinkled in (what I think) was a mixture of brown sugar and white sugar with just a touch of cinnamon. I totally need to try this at home. Toa of Boy had a "frito pie", which I thought sounded disgusting but Toa and the Jedi thought it sounded great. A frito pie is a bed of Frito corn chips smothered in baked beans topped with onions, cheese, and meat. Pappy's was also home to one of my favorite quotes of the day

"I have ice in my shoe."

This was expressed to us by Sweetling, after Toa was attempting to work the ice and fountain drink dispenser on his own.

We didn't hit Pappy's until two o'clock, so by the time we finished eating, we only had about an hour in the St Louis Science Center. We declined their $9 parking lot and parked on the street for free. We knew we were coming back to the Science Center in the morning, so only having an hour that first day was fine. I'll post all the pics of the Science Center up in my next post.

My second favorite quote of the day came from the Jedi, when we returned to the van. He asked,

"Why is their a stegosaurus roaming free in the car?"

Our next stop was Ted Drewes Ice Cream. We were pleasantly surprised to find that it was a historic roadside attraction on the old Route 66. Sweetling is enamored by the Old Mother Road, so this was a special treat for her.

The frozen custard was delicious. They gave Toa and Sweetling "Route 66" stickers. Toa ordered one of their famous "concretes" and they handed him his cup upside down. He giggled over that for quite some while.

We hit the ice cream stand at dinner time. We were supposed to be getting together with friends for dinner, but our schedule was off (even though we invited them to join us in an ice cream dinner.) Still, we headed over to their house after our ice cream. Sitting and visiting with good friends who we haven't seen in a while was a great end to a great day!

on to Day 2

Packing

This is what the back of the van looked like when I packed it up for the kids and me to join some friends for three days and two nights of camping.

This is what the back of the van looked like when the Jedi packed it up for an 18 day  family road trip through 15 states and back.

See the difference there?


You know what the difference is? It's that the Jedi is an amazing man. He's such an amazing man, he gets his own adjective. He's "aMANzing".

You may be wondering where all the stuff WENT. Sit back, relax, and I'll take you on the journey of the invisible stuff.

First, the Jedi has been planning and organizing for months. Early on, he had us each get one days worth of clothes. He made a neatly folded stack of our clothes; he measured the stack; and he experimented with plastic organizers to find the smallest practical container to hold the family's clothing for one day. Each night when we stop at a hotel, just the container of the next day's clothes AND one overnight bag with pjs, toothbrushes, and hairbrushes needs to come in. He also measured the space between the two front seats and bought a small cooler/refrigerator which plugs into the van for power.

This weekend, he took every last thing out of the van. Everything came out from the big storage bins under the seats. Everything came out from the two gloveboxes. Everything came out from the side pockets in the doors. Everything came out. Everything. Every square inch of the van got wiped down, dusted, vacuumed. Only those items crucial to the trip went back in. They went back in a neat and orderly fashion. The underseat storage bins have emergency tools plus the games, movies, and books we are bringing. Each day, we'll pull out a few things and make a neat stack of them on one of the middle seats.

He put the luggage carrier on top, which will hold nine of our clothing storage bins plus has some extra room for other miscellaneous things (picnic supplies, a container of our swim clothes, extra toilettries, and whatnot). We'll do laundry at least once on the trip.

The back of the van holds the kids sleeping bags, the one overnight bag we'll need, the van's pop-in table, the medicine bag, one bag of extra shoes for each person, and one duffel bag of raingear and hoodies. 

The middle of the van might get a little more crowded, partly because we have a stuff addiction, but mostly because the middle of the van reflects my influence rather than the Jedi's system. Each of the kids have a back of the seat organizer. (The pic is a catelogue photo, but you get the idea.)

That will hold some of their things, but then they each also have a tackle box for souvenirs (Toa of Boy wants to collect a rock from every state), a trip scrapbook, a DS case, and a backpack of whatever they want to bring on the trip. Sweetling's backpack will probably hold her sketchbook, her pencils, and a ton of library books. Toa's will probably hold a sketchbook and ??? I'd love to find him a cheap bag of action figures or something. I don't want him to take any small toys that could get kicked out of the van and left behind at a rest stop, its absence not to be noticed until we're in a different state. Plastic army men are a possibility, but they lack their own individual personalities. Hmmm.....

Wordless Wednesday

Unicorns on Saturn

I could easily drop a grand or two on curriculum. Easily.

Since we don't have an easy grand or two lying around, I'm trying to really think through our curriculum options and choose wisely. The kids and I went to the vendor section of the Cincinnati Homeschool Convention last Friday. I thought that would help me discover my options and then whittle them down.

Foolish mortal.

We were completely overwhelmed. That place was HUGE. And crowded. And noisy. All three of us were going into sensory shutdown well before we had strolled the length of the rows upon rows upon aisles of booths.

Still, I did find several things that I'm considering. And I'm posting links up here, both for my own reference AND in hopes of some feedback.

First, our "spine" is going to be a study of the History of the 20th Century. I have several reference books on hand that might be our main "textbooks", heavily supplemented by library books.

After that, here's what I'm looking at for each child--

Sweetling

Language:
Either continuing in  Vocabulary from Classical Roots or switching over to Word Within the Word, which is another classical root based vocabulary workbook. I'm letting Sweetling pick.

I'm also considering Poetry and Humanity and Free at Last. 


Literature:
Likely will be pulling from recommended reading lists and doing searches on historical fiction that ties in with the different events of the 20th century. Also, although I had intended on using two Progeny Press study guides this year, we did not. But I will follow through with picking them out and using two of them this year.

Writing:
There is a book called Advanced Academic Writing. However, nothing about that says "joy" to either me or Sweetling. So???  There is also Learn to Write the Novel Way which sounds more fun. Or there is a series of books which are Write Your Own .... which we might pick up. Sweetling just wants to write. She is telling me she will pledge to spend a certain amount of time so many days a week just writing. Sweetling is an outstanding writer for her age, so I might just try Sweetling's approach to writing this year.

Math:
This year's math was a success. Our main goal was to simply enjoy math once again. Having achieved that goal, I really am not eager to pick up another dry, lifeless, soul-sucking math textbook. If I were a better mathematician myself, we'd just wing it. But I'm not. We need something we can learn from. At the convention, we saw a booth who's big display sign said something along the lines of "Hate Algebra? You need a FRESH approach." We thought that applied to us, so we headed over. We found three textbooks written by an Algebra tutor. We've downloaded the first chapter of the Geometry textbook and did a few pages in it today.

This is how it went. I posted this up on Facebook today:

The math lesson is on logic and reasoning, specifically inductive and deductive reasoning, the Law of Detachment and the Law of Syllogism. We were to analyze some statements and determine if they were true or false. #9 is "There is a unicorn on Saturn that loves pepperoni pizza." The answer key listed #9 as false. I was trying to figure out why #9 was false. Says a Sweetling, "Why do you THINK???"

Thus the title of this post.

I'm not quite sold on these books yet. They have absolutely no color. Sweetling probably is pleased by the lack of visual distractions on the page. I personally think all math should have the decency to cover up its stark black and white nakedness with a little bit of color and some tastefully selected graphics.

Science:
Another awesome, in my opinion, find at the convention. Education Exploration Science looked like a fun, hands-on curriculum. I did specifically ask the guy at the booth a question. I said, "Let's pretend that I am cursed and any science experiment or project that I attempt is doomed to failure." Sweetling said, "Pretend??"

The booth guy tried to reassure me about the step by step nature of the projects and that everything I needed for every project was included. I don't think he grasped the nature or the extensiveness of my curse, but that's ok. I was really impressed with the text being on an interactive CD and the cool projects. Even if they don't work for us, will take an Edisonian attitude of learning from our failures. So, I'd like to get the advanced curriculum for Sweetling.

Art:
Modern art baby. We'll compliment our history study with a study of the art and artists of the various decades of the past century. I've seen several nice projects at Deep Space Sparkle and at Painted Paper that I'd like to try.

Music:
Sweetling would like to continue guitar classes at co-op.

Foreign Language:
I'm hoping co-op offers a Spanish class at her level. If not, we might be purchasing Rosetta Stone.

Bible:
Don't know. She is very good at doing a short daily devotional, but I'd like to see her have a Bible study with a bit more meat than her cute little Keys for Kids devotional. Mango is recommending Switched-On Schoolhouse. I'm not sold on the $80 pricetag.

Toa of Boy

Language:
I am really leaning towards getting the basic language arts Island Level package from Royal Fireworks Press. Toa of Boy loved the Sentence Island book at the convention, and I really like everything I've read on their internet site about the philosophy and the lay out. My only reservation is that this might be a bit of a language arts overload for Toa of Boy. 

Reading:
Formal reading curriculums are for the birds. We're going with picking quality library books and having a daily reading time together on the waterbed.

Spelling:
I think I've seen a big improvement in Toa's spelling AND his reading from using the Sequential Spelling program. We're going to stay with it. Plus, its short and sweet. We like short and sweet.

Math:
We liked Singapore Math this year. We're sticking with Singapore Math next year. Short and sweet and effective.

Science:
That cool hands-on curriculum? They have an elementary level course for Toa of Boy.

Art:
Modern Art, same as Sweetling. We do art together. Including Mommy. Mommy likes to paint too!

Music:
Toa of Boy wants to learn to play the recorder. Last year, just before Christmas, we found some cool instructional videos on youtube on playing "Jingle Bells" on the recorder. Toa of Boy had the song down pat in two days time. We'll find some more videos and learn some songs by ear. If Toa of Boy wants to learn to read music, fine. If not, that's fine too.

Foreign Language:
Toa of Boy want to learn Spanish. Or re-learn Spanish as the case may be. He tried out the Rosetta Stone software at the convention, but quickly got frustrated with the voice recognition feature. We might try Power Glide instead.

Bible:
Every day, Toa of Boy is reading his Awana devotional and working on Scripture memorization. I don't think I need to add anything to that.

Study Skills

This is from a strip called Agnes. It accurately represents my level of study skills, which is why I'd like Sweetling to take the "Study Skills" class at co-op next year.

Cincinnati Dayscapes: Cleopatra Exhibit

On Saturday, I picked up Vaya, and after a lunch at Red Robin (including a tower of onion rings, yum yum), we headed down to the Cincinnati Museum Center.

Vaya has been in love with Egypt for a long time. So, I just felt I had to take her to the Cleopatra Exhibit the museum center is currently hosting.

Though the ticket prices were a bit steeper than I anticipated, it was an amazing exhibit and well worth it.

Walking through the exhibit was an experience, not just a stroll past a few display cases. Everything from the lighting to physical layout to very focused audio hot spots to hand held audio guides were well thought out and worked together to create a harmonious whole. Crowd sized was controlled though limited ticket sales to enter the exhibit at specific time slots. I felt like I was walking though the exhibit alone, with an occasional whispered comment between Vaya and myself.

The artifacts were both beautiful and impressive. Really, the entire exhibit flowed like an art form in and of itself. We spent about an hour and forty minutes walking through the exhibit, but were completely unaware of the passage of time.

It was not an exhibit that would be engaging for young children. Toa of Boy asked if I would take him, after I came home and was raving about it to Mama. I said no, he wouldn't like it.

But for youth and for adults, the Cleopatra Exhibit will beat hands down any summer movie. Take that entertainment money, and instead go see something that will truly leave you in wonder.

My Haul

I blatantly violated the 6 item dressing room limit. This is the sort of thing that happens when Sweetling isn't there to keep me in line.

But, I will look way fashionable when trekking through the Arizona dessert.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

....and the winners are

We have too much selected for our drive from the Grand Canyon to Albuquerque. Which cannot be said without also saying, "I knew I should have made that left turn at Albuquerque."

I sat the kids down, opened up a webpage on all seven attraction options, and then had them rate what they would like to do, in order of preference. Here were the lists I got back. I'd like to try to get both kids top three picks in if at all possible.

Toa of Boy's picks, in order of preference:
Meteor Crater
Montezuma's Castle
Petrified Forest National Park
Lowell Observatory
La Pasada
Petroglyph National Monument
Sky City


Sweetling's picks, in order of preference:
Lowell Observatory
La Pasada
Petrified Forest National Park
Sky City
Meteor Crater
Montezuma's Castle
Petroglyph National Monument

Which might make our drive plan look something like this:

Return Trip Day 4, Tuesday May 10

--Depart Grand Canyon 8:00am

--Flagstaff AZ Lowell Observatory 9:40-10:40

--Camp Verde AZ Montezuma Castle National Monument 11:40-1:00

--lunch?? 1:00-1:30 Las Margaritas 2099 E Cornville Rd, Rimrock, Arizona
OR?? 1955 Forest 119 Road Lake Montezuma, AZ I can't figure out if there are two restaurants here, or one with two addresses. I'm only seeing one restaurant on google street view.

--Meteor Crater AZ 2:30-3:30pm

--Winslow AZ La Posada 4:00-4:30 pm

--Holbrook AZ some cool restaurant the Jedi found 5-6pm, right down the road from concrete tepees

--Petrified Forest National Whatever it is AND we'd be getting there right at sunset. I want my time machine back.

I just emailed the whole thing to the Jedi. He and Sweetling can build us a time machine. Or perhaps a Rocket Car. We can zoom across Arizona in a rocket car. Toa of Boy would dig that.

Revised schedule. You know this is why I have the soaring readership.
--Depart Grand Canyon 7am. The Jedi has said this is feasible.
--Lowell Observatory when they open at 9am. Stay till 10am, latest.
--Montezuma Castle Monument 11-12:30
--Subway eat on the road 98 Kachina Blvd # B, Flagstaff, AZ
--Meteor Crater. 1:30-2:30
--Winslow La Posada 3:00-3:30
--Holbrook, dinner 3:30-4:30
--Petrified Forest 5:30-7:00
--Hotel at Albuquerque 10:40 (which will be 9:40 in NM--see I have a time machine after all!!!)

Time Machine Traveling

I can't possibly squeeze everything in that we had marked to do this day.  I'm putting in links and such to all the things we'd like to do, then we'll have to trim down the list somehow. 

 Return Trip Day 4, Tuesday May 10



--Depart Grand Canyon 8:00am

--Meteor Crator near Winslow 10:30am-12pm

$15 adults, $8 youth (6-17); 8am-5pm
Admission prices include 3 lookout points on he rim of the crater, an Interactive Discovery Center, a theater showing our movie "Collisions and Impacts" and weather permitting a guided rim tour which takes you on a 1/2 mile hike. A Fully enclosed shoe is required for the rim tour.

--Winslow AZ 12:30-2:00
The Turquoise Room restaurant in La Posada
La Posada Historic District, 303 E. Second St. /Route 66 Winslow, AZ (12:30)
Darrel’s Root Beer Stand 1001 N Williamson Ave Winslow, AZ 86047 (928) 289-2891

--Petrified Forest National Park, 3:30-5:30
Giant Logs Trail. An easy 0.4 mile paved trail located behind the Rainbow Forest Museum that passes by numerous petrified logs, including the park's largest, nicknamed Old Faithful.
Newspaper Rock. A roadside overlook leads to an area in which hundreds of petroglyphs have been etched into the rock.
Puerco Pueblo. A short trail leads around an 800 year old pueblo that once contained 100 rooms and housed as many as 1200 people.

- Sky City, NM (+3hr, check out the time tours are given. see the problem here? This is why we need a time machine.)
Pueblo of Acoma I-40, Exit 102, Acoma 87034
Tours 10am-3:30 pm $55 family tour, $10 camera permit





--arrive Albuquerque, NM 7pm (8pm local MT time)

Now, not included in this day are the following sites that have been tacked on to the original list. That's fine, cause I'm using a time machine to make it all happen. 

-- potentially Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque

--potentially detour to Sedona AZ (Montezuma’s Castle,

--potentially Lowell Observatory 1400 West Mars Hill Road Flagstaff, AZ 86001
 reciprocal museum
Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat 9:00 AM - 9:30 PM
Tue/Thu/Sun 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
During the day explore the Observatory's history and current research by joining guided tours. In the evening, view through a variety of telescopes including Percival Lowell's 24" Alvan Clark refractor and experience interactive live presentations with our mini-planetarium.

I'm bringing in the kids for a family meeting, so we can discuss our options and hold a vote.

The Mother Road

Return Trip Day TWO, Sunday, May 8

-- Barstow 9:00am-11:00am

--Route 66 "Mother Road" Museum, 681 N. First Avenue, Barstow, CA 

--Calico Ghost Town 11:30-3:00

--Needles CA 5:30 drive through dinner
Jack-in-the-Box 221 J Street, Needles, CA 92363

--arrive Grand Canyon Village 10:30pm (Arizona does not observe DST, will be in Pacific Time)

Atta-way.....Atwater CA

Return Trip Day ONE, Sat May 7


--Depart Sacramento CA 10am

--Atwater CA 12pm lunch options....
...Tary Boscolo's Pizzeria 351 Atwater Boulevard, Atwater, CA 95301-4603 (good homemade pizza)
...Jantz Cafe & Bakery 987 Bellevue Rd Atwater, CA 95301 (sandwiches and pies)
...Granny's Pantry 1221 Broadway Avenue, Atwater, CA 95301-4328 (basic homecooking)
...Kim's Restaurant 161 Atwater Boulevard, Atwater, CA 95301-4601 ( family owned Korean food, former bar)


--Castle Science & Technology Center, Atwater CA 12:30-2:30


--Bakersfield CA 5:30-6:30
Wool Growers Restaurant 620 E 19th St Bakersfield, CA 93305


--hotel at Barstow CA 9pm

Schooling Snippets

Just some snippets from our day. These aren't really that out of the ordinary for us....you can interpret that as you will.

Setting: The couch. We are all gathered there reading from "Hero Tales". The question, and the lesson was about Truthfulness. I had posed the second question after our reading, and this is how it went from there.

Toa of Boy: "I don't know. Can you just tell me, Mommy?"
Mommy: "What about you Sweetling, what do you think?"
Sweetling: *shrug*
Mommy rephrases the question.
Toa of Boy: "Just tell me, Mommy."
Sweetling: *shrug*
Mommy: "Well I think Toa of Boy should try to eat his own toes."
Toa: "aaaarrrggggghhhh" (as he puts the big toe of his left foot into his mouth)
Sweetling: "No, no, no, no, NO!!!!"

Setting: The kitchen. Toa of Boy and I were working on a math lesson measuring capacity and volume.

The result of our efforts: Little wet footprints made by little wet feet all along the kitchen floor and one empty milk jug with permanent marker lines drawn around it to denote a 1 liter fill line and a half liter fill line. 

Setting: The kitchen again. Sweetling had just emerged from her room for snack.

Mommy: "Hey Sweetling, what does 'ubiquitous' mean?"
Sweetling: ???
Mommy: "I've had that word stuck in my head for two days and I'm really not sure what it means."
Sweetling rushes out of the room and comes back just a few moments later.
Sweetling: It means 'being present everywhere'.
Mommy: Really??? Did your vocabulary book have a sample sentence?
Sweetling: yes.
Mommy: Did you read it? Do you know what it is? Can you tell me?
Sweetling; I think it was something about God being ubiquitous.
Mommy. Huh.
A few minutes pass while Mommy does food prep.
Mommy: So, 'a ubiquitous response' or 'a ubiquitous reply' doesn't really work.
Sweetling; What??? Where did you get that??
Mommy: I don't know. That's what's been stuck in my head. What word do I need there?
Sweetling: I have no idea. What are you trying to say?
Mommy: Like an answer that is difficult to really pin down, one that can mean more than one thing.
Sweetling: Ambiguous.
Mommy: Oh yeah....

Setting: The kitchen. I am preparing dinner. The Jedi has just arrived home from work and has come into the room to put away his lunch box and sort the mail.

The Jedi: So, whose Mobius strip is that on the table?

Setting: The van. We are on our way to church for Awana and The Brink. Toa of Boy is talking to Sweetling about a wide range of topics.

Sweetling: Wait, he's bald and he eats hair?
Toa: Yes! He eats hair and he's bald but if he eats the hair maybe it comes out on his head!!!!!

Donner Party

Day EIGHT, Tues May 3

--Depart Reno 9am

--Truckee CA 10am-11:30am
--Donner Memorial State Park. Here's a wiki article and here's the state park site.










--Auburn CA 12:40 pm
In and Out Burgers. Which has a secret menu.


--Sacramento 2:30 pm


And for the days that we will be in Sacramento, the Jedi has already done a lot of research and planning.

Which makes this an easy planning day.

Salt Lake, Salt Flats, Reno

Day SEVEN, Mon May 2


--Depart hotel 8 am

--Great Salt Lake 8:30-10:30am

    Antelope Island State Park, 4528 West 1700 South, Syracuse 84075
beaches, bison, trails, antelope, restaurant, junior ranger program 
$9 per vehicle,

--Tree of Utah. This is just too funny.








--Bonneville Salt Flats
"Imagine a place so flat you seem to see the curvature of the planet, so barren not even the simplest life forms can exist. Imagine the passing thunder of strange vehicles hurtling by on a vast dazzling white plain. This is not an alien world far from earth; it is Utah's famous Bonneville Salt Flats."

--Wendover UT 1:30-2:30pm
Salt Flats Cafe Interstate 80, Wendover, UT 84083
"The food is good, the prices are CHEAP, the staff is a kick and they're FAST.  They have the land speed record for fixing some good Mexican food. " ...and...." It was a warm oasis decorated with numerous photographs of men in bright suits posing next to bright cars amongst stark white backdrops. This surreal touch is just one of the many appealing aspects of the Salt Flats Cafe."
Wendover Airfield, housed the Enola Gay.Abandoned for a while, but is now being restored.

--?? Wells, NV 3:30-4:00 (whether or not we stop here is up in the air.)
    Wells Colony (Native American gift shop), unknown address
Historic Front Street, Clover St & 7th Street, Wells NV

--Elko NV 5-6
Round Table Pizza 2503 Mountain City Highway, Elko, NV 89801-2462
King Arthur themed restaurant, pizza, sandwiches, salads


--exit 292 of I-80 6:30-7:00
   Letterbox, stone marker, historic kiosk

  

--Reno NV 11pm

Colorado!

Less than 6 weeks till our trip, and I've been slacking off on the planning. The Jedi, however, has not. "Slacking off" has never ever been a part of the Jedi's mode of operation.

With that in mind, the Jedi has the day we're spending in the Denver/Boulder area all mapped out. And had nailed some spots west of there as well. We'll be leaving Denver/Boulder in the morning, to drive west over the Rocky Mountains. How cool is that?

WAY COOL. That's how cool.

Day SIX, Sun May 1

--Depart Denver, 8am

--Georgetown, CO 9:30am

The coolest thing in Georgetown is definitely the train. However, the train is expensive and would take way too long. The buildings are still really cool looking.

But there is also a Bighorn Sheep Viewing Station there.

 --Grand Junction, CO 12-2:30pm

                Judy's Family Resturant 

435 Highway 6 and 50, Fruita, CO

                Hot Tomato Cafe & Pizzeria 201 East Aspen Avenue, Fruita, CO

                End Zone 152 South Mesa Street, Fruita, CO

                Colorado National Monument park (39.104217,-108.7277)

--Moab UT(take out dinner, which we will take with us to Arches) 4:45


--Arches National Park UT 5-6:30 pm
Here's a MAP! And here is a list of hiking trails.

--Springville UT (uncertain about this stop. I want something to break the drive up, but....)

                Sammy’s Café 27 North 100 West, Provo, UT 84601

                (pie shakes, we could get them to go perhaps)

               http://sammyscafe.blogspot.com/

--Salt Lake City UT 10:40pm

          

White Chicken Chilli....Revised

Revived, Revisited, But Still Misspelled, its----

White Chicken Chilli

(I wanted to try to make this recipe without using canned beans. One because the grocery store was out of the brand I usually by, and two, because I've been trying to use less processed food anyway.)

1 lb bag great northern beans
1or2 boneless skinless chicken breast
6 cups water
1/2 onion, chopped
2-3 cups shredded cheese
garlic powder
chilli powder
cumin powder

1. Soak beans overnight (or 8 hours)  in 8 cups cold water.

2. Drain and rinse beans. Place in large pot with 6 cups cold water, chopped onion, and chicken breasts. (If you happen to have some chicken broth on hand, you can substitute some of the water for the chicken broth. But the chicken that is in there will also make some broth.)

3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 1-2 hours with pot lid slightly askew to let some steam escape. When beans are tender and chicken is cooked through, remove chicken, shred, and return to pot.

4. Stir in shredded cheese. (I like to use a bag with preshredded blend. Colby jack, pepper jack, cheddar, and asedero cheeses are all good choices.)

5. Stir in spices. I didn't measure my spices, but if I had to guess, I'd say I used between an eighth and a fourth teaspoon cumin, a fourth teaspoon garlic, and between a fourth and a half teaspoon chilli. Toa of Boy was my taster for this process.

Serve soup warm with additional cheese, sour cream, or salsa for garnish if desired.

Ice Cream Conundrum

It's been a long time since I've had to turn to the cyber world for help with math, but here we are today, hat in hand.

Here's the problem:

Every afternoon the three little pigs take an ice cream break. They head to the closest ice cream shop, where each orders a double-dip cone. There are only two kinds of double dips that the pigs ever order. It's either a double-dip vanilla cone or a licorice-chocolate combination.

If pig #1 orders vanilla-vanilla, then pig #2 orders the other. Either pig #1 or pig #3 orders vanilla-vanilla, but they never do so on the same day. Pig #2 and Pig#3 never both order the licorice-chocolate combination the same day.

Which of the three little pigs ate a vanilla-vanilla cone yesterday and will order a licorice-chocolate cone today?

Sweetling and I think that there is a misprint in the book. We can come up with only one scenario of orders which meet all the criteria of the problem.

Help?

Wordless Wednesday

Twenty for Tuesday

1. I saw a list on a friend’s blog called Friday Five. I like lists, but its not Friday. I might calle mine the Tuesday Ten, but we’ll have to see how many items I end up with.

2. Sweetling’s highest form is looking really good.

3. I am, by the way, at Tae Kwon Do. Just me, the netbook, and a blank word document. This is why the Tuesday “Ten” might not work as a title.

4. I made the mistake of telling Sweetling she was “teaseable.” She was quick to inform me that she was not in a teaseable mood. Since she is now practicing her take down moves, I think I should heed this tip.

5. Went to Frisch’s today. I ordered a Big Boy of course. Toa of Boy asked me if I was going to request enough tartar sauce that it would run down my arms and drip off my elbows when I picked it up. My great-grandma’s favorite sandwich specifications live on.

6. Went to Meijer yesterday. I bought ingredients for Cincinnati style chili, traditional chili, and white chicken chili. I think I was hungry for chili. I hope my family is too.

7. When I went to Meijer yesterday, I picked up a bucket of 10 pieces of chicken for $4.99. When I got to the van, I had no bucket of chicken. We went back in and retrieved our chicken.

8. Also at Meijer, I bought 2 mangoes. When I got home, I had one mango. I have yet to figure out where our other mango went.

9. We spent two to three hours this afternoon on our church’s food pantry….pulling what was on the shelves off, wiping down the cans and the shelves, checking the expiration dates, putting the newer cans in the back and the cans that will expire in 2011 in the front. While we were there, someone came to the church office asking for help with groceries. (Our church doesn’t have set hours for our pantry. We tend to give food to one or two families every week or so on a drop-in basis.) I went up front to talk to the woman who had come in, and Toa of Boy helped me carry her bags to the car. It was neat to meet and chat with a person, since the work we do is usually all behind the scenes.

10. Speaking of the food pantry, I’d really like to revise what we put in bags. I have been working on getting away from processed foods with my own family, and now I feel like I should do the same with the pantry bags. Sadly, we don’t have the capacity to give out perishable foods….so….I’m not sure what to do about that.

11. The Munchkin card game, in several variations, has become quite popular at our house. We are currently working on our own “Penguins of Madagascar” version. I can’t work out a way to work in a “I like to move it, move it” card….but that song isn’t ever in the Nickelodeon tv series, so I suppose we can live without it.

12. While playing Super Munchkin, Sweetling snatched the victory away from her dear sweet mother. I had just defeated a villain to achieve the game winning level. Everyone else at the table had laid down all their combat altering cards and I had countered them all. “Ha!” I exclaimed, cause I’m humble that way. “I win the battle!” I pumped my fist in the air. Again, the humbleness. “Yes you did,” said Sweetling, very matter-of-factly. “Too bad it wasn’t cannon!” And with that, she laid down a card that totally negated the whole spread. “Too bad it wasn’t cannon,” has been added to our home’s repertoire of oft repeated quotes.

13. Our last day of school is April 22. I’ve got a countdown calendar going on the fridge.

14. We head out on our trip shortly after that. The countdown calendar on the fridge is doing double duty.

15. In our women’s Bible study today, there was a question about even if we could know everything that was going to happen to us in our lives, would we want too? We talked about how overwhelming that might be. We talked about how much more resentful and rebellious we might be. But I mentioned how difficult it would be to focus on what we were doing in the present, if there was something coming up in the future that we were really looking forward too. I think I said it more elegantly in class, but I was thinking about the countdown calendar on the fridge. It’s hard to remain enthused and energized about our schoolwork and the housework and the “everyday” when I’m so excited about the upcoming trip.

16. I shared about my potential involvement this summer…wait, let me back up so that this one makes sense. My sister is working for the Children’s Hunger Alliance. She’s been working in a local 90-90 school teaching an after school program covering nutrition, food choice, and staying active. The community doesn’t have any nearby grocery stores, and many of the residents don’t have any form of private transportation to be able to get to a grocery store. However, the community does have several thriving community gardens. What many of the parents of the children my sister has been working with has requested some classes or some education on how to cook and prepare and store all the produce and beans they can receive from the community gardens. The local elementary school has offered the use of its kitchen and its equipment for my sister and her co-workers to teach cooking and canning classes to the adults of the community. This would happen once a week in the evening. I asked my sister what the children of these parents were going to do during this class time. She said that the school might open the gym. What would the children do in the gym? How cool would it be to have some awesome enrichment stations going in various parts of the gym. Art, music, story time, games, maybe some construction or problem solving, maybe some drama/acting. Long story short, I’m going to the PTCO meeting at the elementary school this coming Monday. I was sharing about this in Bible study today, and I immediately got positive feedback, and offers to help, from some of the women there. I have to confess that I’m not an administrator and not a detail person AT ALL, but I got an offer for help with detail management too….so…..

17. The orange belts are practicing their take downs. The mat area is much more chaotic than it was when the higher belts were in class. I notice Master did not teach the orange belts the choke holds which he showed the higher belts. Master is a truly wise man.

18. Tonight is a mid-week movie night. Tomorrow shall be a sleep-in and delayed start jammied school day. We have the movie Mega-Mind.

19. Most VBS curriculums are set up for 5 nights. The summer evening class at the elementary school will go for 12 weeks. That’s two VBS curriculums plus a kick-off party and an end-of-summer party. If we use VBS curriculums that we already have at church….we already have the curriculum and that’s a lot less planning. Many of the volunteers will have done the curriculum and be very familiar with it ahead of time. It’ll be easier to recruit volunteers if it’s something they are familiar with. I can sub-delegate the stations easily (with a standard curriculum we are all familiar with) and let different teams be in charge of their own stations. Oriental Trading company sometime carries craft kits from discontinued curriculums for an 80 to 90% markdown. Budget is going to be a serious issue.

20. Tae Kwon Do has wrapped up. It looks like this list shall be a Tuesday Twenty list.

Aliens vs Flowers

We were writing letters to the young lady we sponsor through Compassion International. Toa of Boy had finished his letter and still had some space on the bottom of his page. I suggested (read "required") that he put in a cute and happy drawing at the bottom of the page. Like maybe some flowers or a rainbow or some hearts.

He said, "Do I have to draw flowers, Mommy?"

No, I said. Just make it something that will make her smile.

The little boy departed for his crayon box and school desk downstairs.

Sweetling looked at me and said, "It's going to be aliens shooting lazers, cause that's what makes Toa of Boy smile."

Heeding the wisdom of her words, I called down to Toa, "No guns!"

Silly Mommy. Lazers aren't guns!

"And remember," said I, "this is for a girl!"

Yeah, that's ok. Go ahead and judge me and my gender stereotyping.

Facebook Friday

Once again, don't read if you're already on Facebook. 

Jan 29
Many, many books are leaving my house. The Jedi is organizing and reshelving what is left (which is still, many, many books.)

Jan 29
Pop quiz.....what delicious chocolate treat do I want to make?
>>I went with whole wheat brownies. They need chocolate chips in them, but are still pretty yummy.

Jan 30
GOOO MEEE!!!!!! I made a blog banner ALL BY MYSELF! I didn't get help from Sweetling or the Jedi or anybody!!!

Jan 31
Dear Facebook Friends--
In the midst of all your preparations for the upcoming winter storm, let us not forget that Groundhog's Day is on Wednesday. It is not to late to mobilize! If we all work together and do our part, we can go a long way to ensuring that no groundhog anywhere sees its shadow.

Jan 31
Grocery list finished for this week. Thanks for all the tasty recipe ideas! I'm planning on making a new soup each week through the duration of winter. Take THAT nasty weather!

Feb 1
4.784 but i keep forgetting to stretch before I run.

Feb 1
I just want to point out that "Winter Weather System" and "Wintery Mix" seem far too benign to actually describe the frozen nastiness they usually contain.

Feb 2
ARRRRGGGG!!!!! I can't READ the crappy word verification letters!!!! ARRRGGGGG!!!!!

Feb 3
Very difficult to type status updates when one hand is clutched tight around a fistful of peanut m&ms.

Feb 4
Who can cook curry? I picked up vanilla yogurt from the store by mistake!!! If i use the vanilla in my chicken curry, how badly will that mess it up?

Feb 4
my curry was GOOD!

Feb 6
We aren't going to be packed for co-op cause I'm watching the superbowl and don't want to have the chaos of packing going on during it. Will I regret this tomorrow morning? yes. yes I will.

Feb 6
The Monday after Superbowl Sunday should be a national holiday. Just saying.

Feb 7
someone in this house needs to take one for the team and eat the last piece of chocolate pie. I guess it will just have to be me.
>>You know what I love about you? The way you are always sacrificing your wants and needs for your family. I admire you, my hero!

Feb 8
I have no clean dishes in my house. I have no clean dishes in my house, cause I have no Cascade. I have no Cascade cause even though I went to Walmart JUST FOR CASCADE yesterday i walked out with a $35 bill and NO CASCADE. I have no breakfast, unless I want to wash dishes by hand. I have no sink to wash dishes, cause both my sink and my dishwasher are full of dirty dishes. Here I sit, hiding in the basement, hungry.

Feb 8
Guess who just took the LAST box of Cascade off the walmart shelf? Oh yeah. I'm that wicked.


Feb 10
It's 12:30, and i'm still in my jammies. Hooray for Thursdays!

Feb 10
My roast beef is really tough. Do I cook it longer? Does it get more tender with more oven time?

Feb 10
Toa of Boy really thinks "burnination" is a word. I don't have the heart to tell him that it isn't.

Feb 11
I don't want to do either school OR laundry today, but guess what?


Feb 11
3pm, and only three large baskets of laundry stand between me and my weekend.... as Toa of Boy would say, "you are going DOWN, laundry!"

Feb 12
One can tell it's saturday by the collection of hot chocolate mugs near my desk

Feb 12
cannot get past annoying red hand of doom.....Curse you Link, move faster!

Feb 13
I have chocolate covered strawberries for my French class tomorrow. I don't have a lesson plan yet, but I think the kids will overlook that little detail.

Feb 14
From sunshine and no jackets yesterday, back to winter coats today. Boo hiss.

Feb 15
He is jealous for me, love like a hurricane, I am a tree.

Feb 15
Who has a t-shirt with a brain on it which I can borrow for game night tomorrow night?

Feb 15
here I go to make a t-shirt. Wish me luck. And, you know, tell me it looks like a brain, a cool brain.

Feb 16
Space Chimps 2 is like a train wreck....its aweful, and yet I can't see to stop watching.
--Just so I'm not alone in this....the movie ended with a time reversal, followed by a circus performance, followed by a dotson and guinea pig in a space suit chasing a miniaturized alien around a front lawn in Florida.

Feb 16
New word for the day..."adorkable" as in "you look adorkable". Thank you Sweetling.

Feb 17
What I've leaned in school today: Camels have *nasty* teeth.

Feb 17
I just poked out the bottoms of all the valentine's chocolates to find the one I wanted.

Feb 18
Guess who spent the afternoon at Krohn conservatory playing SuperMunchkin?

Feb 20
Once again, I am defeated by the computer. It's not enough to tell it to print and walk away, one must also tell it "ok" after it has just been told to print.

Feb 20
We were discussing how many languages a woman at our church can speak. This led to what I thought would be a touching, teachable moment. So I started talking about how God gives each one of us special gifts. Toa of Boy, very enthusiastically, interrupted me to exclaim, "I can play MarioKart Wii with ONE HAND!!!" Yes, onward Christian soldier.
--Toa of Boy is cool, too many people with gifts say they don't have any. Even the smallest gifts can be used by God in great ways. Ways no one else can.

Feb 21
Our Monday morning started out with no toilet paper in the house. How is everyone else doing?
--Is it with the Cascade?

Feb 22
DAFFODILS!!! That's right! The green leaves of the daffodils are up all over my backyard! WWWOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!

Feb 23
if i had any spaghetti sauce, i'd make bake spaghetti for dinner.

Feb 23
There needs to be a new word for tired. None of the words I can think of will fit my current state.

Feb 24
5.438, not good enough to overtake Toa's first place of 5.596. Toa's little legs go so fast on the trampoline that his Mii trips up and goes bouncing down the "road".

Feb 24
We're going to a friend's house to watch the first episode of this season of the Amazing Race. Toa of Boy is *complaining* that this is cutting into school time. Seriously??? Where did I go wrong with you, boy?

Feb 24
What evil person hides a lemon filling in the middle of a dark chocolate? Really, tha'ts just sick, twisted, and cruel. It was the last of the valentine's candy too :(

Feb 25
First sound I hear when Toa of Boy wakes up...the monkey scream of the flying monkey of justice.

Wordless Wednesday

Cincinnati Dayscapes: Krohn Conservatory

Who is ready for spring?

What if I told you spring is out in all its glory and its just a short drive away for anyone living in the Greater Cincinnati Area?

Friday, we packed up our art supplies and a card game, grabbed Tia Smurf, and headed out for the Cincinnati Krohn Conservatory.

The Conservatory is a favorite spot of mine to visit when I just have had enough of winter. This time, I was especially pleased to discover that the 'changing exhibit room' was resplendent with spring flowering bulbs.

It was warm, but not hot, and seemed sunny, despite the partly cloudy skies outside. The beds of bulbs wrapped around an open patio which held several small tables. We neglected our sketchbooks, sat down at a table, and played a card game for an hour or so. It was a beautiful mini-vacation.

Afterward, we wondered through the waterfall room, and hung out on the bridge near the waterfall.

We toured the Cacti Room, the Orchid Room, and the Bonsai collection. (My favorite thing to do in the Cacti Room is to look for little lizards. They are there, scuttling about, but I don't always get to glimpse one.)

In the Tropical Room, there was a "Puffball Tree". Honestly, that's what it's little sign said. It was full of bright pink puffball flowers. We found several flowers which had fallen from the tree and so we collected a small bouquet from the blooms that were lying among the large leafed plants under the tree. Sweetling gathered a perfect bloom for two of her friends at co-op, but sadly the blooms didn't last through the weekend. (We were stopped by two workers who asked if we had picked the flowers or found them on the ground. When we answered honestly that we had found them, they were fine with our bouquet.)

So, if you are tired of winter and ready for spring, head down to the Krohn! It's in full bloom!

Weekly Wrap Up.....The Middle East

Our study of the Middle East was interrupted by multiple trips to the dentist, and two afternoons at church building a giant Cranium Board. Giant being 16 sweet feet on a side.

I, being the awesome free-spirited teacher that I am, tried to tell Sweetling and Toa that building a Giant Cranium Board was applied geometry. 

(It was, I swear it was. We found the perimeter of our board, figured out how many rolls of black sheeting we would need to make the complete area, figured out how many rolls of each color duck tape we would need for the path, figured out the spacing of the path, did a ton of measuring and marking. And when I say "we" I mostly mean the kids. Standing in the hardware section of wal-mart, I couldn't think through any of this math to save me, so I'd ask the kids and they'd figured it out for me.)

Sweetling, however, wasn't buying my justification of the use of school time to build the Cranium board for the game night for our church youth group. In fact, she said, and I do quote, "This isn't school. This is pretty much just taping crap to other crap."

In fact, our study was so interrupted, that on the last Friday of this unit, as we were driving across town to have lunch with Smurf and head to the Krohn Conservatory, I felt guilty enough to check to see what they actually had learned. I asked them to each name five things they knew about the Middle East.

Toa went first. Here's what he said:

1. Iran had a war with Iraq.
2. Turkey is the most populated country.
3. Saudi Arabia is the largest country.
4. Israel is the smallest country. (This wasn't true, so we corrected it to: Israel is a small country.)
5. Many dessert animals are nocturnal.

Sweetling's list was:

1. Much of the Bible took place in the Middle East. 
2. Islam is one of the main religions of the Middle East.
3. Many people of Iran like Americans.
4. Mesopotamia was located in what is now Iraq.
5. The city of Jerusalem is a holy city for three religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

So, overall, not too bad. We did our usual mapping, and our usual reading from Window on the World and assorted world atlases. Additionally, we watched the series Walking the Bible, because I thought it would really help their understanding of the region to see places that were associated with something they already knew. We also watched a one-hour Rick Steve's special on Iran.

We were planning on, and hope to still manage, a trip to the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati. We have very good friends who said they will take us on a private tour. But, so far, our Friday evenings have been booked up, so this is something we will do in the future.