This weekend we took the kids on a hike at our local nature center. We did a shorter one than our last few treks… only about a mile this time but ran into some sand hill cranes and for the first time ever, a flock of wild turkeys (unfortunately the darkness of the forest is similar to shooting indoors and my camera was useless). But what held the kids’ interest the most was this big Snapping Turtle that was hanging out by the dock near the nature center. They must have spent 30 minutes watching it swim around the giant catfish.
We are celebrating our one year anniversary over at Wee Folk Art with a great giveaway. For our winner we will make any item that we have listed in our free patterns section… there are almost a 100 from which you can choose. Head on over to Wee Folk Art for more info and celebrate with us!
The second leg of our recent trip was to the beautiful Green Mountains of Vermont. We joined my Dad and Susan in Smuggs… a place we have been going to since 85. This was my first year back with kids in tow and it was just as amazing being on the other side of it. The kids all loved day camp and Todd and I were able to get out and do some non-kid activities… like a round of golf and a geo-cashing hike.
Warning – this is going to be a photo heavy post.
Crossing a covered bridge on our walk to dinner.
The kids making the hike up the ski trail to our condo. By the end of the week Pixie refused to go anywhere not on shoulders or in a carrier (it has been at least 6mo since she would allow that)… lol.
Todd on our geo-cashing hike in the rain.
The kids playing in the creek that runs through the village.
Even on the days it was in the 60s, we could not keep the kids out of the pools and off the water slides. Frankly since the water was in the 80s… it was the warmest place to be… until you needed to get out and get to your towel. We had a few nice, warm, sunny days in there.
The kids loved camp… even the Pixie girl who went a couple days. Here are the older two heading to camp the first day and then in a silly parade.
Pixie got some individual time with us. Here she is playing golf with Daddy.
There was a new indoor Fun House that was great for the rainy evenings. Fairy got pretty good at the rock wall and Bug was big enough (sadly – there were tears – Fairy was not) to go on the super slide.
This is how everyone looked that final day after camp. All tuckered out.
We were on the road for a couple weeks… starting in Philly for my hubby’s cousin’s wedding. We went several days early so the kids could hang out with their cousins and we could check some of the fun things to do in Philly. Unfortunately I’m still having issues with my camera… I really need to have it looked at but who can live without their camera while waiting for service? So none of the wedding shots turned out since my flash is basically unusable.
The thing that we had to do while we were there as predicated by Bug… check out Dinosaur Hall at the Academy of Natural Science. I’m sure no one could have guessed that one… lol.
Although this was not a Liopleurodon (my kids’ favorite… do all kids have a favorite prehistoric sea reptile?) but some other prehistoric sea monster it was really cool to see one up close.
The kids got a chance to dig for dinosaur bone with a small chisel. It would have taken them years to actually get one of those bone out of the waxy composite in the display.
The ANS also had an awesome gecko exhibit. They are such cool little critters.
Then we made our way over to The Franklin Institute for some hand’s on science. Here is Daddy helping the kids operate a large mechanical arm.
They had several very large mechanical art installations.
Bug sitting in the cockpit of an airplane.
We snuck in a trip to a Dairy Farm.
The rest of our time was spent at the pool and parks with the cousins.
And of course there was the wedding. Fairy girl joined the ladies to get her nails done.
Hmm… no the photo below was not me trying to be artsy… I was just desperate to get something from the wedding on film (err in pixels). That blur in the front is Fairy girl dancing. My kids couldn’t wait to hit the dance floor… Bug was literally twitching in his seat to get out there and I had to coax them back at some point to eat a few bites of dinner.
It is more than a little disconcerting to turn the corner at the zoo and come face to face with this…
I couldn’t help but think of Jurassic Park movies and wonder… in whose world does this seem like a good idea?! Well, Bug thought it was totally cool and basically wanted to pet all the dinosaurs. The girls preferred to stay in the safety of the wagon.
The girls enjoyed digging for bones. And they all enjoyed getting a chance to use the remote controlled dinosaur… which of course Bug now wants.
There were a couple stations set up too with additional items of interest. And while listening to Bug interact with one of the guides my husband and I were given a clear example of why standard testing is a far from a reliable means of judging a child’s understanding of a topic. Bug got every dinosaur question she answer correct and filled in with probably more info than she knew (seriously that kid knows more about dinosaurs than I do) but when she tried to get him to compare the Omeisaurus that was set up behind us with a long necked animal that could be found in the zoo today he couldn’t come up with the word giraffe (to be fair he actually had never seen a giraffe before – this is our first year with a zoo pass and we had only done indoor exhibits previously). He did list several other sauropods… heck dinosaurs were in the zoo today, weren’t they. She final fed him the answer and he still looked confused. The context didn’t make sense to him at all. My hubby declared as we headed on that the boy was going to see a giraffe today!
Standing in front of the giraffes Daddy tried to make the connection for Bug with what the lady had been asking in the Dino exhibit. Bug stared at him with his pensive look, the one in which we can actually see the wheels in his head turning. Finally, it clicked and the recognition was there on his face followed by annoyance. "Oh… you meant a MAMMAL long neck." Like, well duh. Why didn’t you just ask the right question? In the Zoo was hardly a usable connection for him… Mammal, Africa, heck a cast member in Madagascar would have given him a true reference point.
This is a project I have wanted to do with the kids for awhile now… a great summer project. My nephew’s birthday was last week and we will be seeing his family for the first time in a long time at a wedding next week. The kids have already picked out a gift for their cousin but I wanted to give him something homemade too… something the kids could make for him. Sooo… Bug and I decide that the t-shirts would be cool.
This was our first attempt but the kids have already been asking to do it again. I’m sure we will get better at it… of course the big mistake was on my part. I had too many colors to pick from for the first try. The kids wanted to use all the colors and like an Easter egg that has been dipped in every color (if you have ever dyed Easter eggs with a two year old I’m sure you know what I’m talking about) the shirts started to take on that mucky brown/purple color.
We started with washed but damp 100% cotton shirts, Dylon brand permanent dyes, salt, rubber bands and containers. The Dylon brand dyes are reactive with salt and warm tap water (safer for the kids with no boiling water… of course don’t eat it or get it in your eyes). You will probably want gloves… but I didn’t have any. I think I need a manicure before the wedding ;). The kids were dressed in their swim suits and old t-shirts.
Then off course comes the tying part. Bug was able to do this part on his own but the girls needed help. They would pinch off the fabric they wanted tyed and I put the rubber band on for them.
After the shirts were tied I prepared the dyes. I followed the directions on the packet, which included I believe (I didn’t save a packet to look at) 4 TB of salt, 4 cups warm water and the dye. A quick dip was enough to get light colors. Had we only used one color… thorough soaking would have led to much brighter colors. The dye colors mix like they should… red and blue will make purple.
Then we rinsed the shirts until the water ran clear (I actually did this part… the kids held the hose for me).
It was very exciting when we took the rubber bands off. Of course the kids didn’t totally understand what was supposed to happen and they eagerly awaited each shirts unveiling. I rinsed them again and then hung them to dry in the shade.
