Our Day Trip

Today the kids and I visited a dairy farm. This farm raises Jersey cows. Jersey cows don't make a high quantity of milk, but their milk has the highest amount of butterfat - which makes really good ice cream. We had a really good day!

The kids really enjoyed all the attractions. They had to ride this twice because they enjoyed it so much. Looked very bumpy to me.

We also took a wagon ride. We were the only ones on this trip. Danielle enjoyed seeing the ducklings in the pond. We also saw some snapping turtles.

The kids worked off some energy in the cow bounce house. There was a play area next to it that the kids also enjoyed.

We took a barn tour which allowed us to go back into the area where they milk the cows. We were lucky enough to see this mother and her very new newborn. The baby was cleaned up but wasn't standing yet, and the mom was still a little messy (but thankfully not too messy), so the calf couldn't have been more than a couple hours old. At this farm they allow a baby to drink its mother's milk for 3-4 days before switching it to formula and taking the mother's milk.

At the end of the tour the kids got to try their hand at milking a cow. Thankfully it wasn't a real cow because the kids in our group were not very gentle!

At the end of the barn tour the guide gave each of us a cup of goat food. The kids enjoyed feeding the goats. These little ones were only 3 weeks old.

Of course we finished off our trip with wonderful ice cream. Notice the cow on the bike above Tyler. The kids thought he was funny.

All of these activities were very affordable and all the employees were very friendly. This is definitely a trip we will make again next summer.

Goofy Girl in Goggles

Designing with Duct Tape

Grandma & Grandpa R went to the Duck Brand Duct Tape festival and parade last weekend. While there they picked up a couple brochures for the kids about making different products out of duct tape. The kids were really excited to try out a couple of the projects.

Tyler made a couple wallets and some money. Danielle made a purse and a wallet. The rose was a little more involved, so Ron made one for Danielle. There are several other project ideas online. I'm sure the kids will want to try making something else. They really enjoyed making these. (Thanks, G & G!)

Swim Lessons, Lego Style

The kids have been going to swim camps this week and have really been enjoying them. For lack of anything better to do and because we didn't want to play outside in the 90+ heat, the kids and I made swim lesson models with Legos. Here are our creations and their explanations.

This is Danielle's.

The instructor is in the water while the students sit on the gutter. Danielle is getting ready to jump in the water onto the pool noodle. (I took all the pony tail hair pieces, so Danielle had to use "boy hair".)

This is mine.

Danielle is standing on the gutter, waiting to jump in. Tyler is practicing floating but is cheating because he's wearing flippers. He didn't appreciate my humor.

This is Tyler's, which I think is the most detailed of all.

The white thing across the top is supposed to look like the flags that hang across the lanes at the pool where they're taking lessons. The orange things are lights in the water. If you look closely, you can see 2 blue wedges by the feet of the guy who's floating. Those are splashes from him jumping in. The gray brick in the middle is actually a shark fin. The guy with his arms up behind the shark fin was so scared he made the water green.

This afternoon we attended a program at our library. It was a magic/variety show and the guy was great. All the kids sat together on the floor in the front of the room and the parents sat in chairs behind them. It was neat to hear all those little voices giggling together. Anyway, one of the guy's acts involved juggling a bowling ball, bowling shoe, and bowling pin. At the end, he balanced the bowling ball on a plunger on his forehead. The kids really enjoyed the show, which was good because Tyler warned me "this had better be worth it" as we were waiting in line a whole 5 minutes to get in. Later today we were sitting around when Danielle nonchalantly said, "Uh, Mom? I'm going to need a plunger and a bowling ball."

Another Interesting Kid's Book

Not to get in a rut, but I found another book today I wanted to mention. This is for an entirely different reason, though. No giggles or talk of "waterfalls". Instead, Tyler and I learned something new about our country's first president.

I have a cold and was feeling rather miserable by the time we put the kids to bed tonight. Tyler had pity on me and offered to read a book to me instead of having me read to him. He picked a short book I grabbed at the library yesterday: George Washington and the General's Dog.

Apparently George Washington loved animals. As an adult at Mount Vernon, he had lots of animals, including several dogs. Back then it was common for men to take their dogs to war with them because the dogs helped them hunt and track and kept them company. Washington took one of his dogs with him, too. In this story, Washington led his army against England's general William Howe. After one battle a dog followed Washington's army back to camp. The dog's collar indicated he belonged to William Howe, Washington's enemy. Although his soldiers encouraged Washington to keep the dog, he sent a letter to Howe indicating he'd like to return his dog. Soldiers from both sides raised white flags and the dog was peacefully returned to his master. There was even a copy of Washington's letter (which was dictated to Alexander Hamilton) at the end of the book. What an interesting bit of history! And what a good example of the kind of character I hope our children have (and wish our country's leaders demonstrated more often).

Entertainment at the Doctor's Office

I ran across a couple books in the pediatrician's office today that caused the kids to roll on the floor with laughter, so I had to share. I have to admit that I might have laughed once or twice, too.

The first book we saw sitting on the shelves was called Chugga Chugga Pooooo-Poooo The Potty Train. Danielle wanted me to read it to her, so the three of us read it and giggled. I tried to explain to them that when you're young enough to be wearing diapers and starting to sit on the potty, this kind of humor is amusing, fun, and encouraging. They weren't buying it.

Then we found the real gem: The Moose with the Loose Poops

Danielle wanted me to read it, but Tyler grabbed it first to flip through the pages. He was adamant that I should NOT read a book like that out loud but Danielle was just as adamant that I should. She found the pictures of Miles the Moose with a distressed look on his face, sitting on a toilet and holding wads of toilet paper to be quite intriguing. Who wouldn't? Since Danielle can't read well enough on her own yet, I didn't really have a choice. (Yep, I was curious, too.) Tyler was so embarrassed that he got up and moved to the opposite end of the waiting room even though we were the only ones in there! I read part of it to Danielle before the nurse came to get us. She just couldn't stop giggling, especially when Miles the Moose exclaimed, "Lucy, Lucy! I pooped a waterfall!"

In all honesty, I can see how this book would be handy for attempting to explain certain bodily functions to a small child when he's ill; however, we just found it very funny and a great way to pass the time until our appointment.

Camp Invention

As I've mentioned, Tyler has been attending Camp Invention this week. This is a nationally recognized program that was created by the National Inventors Hall of Fame and is sponsered by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Tyler's day was almost as long as a typical school day! They packed a lot of activities into those 6 1/2 hours! Each day they rotated through 5 different modules. The program at Tyler's school this year was the Discover program. Because I know no one will ever hear all the details from Tyler, here is a summary of his week.


One module involved finding a lost Viking treasure. A couple days they worked to make boats out of different types of materials. The boats had to float and carry their treasure as they sailed to Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland. One day they created a shelter to house their team during their travels. Another day they had to create things to help them overcome obstacles and booby-traps. They ended by making treasure chests to hold their treasure.


Another module discussed comic book science. They each created their own superhero with his/her own specific super talents. Each day they discussed "super science powers" such as morphing and flying (concept of lift). They made a model of their superhero and illustrated their own comic books. Tyler made Super Bug Guy whose super power is laser eyes.


Another module was called Land Sled X-treme. The ultimate goal of this module was to create a land sled that would compete in an obstacle course. The younger kids' sleds had to carry a stuffed animal. The older kids' sleds had to carry a person. From what I understand, the kids competed in games and earned points for their teams. They then used their points to buy supplies for their sleds. Tyler and our neighbor Luke were in a group with two other boys. The races were today, and Tyler claims their land sled was "the fastest in history!"


These last 2 modules would probably tie for Tyler's favorites. One was a Recess Remix where they were supposed to play familiar games but add new twists to them. I think they mostly did water games but added something new to them each day. I don't really know the details about all the games, but the kids got pretty wet. It sounded like a lot of fun.


The other module was the invention module. Each child brought in an appliance of some sort to dismantle and then used that to create something new. Tyler brought in a CPU that was packed full of parts. He had a ton of stuff to take apart and really seemed to enjoy it. The director stopped me at pick up one day to tell me how well he was doing in this module. After they took their items apart, the kids had to think of something that "really bugs me" and then invent something to solve it. Tyler was bugged by "puppys eating legos". His solution: "A invention to get my legos out of my dog's mouth". He called it the "Doginater" while he was working on it but dubbed it the Dog 3000 once it was complete.


Today was the inventors' showcase. The director made it clear that the inventions are not supposed to work. Instead we should imagine with our child that the invention does exactly what he says it will do. Here is Tyler's Dog 3000. I'll let him explain it to you. (I deleted the video because it has Tyler's full name in it. If you'd like to see it, email me for a link.)







We got home shortly after 3:30 this afternoon. Tyler promptly sat down at the table with his Dog3000 and bag of spare parts from the CPU and started taking things apart. He sat at the table and worked on dismantling everything he could until we put him to bed a little after 8! We ended up having a picnic on the floor in the family room for dinner because he had parts all over the table. He really seems to have enjoyed his week and is already talking about going next year. We're proud of him and his Jimmy Neutron brain. :)

VBS & a Couple Other Things

Danielle has been attending vacation Bible school at her former preschool this week. This year's theme is Crocodile Dock. She has been bringing her friend, and has had a pretty good week. This evening was her program. They did it a little different this year and offered pizza, pop, chips, and a craft in addition to the songs. I am always amazed that Bible school is a free event. It must cost churches a fortune to put on a good Bible school, as her preschool has all 3 years we've attended. Kudos to them for doing such a great job and for keeping it free!

I had a very difficult time getting a decent video of Danielle because there were so many kids all crowded together. Their main song this year is a modified version of I Get Down by Audio Adrenaline. During those years of blaring Audio Adrenaline with the youth group, I never would have guessed my 5 year old would be singing and dancing to their music. The craft tonight was stuffing these comfort critters. They're shaped like turtles and say "God Cares" on them. We finished ours at home.

Here are a couple other random things:

Tyler complained tonight of his gums hurting. I looked and was surprised to find 3 erupting molars. Apparently these are his 6 year molars, which are his first set of permanent molars. I guess I kind of forgot about those. He really is growing up.

One day last week Tyler took a few minutes to read a couple of Danielle's library books to her. When he is in the right mood, it's fun to have him read to us because he enjoys using different voices. The voices don't match the person, though. For example, if the character is a little girl, he'll make her talk with a deep, booming voice. That usually makes us all laugh so much that we miss the story, though. The kids are participating in summer reading programs at 2 different libraries this summer. Tyler has almost completed both summer reading sheets, though, and it's still June!

And this is my violet. Isn't it beautiful? This was from my grandmother's funeral a little over a year ago. My grandma used to buy each of the grandkids a flower for Mother's Day each year. I remember getting violets. If I managed to keep mine alive, they rarely bloomed. I had one that bloomed once, only after I fertilized it, and I was so excited. For some reason, this one has thrived and has been blooming beautifully for a few months now. I think of my grandma and smile every time I look at it.

Tyler has been enjoying Camp Invention this week. They had messy hair day earlier this week. His inventor's showcase is tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have a few pictures to add.

Fresh Strawberries!

Prime strawberry season around here is for such a short time. I was afraid we were going to miss it this year! The farm we typically go to was closed yesterday to allow more berries to ripen. They reopened at 8 this morning. We got there a little before 10 and they were almost picked clean already! They placed us in a row of strawberries that had some thistles in it. We were able to pick about 4lbs of berries before we got to the section with the thistles. The kids were ready to be done by then anyway, so it worked out well.

Once again Tyler ate far more than he picked. At one point he stopped to count how many berries had actually made it into his bucket and there were only 11! (I picked most of what he's holding in the picture.) The kids found a giant thistle or dandelion that had gone to seed. It was kind of cool. They probably didn't appreciate Danielle blowing the seeds around the patch, though. After we were done picking, we enjoyed our traditional slushies with the farm dog.

We had strawberry shortcake for dessert tonight. The berries were wonderful! They are small this year, but they are full of flavor. I froze some, saved some for snacking, and have enough left over for one more round of strawberry shortcakes. Yum!

Here are pictures from last year's trip. I like looking at how much the kids have grown over the years.

Our Saturday Fun

Danielle played a double-header today. She had two really good games! She got to play pitcher one inning in the first game and fielded several balls. In the second game, she played 1st base for one inning. She did a really good job and even fielded the ball once and got the runner out. After the game, her coach gave her the game ball for getting the team's first unassisted out and for always being ready and paying attention. She never plays in the dirt or stares at the clouds. She is always in the ready position and waiting for the next play. She tries very hard. As you can tell, she was quite proud of herself.

Out!

Game ball

Clara got a little pool time today. She wasn't quite sure what to think of it. The kids thought it was funny, though.

We had to try out Ron's poker table tonight. Ron dealt one poker hand for the pictures (Tyler won with 2 pairs). After that we played war but "bet" on the hands with poker chips. We had a lot of fun. The kids were hilarious. Danielle may be a natural, but they both needed to work on their poker faces a bit.