Out and about in Beantown

Noah is ready to go . . . although he's not entirely sure where we're going!

 Waiting for the blue line train to arrive

 Enjoying some absolutely yummy food in Quincy Market

 Lael was loving her pizza . . .

 . . . while Noah preferred the fries!

 We even ran into Benjamin Franklin . . . he was quite far from home!

 Some random pics

 The kids were excited to see this statue of Sam Adams.

 After an adventure-filled day, it was time to head back to the hotel for some swimming and wind-down time!

 Bye-bye, Boston!

Boston's Museum of Science

Boston's Museum of Science . . . where it's fun to find out! 

That was the advertising slogan for the Museum of Science in Boston when I was growing up.  I remember hearing that often when commercials for the museum aired on television.  Our family had a museum membership one year, and I remember enjoying it so much.

While up in New England for Thanksgiving, we took a trip to the Museum of Science . . . alot has changed in 25 years!  The displays are alot more "high-tech", but still so much fun!

We all enjoyed the mathematics exhibit . . . lots of optical illusions and things to figure out.

Then there was the "Creatures of the Night" exhibit . . .

Don't I have the cutest bats in the world?

Here's Jaden-the-bat . . . 

 . . . and Lael-the-bat!

 Yes, this is a picture of a picture of my kids!  They are in a completely dark room, and they're trying to figure out which hole a particular peg fits into - very tricky when you can't see what you are doing!

 A highlight for everyone was the lightning show! This was something I really wanted the kids to see because I remembered it from my childhood visit to the museum. (However, Noah didn't enjoy it so much, so he and I visited some other exhibits while Daddy and the big kids stayed.)

This is the Van de Graaff generator. During the lightning show, bolts of lightning are produced by this generator, which is the world's largest air-insulated Van de Graaff generator.

 Yes, that's Lael in the lower left-hand corner . . . she looks pretty little next to this dinosaur model.

 We had fun looking at models of sailing ships from different times - ancient Egypt, Greece, Phoenicia, Rome were especially exciting to see since we've studied those time periods in school this year!

 Lael would have spent all day here if she could . . . waiting for a chick to hatch!  Unfortunately, no chicks decided to emerge from their shells during our visit.

 The museum tired this little guy out!

 It was a great field trip . . . so much fun that they didn't realize how much they were learning!

Swimming fun

We took a much-needed family vacation/Thanksgiving visit to Massachusetts over Thanksgiving week.  For a trip to qualify as "vacation", we must stay in a hotel with a pool - at least according to Lael and Jaden!  So that's exactly what we did!

Noah enjoyed the water - as long as he was held close in Daddy's arms!  Otherwise, the water was a bit chilly for him . . . but he still didn't want to get out!

 Jaden loves everything about the water - whether it's hanging on the side of the pool . . .

 . . . or jumping in!

(Of course, making the biggest possible splash is a given!)

Lael loves the water too . . . and I've been so pleased to see how confident both of the big kids have become with their swimming!  They were swimming several laps the length of the pool! 

Jaden's also gotten quite good at floating on his back.

 One game everyone - even Noah - could play was "catch the ball" . . . Noah enjoyed throwing the balls for Lael and Jaden to swim after!

My beautiful children!

I know that every mother says this, but aren't these the cutest kids you've ever seen???

They are such treasures, and we love them so much!

Mystery solved!

Jaden was reading a book about the Pilgrims today. One of the pages said, "The first winter many people died because there wasn't enough food to eat."

When he got to that part, he looked up and exclaimed, "You know, I've been wondering about that for a REALLY long time!" Then he went back to reading.

Glad we were able to clear that up for you, buddy! ;)

White meat or dark meat?

When you eat turkey, do you like white meat or dark meat the best? That's the question of the day! We're conducting a poll and want to know what your favorite is! You can leave a comment with your vote right here on Mommy's blog. Please note that Mommy checks all comments before they go on her blog -- she says it's called "moderating" -- and so you won't see your comment right away, but don't worry! She'll get it up as fast as she can.

We will be using this data in our Thanksgiving lapbooks -- and we'll even make a graph to show our results. Mommy will also post the results here next week. Now we know you're all busy getting ready for Thanksgiving (at least Mommy is), but we will be closing the polls on Sunday, November 30th! So hurry and get your vote in . . . after all, every vote counts!

Thanks for voting!
Lael and Jaden

Our Thanksgiving school plans

Well, November is upon us and Thanksgiving is right around the corner! (We won't even TALK about how quickly it will be Christmas time!) Anyway, I thought I'd share some of the wonderful books that we will focus on this week. My plan is to focus on the Pilgrims this week and native Americans next week. We will wrap up our Thanksgiving unit on Thanksgiving week as we talk about the first Thanksgiving.

I really love these books about Pilgrim life and the Mayflower. They all are illustrated with photographs taken at Plimoth Plantation and on the Mayflower II, replicas of the original sites. I hope to one day take our children there for a "field trip', but for now, we'll have to content ourselves with the books.

Sarah Morton's Day talks about life for a Pilgrim girl.

Samuel Eaton's Day is the counterpart, sharing what life was like for a Pilgrim boy.

And On the Mayflower chronicles what the journey on the Mayflower was like from the perspective of a ship's apprentice and a young girl traveling without her parents.

I discovered this book last year . . . it's by Patricia Polacco, one of our favorite authors. This book talks about the Jewish holiday of Sukkoth, a celebration of the harvest and thanks to God for His provision.

And then there are the "fun" books -- books we will read as we cuddle up on the couch!
This book is great -- it teaches the chorus of the hymn "Count Your Blessings" and lists things to be thankful for in a style reminiscent of "One, Two Buckle My Shoe".

And this is our new favorite this year . . . so sweet! We've read it several times already!

A lot of what we do this month will be focusing on history -- learning about the Pilgrims and native Americans: what they ate and wore, where they lived and how they spent their time each day. For Bible time, we are working on memorizing Psalm 100 and making "Thankful Turkeys" where we will add tail feathers for each thing that we are thankful for. (I'll try to post a picture of that as we add to it.)

Most of all, I really want the next two months especially to be full of memories we make together. So often, the months of November and December are just a blur of one activity or project after another. I want to SLOW DOWN and savor each moment . . . each book we read, each activity we do, even the silly things my sweet children do. Childhood is so fleeting and they are growing up right before my eyes. I don't want to miss a moment of this precious time by being too busy to enjoy it.

So that's my plan . . . feel free to check in with me and ask me how I'm doing! ;)