Nature Week

Our first experiment for Nature Week didn't work out how I had hoped.  I found these cool nature potions online where they mushed up different colored plants, flowers, and foods to dye water.  All I could come up with was fruit, so it all sank to the bottom.  But Jayden and Sidney had fun smashing the fruit and then sampling it.  Jayden said it was gross.  He was a little disappointed that it didn't make him fly.  He thought that it would make him fly because it was a potion and now he's determined to make a flying potion someday.

Sidney mostly ate the fruit. 

 These are bird feeders.  Super easy to make, but the birds didn't stand a chance against the squirrels.  We got a good laugh out of Jayden scaring away the squirrels by growling like a bear.  Sidney's growl is pretty intimidating too.

Ants on a log.

 Owl English muffins for breakfast.

The same museum that has the planetarium has a new cave exhibit so we went to check it out.  Sidney was pretty scared in most of it, but Jayden thought it was really cool. We saw real bats, owls, snakes, and raccoons. 

We walked the nature trail again.  I didn't want to because it was so hot, but Jayden threw up his arms and exclaimed what a beautiful day it was, so I had to say ok.  He regretted it shortly after when he was dripping with sweat.  On the trail there are also Indian villages and cabins to explore. 

When we got home it started to rain.  He has been dying to play in the rain for weeks.  But the rain stopped.  Several hours later it started to rain again so he rushed outside and had the time of his life.   It's not often that we get rain without lightning and thunder, so this was his one chance to get his wish.  We thought this fit in perfect with our nature theme.

Drenched. 

We made a volcano.  This was a really fun project, one of our favorites so far. 

We did a few other things that I didn't get pictures of.  We went on a picnic by the lake at the nature preserve and then visited their little nature center; watched Yogi Bear at the theater; and of course our weekly trip the library.

Jaydenisms

• While sweeping the kitchen: "You guys need to pick up your stuff off the floor or I'm going to throw it away."  (I wonder where he heard that from?)
• The kids had been dancing in the family room for a while.  Sidney followed as Jayden walked through the kitchen to go upstairs.  "I'll be right back. I'm going upstairs to put on deoderant.  I stink!"  And then Sidney said, "Me too!"  They came down smelling nice and fresh.
• "I like Oprah too, you know!"
• I was tickling Sidney's tummy and we were laughing about belly buttons.  Somehow it got brought up that Dad has a belly button too.  The kids thought that was the funniest thing ever, and even funnier that he has the biggest belly button of all of us.  Funnier still, is when Jayden said, "He has the biggest and the hairiest belly button of all!"

Transportation Week

Last week was transportation week.  It might be my favorite week so far.  For some reason, even though it wasn't much different than anything else we've done, it was just really fun and the kids really enjoyed themselves. and were happy and pleasant. 

This craft didn't work out too well.  They are parachute men made out of plastic sacks.  They colored them and then tried to get them to fly, but they were kind of duds.

These are hot air balloons made out of marshmallows and Reese's.  Kind of a stretch, but who cares when you can lick chocolate off of your fingers? 

These are hard to see, but I found these little kits for $1 at Michael's.  Jayden made a plane and Sidney made a helicopter.  They painted them and then put it all together and then had hours of fun with them. 

I taped markers to the back of some cars and trains and then they used them to color on a big piece of paper. 

Candy cars.  Maybe this is why it was a good week.  Plenty of chocolate.  We also played Life about a hundred times (while eating these candy cars).  Jayden found it in the closet and saw that you use cars in it, so he talked me into playing it with him because it's perfect for transportation week.

The kids and I went to the Carolinas Aviation Museum.  It's never been so easy to get Jayden to pose for a picture.  I guess all it takes is something he's interested in.

The plane that crashed in the Hudson a couple of years ago is on display here.  It was a flight from Charlotte. 

Jayden enjoyed playing around in a couple of cockpits. 

The Hudson plane again. 

Can you see Jayden's little head peeking out from the cockpit? 

Afterwards we drove to a nearby parking area where you can watch planes take off and land at the airport.  We had a picnic in the back of the van.  It is so hot here we only lasted about a half hour before we couldn't take it anymore. 

Our other big outing of the week was taking the train uptown.  The kids had the time of their lives being on a real train.  This particular day was so much fun. 

We went to Imaginon, a children's library.  It's one of those things that we've been meaning to do since we've lived here, but for whatever reason hadn't done yet.  And now that we've gone, I wonder why we didn't do it before.  I couldn't believe we were in a library, it was more like a children's museum.  Right now they have an exhibit with a grocery store, a house to play in, and so much  more.  The kids loved it so much. 

One reason we went was because we'd heard there were cars and trucks to play in.  There was this trolley, a huge garbage truck, and more cars.  Jayden was in heaven.  There were games and everything. 

After the library we went up to Josh's office for a little visit.  Then after practically overheating from walking all over uptown in 100 degree weather and what felt like 90% humidity, I took the kids for some much deserved frozen yogurt.  I think the heat index that day was around 109.  Ick.

We headed back home on the train and when we got home we made a candy train.  Fun and tasty week!

Oregon: Scenery

I'll leave off with some Oregon beauty.  It really is such a beautiful state.  I didn't get out and take nearly as many pictures as I wanted to, but I got a few in here and there. 

 The town I lived in is at the base of Mary's Peak.  This is right down the road from my old house.  Some of my favorite memories are the long bike rides my sister and I used to take on country roads.

The other thing I love are the miles and miles and miles of Christmas tree farms.  They are everywhere and are so pretty.  There were the cutest little baby trees that I didn't get any photos of.  It's like Christmas year round.  You just can't get sick of Christmas trees when they're not crowding your living room.

This one is a little blurry because I took it while driving, but it was such a pretty setting. 

I had to sneak in a few more from the beach. 

There was a photographer couple with their tripods and 2 dogs photographing the sunset.  What a life that would be.