Community Field Trip

My sister-in-law -- I don't have favorites -- planned a field trip and we joined in the fun. Our first stop was the grocery store. Our tour started in the meat department. It was interesting to see how they package the meat.

We went to the warehouse which reminded me of a any other warehouse that I have been in except this one was filled with food instead of baby products.

I think the most interesting part was the tour of the bakery.

With enough icing you can make just about anything. Two cupcakes and icing and you have a dog.

They decorate over 300 cakes a day there.

Chocolate cakes ready to be baked.

That is a big bowl to lick. We did get some cookies for a treat.

The last thing was to check out. With self check-out it isn't as much of a new thing but it was still fun to pull something off the belt and scan it.

Our next community stop was the post office. I have been in a post office when I was a kid. I remember helping my grandmother in the post office. The kids each wrote a letter to themselves and they were able to cancel it and put it in the bin.

We had a picnic lunch and then headed to the fish hatchery. I know that is not part of every community. It was one of those damp, overcast, gray, cold, days and I had not had coffee for longer than 4 hours. We followed the 18 wheeler fish delivery truck down the lane and so we had to wait while they unloaded the delivery. We saw where they store and count the worms that they sell for bait.

We did see a few of the fish and other things before I was at the point of needing coffee and warmth.

It was a fun day and I did go through the drive-thru Starbucks on my way home and have some hot coffee.

 

"By self"

"By self" seems to be a new person that has moved into our house. "By self" as she tries to brush her hair. "By self"  to carry the flowers to the garden. "By self" to get dressed. Miss K is not one to sit and watch life pass her by. No, she wants her turn and she wants to do it "by self." Overall I think that is good. She is going to try and push herself to try things like riding a bike with training wheels or learning to get dressed. I just wish that "by self" would learn to go to the potty.

I did discover that "by self" decided to sew today.

I don't really know what she was making but there is some cording, some rick-rack, and some black fabric.

Field Trip

Miss K has been going to a preschool for the past year a few mornings a week. She loves Mrs. K and Mrs. B and "the kids" as she refers to everyone else. Last week they took a trip to a farm. It was just the right size farm for preschoolers. Some rabbits and a bit bag of carrots to feed the rabbits.



A pony for pony rides. Miss K had no fear, she climbed up as is she has done this before. She sat up and held on. A dog. Every farm needs a dog.

We went on a short hayride which Miss K loved.

She is a city girl -- she gets excited when she sees the city--I was surprised at how much she is a country girl.

Longwood Gardens

Last Friday was National Public Garden day and Better Homes & Gardens was sponsoring tickets for free admission to a number of public gardens. I decided to head to Longwood Gardens. It was on my list of things to do and with free tickets I was able to save over $40.

We were joined by some of the cousins.

It has been years since I have been to Longwood Gardens. We enjoyed the Orchids. We are slowly working our way through Apologia Botany (it is not my favorite book so that is probably why the words slowly is used in this sentence). It was fun to see some of the things that we have read about.

The website had mentioned that they were expecting a large crowd. It was a beautiful day but I didn't think the crowds were that bad.

My favorite flower was the hydrangeas especially the pink ones.

I wasn't sure what J would think of this field trip. We were on the way home and he thanked me and said it was a fun day.

Dear Blog,

I have not forgotten you. I have been busy

sewing

some grocery bags to use up some fabric. These are fun with all the fabric mixed in depending on what fabric I have.

a hopscotch mat so Miss K can practice hopping

and some cooking, cleaning, and school.  So blog, I have been busy. I think about posting but just don't do it so now I did. I will be back soon with more things that we have been doing.

Me

Benjamin West

We read the book Benjamin West and his cat Grimalkin. It was a fun story and we enjoyed going a-leafing on a warm autumn afternoon and finding clay to use to color the pictures and sitting by the fire on a cold evening. The book was written in such a way that we felt we were doing those things. Of course, it adds a bit to the story when you say, "when we go to Goodwill we pass were Benajamin West was born." Then we pause as we read about him going to Philadelphia as I try to explain "you know the main road we drive on all the time, I think that is probably the road he took or maybe the road in front of Target that goes to the city." While we read, the children color some pictures that Benjamin West had painted.

So today we enjoyed the warmer weather and the fact that Miss K didn't have therapy and we took a drive to Square Tavern.

It is open on Saturdays in July and August but we knocked on the front door and walked around.

J said the building looked new.

Benjamin was a Quaker and painting was not an approved living. According to the story the first thing he drew was so remarkable that his family was amazed. He made color from the clay on the river. As we walked around the house we saw the river nearby. He then went on to be the President of the Royal Academy in London.

He didn't stop at the meetinghouse where he worshiped. We drive past that when we go to Target. Someday we will have to stop and take some pictures. I was surprised that it is about 5 miles between the two places.

We are enjoying studying American history here where it all began.

Update -- September 2015 we went to Buckingham Palace and had saw some of the Benjamin West paintings that were hanging there. I remembered all that we had read about previously. Sometimes I think the homeschool moms get as much of a re-education as the children get an education.

A Visit to the Aquarium

In February there was a special deal one weekend to buy tickets with about a $10 savings. You had to pick your day so we picked a Friday after daddy had been away for two weekends. We had planned to go at different times last year but didn't make it because of snow. We got there early and I do recommend that.

There are a number of small display areas and sometimes we did have to wait a bit for people to clear out so we could see but other all I didn't feel rushed.

There were three different places where you could touch something -- sharks (just little ones), rays and then some starfish and other things. J touched the blue lobster which was a mutation.

There was an African section which was a nice break from all the fist but still included fish and some birds and some hippos.

There are seals and penguins outside and it had warmed up a bit so were able to go outside for a bit.

It took us about three hours go to through the whole place. It was a fun time and we would return again if we could find another good deal on tickets.

On the way home we stopped in Chinatown for lunch. It has been quite a some time since we were there. I bought dumpling wrappers as we had been craving LiLin's Dumplings. More about that later.