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.

Sushi - Sweet

I actually planned ahead this year. I had my fun food idea all ready and the supplies purchased. I made sushi for an afternoon snack.

I had seen the idea in Family Fun. I thought the kids would enjoy it. I did wonder if they would be disappointed that it was not real sushi. I found the green fruit roll-up at the discount grocery store the other week and saved it just for this.

I am still working to like coconut so I personally didn't eat any. I can eat coconut in some things. For some reason none of my mother's children eat coconut. My mother does eat it.



Yes, we ate this snack with chopsticks.J said, "that would be a good April Fool's food." Hmm, I guess we didn't review our calendar yesterday. I told him it was April Fool's Day. Then he understood why we had that kind of snack.

 

Princeton, NJ

For some reason J thinks going to NJ is fun. I remember once he asked "what language do they speak there?" I think the idea of states and the fact that people speak the same language in another state is something that he is still getting used to. We headed to Princeton to meet with some friends. The weather was nice and so we walked around town.

J tried to read the newspaper.

We went in the Yankee Doodle Tap Room and saw an original Norman Rockwell. It is fun when you have studied something and then later you learn what they remember.

We enjoyed wandering to The Princeton Cemetery which was called "Westminster Abbey of the United States". My friend from the UK wondered where the abbey was. We did get to see Jonathan Edwards' grave.

I find it interesting to walk through cemeteries - reading what is written on tombstones, wondering about the person's life and in this case seeing a bit of history.

It was a fun afternoon and the weather was great. We had wonderful tour guides who live there and were able to share a bit of the town with us. Miss K was there, stuck in a stroller most of the time.

Audobon Center

We had a field trip the other week (I am a bit delayed in blogging about it.) to the John James Audubon Center. This was the first home where he lived in the USA. He came here at the age of 18 from France. It was here that he drew many of his paintings.

We toured the house which was interesting (sorry no photos allowed). There was a room set up so the kids could draw. The house/museum was reasonably priced.

We walked around the grounds a bit but there wasn't much to see. It would be a great place to go for walking and that is free, you could walk by the river.

Then we went to a park and enjoyed our lunch even though it was a bit cold and were able to see a number of animals and birds. The wild turkey was interesting especially as he was showing off. We played kickball and I think it was the moms that won.

Miss K did go with us. I just don't have any pictures to prove it.

Larry Boy

Remember the artist within from last spring. We have been working on drawing mat man which is a basic man almost like a stick figure from Handwriting without Tears. Miss K has been doing mat man with the prompts. Her brother decided he wants to be an artist and so he has been drawing and drawing. He drew Larry Boy telling me how easy it is to draw.

Miss K really wanted Larry Boy. The other day she asked me how to spell Larry Boy. She wrote the L and then wanted help. Today she decided to draw Larry Boy.



Maybe there really is an artist within.

Cover for a Kindle

I had a friend visiting and so we decided to work on some projects. We chatted while we scrapbooked. I managed to do about 18 pages not completely caught up but getting there. My friend mentioned that she needed a cover for her Kindle. I had seen a pattern on Moda Bakeshop. I got my scraps of fabric and made it. Using the fabric I had mine is a bit different.



The pattern was easy. I still need to work on binding which I admit is one thing I don't really like doing. The one thing I would do if I were to make this again is to make it a bit smaller about 18 x 9.5 instead of 18 x 10. I might just have to make one for myself.