Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Fun Field Trip!

Elijah is currently studying astronomy in school, so we took a little field trip yesterday to the Oklahoma Science Museum.  The museum has, among many other things, a planetarium.  Since we were the only two in the planetarium, we were able to as as many questions as we wanted and answer all of them we wanted as well.  Elijah even stumped the head of the planetarium for a few moments with one of his questions!



In the planetarium
Now that's a tree, at least for Oklahoma!
We had loads of fun, but as we made our way to the car, we saw an unwelcome sight.  There was a large grass fire burning in Northeast OKC.  Today it was still a problem.  We are even able to smell it at the house.  We sure could use a lot of rain!

Two mornings later and it's still going.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Just a LIttle Bored

I suppose I could have folded the one (yes, only one) load of laundry that I needed to fold, or I could have washed the few dishes by the sink, but no.  Instead I made something fun!  Tabitha has found a blog about moustaches and there was a set of pillows on there that, when put together, formed a moustache.  So I made her some pillows.  The dishes and laundry can wait until tomorrow.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

School's in Session

We started school last Monday and we are now well into the swing of things.  We are doing the old standards; reading, writing, 'ritmetic, as well as a couple of new things.  One of the new things is Hebrew!  Yikes, what was I thinking?! Okay, it really is going to be fun.  We are learning it together, so that makes it even better.  And if we ever get to go to Jerusalem, it will come in handy. 

We are taking a different approach to PE as well.  We will do our Crossfit, but we are going to add a little extra to it.  I'm thinking Parkour.  We'll just start out with some things at home and if he still wants to do it, we'll add to it later.

I am learning a little extra as well.  i finally bit the bullet and am taking OTS online.  Tabitha is actually taking it this year at AC and since she is a "good girl" I see her on the videos sitting at the front of the class.  I told her that the bad kids sit in back.  It is going to be a lot of reading these first few weeks, but after that it will taper off quite a bit.  At least that is what the instructor has said.  I think the hardest part will be setting aside 1 1/2 hours at one sitting to just watch the video.  The reading I can get in anytime, I think.

Since it is just the beginning of the year, we have not had many projects, but we did create the solar system.  In construction paper at least.  Since we are studying the universe right now, we are planning a trip to the science museum and planetarium next week.  that should be fun!



The Solar System, (Not to scale)
 

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Take a Hike

Well, I finally got them organized, our vacation pics. Our trip to Colorado and New Mexico was a great time for our family. Tabitha had a few days off from AC and landscaping and was able to go along with us. We're not sure how many more times we'll head off as the four of us, so it was really nice to have her along.

Colorado Gators was really fun. We happened to be there during their yearly Gator Rodeo. People from all over the country come to wrestle the alligators. They take a three hour course to learn how, then they go in with the owners of the farm and catch gators. This actually serves a purpose. Once an alligator is caught, they are measured and checked for injuries. Then, if needed, they are treated for any injuries they may have. One of the females that was caught while we were there had recently lost a toe, so they took care of that while they had her out of the water. It is not as dangerous as it sounds and in 14 years they have never had a wrestler injured by a gator.

After the gator farm we headed about 30 miles south to the Conejos River area to begin our hike. It was later named The Death March, but I digress. We were headed to Ruybalid Trail and No Name Lake.  2 1/2 miles of switchbacks rising 2,100 feet. To say it was strenuous would be putting it pretty mildly. Then there is another 2.5 miles to the lake! It took 9 hours and at one point we weren't sure if we were ever going to find the lake because the trail map and the guide book didn't match up. But we persevered and had a great night's sleep with no sign of civilization around us except for the occasional jet flying overhead. It was beautiful, tranquil, quite millennial in fact, except for the fact that there were no fish in the lake. There was even a sign at the lake, not anywhere before, that let us know this. We just used the day we spent there to rest and relax. (Yes, 9 hour to hike in and we spent one day.)  Something we all needed even before the hike. The next day we hiked out, in a third of the time, and without rests. While it was much easier coming down, physically it was more difficult in the days that followed. I felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to my calves and hips. I'll have to find a way to train for that.

After we left the trail we headed for our favorite snowboarding spot, Sipapu, NM. This time of year the slopes are covered in green grass and flowers. While we have seen lots of snow fall there in the winter, we got to experience a thunderstorm this time. While not as powerful as the one that had just happened back in Oklahoma, that we had no clue about, it was spectacular. We stayed a couple of days and fished where we could actually see the fish. Just a little more time to relax before we headed home.

By that time we had heard about the storm back home. Jeff's dad had checked on the house for us and only a tree and a few limbs were lost. Nothing happened to the house or shops. For that we were very grateful. It was a great and relaxing, even if exhausting, trip!


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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Gator Wrestling and Hiking

Did you know that you don't have to go to the southern US in order to both? Hopefully that peaked your interest a little. I have a lot of pictures that Tabitha and I took on our family vacation that I hope to get organized and posted on here soon. Until then, here are just a few.



This little guy cracked us up!

Wild strawberries-for comparison, they are in Elijah's hand.






The beginning of what would become know as "The Death March".

After 5 hours of uphill hiking, our first flat spot.  There were 4 more hours after this.