Monday, July 16, 2012

Camels and Mammoths

My friend, Jacki, invited us to go to a camel ranch with her in June! A friend of hers from middle school, Doug Baum, runs this camel ranch. It was a fabulous day! We got up early to get to the ranch early in the morning....it was a 2.5 hour drive, and we were there at 9am.

They had a lot of cats!



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Doug had seen these "hammocks" built for chimps in zoos he worked in, so he built one for his son. The boys LOVED it. It is made out of old firemen's hose.



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There was a cool tortoise.



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Jacki telling me how it's gonna be.



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Holly B



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Leo on Irene, the camel



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Doug had more bounty than they could eat, so he let us raid his garden. I made lots of salsa with this!



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After the camels, we drove into Waco to the Mammoth Site. I didn't even know about this park!

We ate lunch.



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Then we saw the Mammoth bones.



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There was even a camel! Full circle.



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There was a VBS group there. Interesting.



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It was a GREAT day!


Saturday, July 14, 2012

Lubbock Summer 2012

We went to Lubbock to see Gran and Grandpa in the middle of June. We had a great trip!

As we have done in the past, we stopped in Abilene to break up the trip. The boys love swimming in the indoor pool.

Henry jumps to Leo.


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We made the annual trip to Joyland Amusement Park. Such fun!


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Henry's first time on the bumper cars. I drove.


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Driving the trucks.


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Doing the news at the child museum.


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Great water table.


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Visiting the horse, of course!


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Gran took us to the National Ranching Heritage Museum. This was so neat! Looking at an oven.


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The train that brings the cattle to the ranch.


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Cousins!


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Todd's mom has rented out his childhood home for all these years, but now she is selling it. We went to see it one last time. I have heard lots of stories about this house, so it was fun to get to see it.


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It was a great trip!

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Wild animal heaven (by Leo)



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We thought that this Squirrel feeder would be A good idea. About a month ago,Our grand mother gave Henry a bird feeder that he saw at Lowe's ( That he was literally BEGGING to get) for his birthday. We filled it up with bird feed and hung it in the side yard. It was going fine until the squirrel discovered it. We didn't like the squirrels on it, because they ate like a quarter of the bird feed at a time. so while i was at school, mom and Henry went to Lowe's and baught A little half-dome that hangs over the bid feeder and stops the squirrel from getting the feed. but then the squirrel started eating the feed that the birds dropped on the ground. that really annoyed us, to. so, we went to Lowe's and baught this squirrel feeder. the good thing was that the feeder came with food. we hope that the squirrel will eat this instead of the bird feed.




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While we were at Lowe's, Henry saw this bird bath. you hang it from a tree, and the birds can have a bath. So we said " eh, why not?" and baught it.





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This is what they looked like when we were done. The squirrel feeder, the bird feeder, and the bird bath. This is Animal heaven.

Monday, June 04, 2012

Summer Day 1

I'm not planning to write up every day, but, hey....who knows? I don't have any pictures today, but here is what we did.

5:45 - I ran. I'm going to be running first this summer so I can get a shower before Todd leaves. I have decided that some of the craziness starts when I shower after he leaves - by the time I get dressed, they have worked themselves into a frenzy.
8 - Todd left for work. We started working on the house. We stripped all the beds and put sheets in the washer. Leo unloaded the dishwasher and drying rack and reloaded the dishwasher. Henry had a chore, but I can't remember it. Henry and I folded a load of clothes and towels, and Leo helped at the end. We picked up all the rooms and remade their beds. (There was LOTS of whining and arguing and talking under his breath (Leo) at the beginning of this, but we got it done.)
9 - We started some school work.
9:45 - We left for a playdate. When we got there, I remembered that this place had a sprayground, but we didn't have bathing suits. Oh well. It was one of those spraygrounds where it is just lots of water shooting straight out of the ground. All the kids stand right over the shooting water so that it hits their anuses. I am NOT making this up. It is such a bizarre sight. Leo was showing the younger kids how to make it look like urination. Which earned him some time on the bench, of course. Summer is such a special bonding time.
11:30 - We head home.
Noon - Todd comes home. We eat. I sent them out in the backyard for 30 mins and did some dinner prep.
1pm - We finished up our morning worksheets. Then Henry did some pattern work with manipulatives, and Leo did multiplication and division flashcards.
2pm - DEAR time. Drop Everything And Read. Leo read his book. Henry did some reading to me out of some BOB books, and then we read 3 books from the TLA 2X2 list.
3pm - I sent them out to the backyard. It's not too hot yet. I worked on dinner for tonight, and prep for tomorrow night (we'll be having marinated tofu).
3:30 - Well, our (my) goal was to make it until 4pm without TV, but I was ready for a little Friends comfort TV by this time (and sick of classical music on Pandora), so I turned on the kitchen TV and told the boys they could have tv time.
5pm - Todd came home. I had dinner on the table b/c of swimming lessons. We ate quickly. Black bean burgers, sweet potatoes, and edamame. OK, probably too many beans, but it's what we had.
5:25 - We left for swimming.
6pm - Dropped the boys off for swimming lessons. Todd and I went on a date at Target. I looked at shoes, and he looked at electronics. And we looked at coolers b/c one of ours broke last wknd. The one I liked was $60, and I need to think on that a bit.
7pm - Picked up boys. No one cried! Oh my goodness, that is a huge milestone! If you remember, Henry cried and hyperventilated for the first 3.5 days last year....and then at the beginning of this summer, he had forgotten all of his skills. It is nice to know that I will not have to sing Be Brave! Be Strong! (Mr. Rogers) over and over for the next four days! Picked up milk at the Market Street drive thru on the way home.  Todd put the boys to bed, and I finished putting tofu in marinade and made our bed.
8pm - Sat down!

Whew!