Off to the Movies! February 29, 2008

We went behind the scenes at the movies with the DFW unschool group. Before the theater opened for the day, we got a tour of the concessions (complete with popping and eating popcorn), a stadium-style theater (with the lights on- which is very different!), and “the booth.” Turns out the booth is a huge room above all of the theaters in which there are little windows along the walls opening into each auditorium. Our tour guides were very enthusiastic and knowledgeable. From reel to digital, we saw it all, heard it all, and touched it all. It was a great opportunity!

Later in the day, we stopped by some friends’ to see their new chicks! 3 day old Rhode Island Reds- Frances, Gloria, Biscuit, Mama, and Daddy.

Letterboxing in Cedar Hills State Park- Dallas February 29, 2008

We took a jaunt with our friends Christine, Anna, and Gretchen to nature walk and letterbox in a beautiful state park in Dallas. Though we went 1 for 3 on the boxes, we had a lovely day.

Dental Giants February 29, 2008

Sadie’s feeling like a big girl. This was her first trip to the dentist!

Elijah knew what to expect and was an old pro (this being his 2nd visit . He was not super pleased about the cleaning and required vanilla toothpaste- which made the procedure much more pleasant. Here he was watching Happy Feet on the wall-mounted TV and waiting his turn.

Sadie awaits the dentist’s return and bides her time by playing with one of those water toys I used to play with when I was a kid! We’re hunting down some of those….

Valentine’s Day Party! February 25, 2008

Sadie and Kenzie make Valentines and eat cupcakes.
Kenzie: “Sadie?”
Sadie: “What.”
Kenzie: “I love you.”
Sadie: “I love you too.”
Kenzie: “I very missed you.”
Sadie: “Mmm.”

Elijah and Kaylee check out the pond.

Ethan give the play-by-play of the valentine he made for Elijah.

Sandbox play on the beach volleyball court.

Building a Garden February 25, 2008

The square foot garden (9 square feet to be exact) is built and was a team effort. All of our seeds have sprouted and we are very excited to bring the seedlings and garden together this week!

Big Day in Austin! February 19, 2008

Saturday in Austin began at the farmers’ market. Mmmmm….

And Sadie had her face painted by someone involved in the Austin Children’s Theater and was asked to join!

Happy Chinese New Year! We went to the festivities in Austin’s China Town. Great fun! We put money in the dragon’s mouth after the show so we should have good fortune in the new year. Sadie’s tattoo also translated: ‘fortune’ or ‘blessing’.

Check out this video of the Star Lion Dance Troupe Dragon and Lion Dance.

Where better to finish out the day than at a HUGE park. Though Ricker Park in Austin is enormous and has tons of areas to explore, we spent our time at the fabulous playground.

Back at the hotel, we wash off the day….

and finish with a movie.

Class Dismissed February 16, 2008

Class Dismissed is an article from City on a Hill Press that was passed on to me and gives a pretty good/short overview of unschooling.

Keep reading! Every unschooling family could write their own book. Homeschooling Our Children, Unschooling Ourselves is particularly good at covering unschooling over time with the McKee family- how it works, how it evolves, doubts, concerns, etc.

Austin Children’s Museum! February 13, 2008

My mom, myself, and the kids ventured to Austin! You can’t photograph a vibe or synopsize cool but Austin is just an amazing city. ‘Keep Austin Weird’ is their motto- ’nuff said. Now to get Fidelity to open a site there….

Here’s Elijah using a pulley-type system as the first point in one of those watch-the-ball-go-here-there-and-everywhere type things. There were several different ways to start it- so cool!





Sadie lays atop a drum to feel the cylinders vibration as she plays.

Sadie pretends to be a bat!

She’s a fabulous cook and was inviting everyone to come sit and eat at her restaurant.

Elijah spent ALOT of time loading recycled milk bottles into a vacuum tube to send back to the plant, picking up the bottles at the plant, loading them into baskets, sending them down a conveyor and stocking the grocery shelves.

Inventing!

Using the die cutter, Elijah made a couple of cubes out of paper in order to use them for his invention that later included 2 popsicle sticks, a rubber band, 2 paper clips, and some scotch tape!

Sadie busts a groove in the Austin Kiddie Limits (play on Austin City Limits- a very famous concert weekend held yearly in Austin) room.

Ft. Worth Zoo! February 10, 2008

Back at the zoo! What a cool place. Like the aquarium, our other favorite haunt, we seem to find ourselves focusing on a different area each time we go. We made the rounds once again this day (limited and ever-changing since there’s no way to see this whole place in one shot with kids).

After wandering, we spent a LOT of time in the herpeterium checking out all manner of reptiles and amphibians. Elijah has a special affinity for these types of creatures (insert high-pitched, squeaky voice that he uses to talk to them (that I reserve for babies and puppies)) here.

Yes, even for venomous snakes.

And here is a video of some elephant action we caught. He’s beating large pieces of wood/some similar organic material against the ground/fence. The other elephant (to the left) appears to be eating the smaller pieces.

This Thing is Legendary- what?! That’s the slogan! February 10, 2008

Somewhere around the end of January we went to The Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo- (we opt out of the rodeo portion for ethical reasons). A description for anyone who’s never been: it’s like 4H on steroids (like the whole of Major League Baseball put together). There are buildings upon buildings of farm animals distributed into category. I saw more of each kind of animal (primped and all) than I’ve ever seen in my life. A whole building of pigs (and one each for everything else you can think of…)! It was pretty wild. This is frontier land for sure and these people are Farmers (with a capital F).

Cool tie-in: we all got to check out a mini-cotton gin (about 2 days after we picked cotton) and got to do a bunch of hands-on stuff relating to the animals who give us milk, wool, hide, and meat. Elijah rode a bike at over the 8 mph minimum which turned a windmill which powered up a little city- lighting its streetlights and house windows and turning the carousel in the town center. That was VERY cool. Texas could turn a profit selling wind power for sure (and they’re working on it!)