The girls and I finally made it to the local zoo for a field trip of our own. It's a great little zoo, and the girls were very eager to get back and do the zoo more thoroughly than they were able to on the field trip with all the other kids from church. For this visit, the girls wanted to focus on the Africa section--zebras, giraffes, lions, ostriches, meerkats, a variety of interesting birds, and a couple of surprisingly lively tortoises ("That turtle's climbing on the other one!" "Is it going to be ok?" "Why are they making funny noises?" Meanwhile, a fellow mom and I are dying laughing, while assuring our kids that the tortoises are totally fine.) The girls were disappointed to discover that the elephants have been removed, but now we we're looking forward to seeing the rhinos who'll replace them. We also explored a botanical garden at the back of the zoo that they didn't get to explore before. It has clearly seen better days, but it's still has a lovely formal rose garden and gazebo that's perfect for taking a quiet break.
To the Games!
Daddy found a regional Highland games to compete in, and we
all had a blast watching him compete and exploring the Celtic festival. We even made friends for the day with another mom and her preschool daughter who were also there to watch their husband/daddy wear a kilt and throw heavy things. In addition to lots of time spent watching the athletes, we did our usual exploring of the Village of Clans and the vendors' booths. We admired all the clan crests and tartans along with some swords and armor (one clan even boasted a kilt-wearing Stormtrooper!), learned about the workings of a typical Scottish croft, watched an Irish step dancing competition and a sheepdog demonstration, and consumed Scottish pies, bridies, and shortbread. Yum! In addition to pumpkin painting and face painting, the children's section also included a tent of swordsmen, and we were able to sit in on a demonstration/lecture about the history of swords from the short, stabbing swords of the Bronze Age to modern fencing foils. The girls were absolutely fascinated; they did quite a bit of dueling with the balloon swords they acquired at the swordsmen's booth, and Monkey even decided to purchase a wooden one to bring home.
Happy Halloween!
Halloween this year was a nice low-key event. Our current neighborhood doesn't do trick-or-treating, but the local Y hosted a fall festival on Friday that included trunk-or-treating, a bounce house, and several carnival games for the kids. As usual, the real highlight for them is dressing up! (For the record, Bug specified that she is not a pirate, but a privateer--any piracy was therefore legal and patriotic.)
The girls have never shown an interest in carving a jack o' lantern. They want to eat the pumpkin! It's become our tradition to do just that every fall. This year we roasted pumpkin seeds and made pumpkin soup.
Tidbits
We wrapped up our unit on the U.S. government just in time for the election. We read books about, talked about, and did worksheets about the three branches of government, different levels of government (local to federal), and the election process. We did not, however, talk much about the current candidates (It hasn't exactly been a kid-friendly election cycle!).
Daddy and I recently decided to P90X together (it's an intense 90 day workout program). We didn't intend to include the entourage, but Lion decided it looked like too much fun to miss! She's particularly a fan of the plyometric day. She informed us, though, that she wouldn't participate on the days she had running club or gym class--she doesn't want to overdo it. Smart girl.
We've been all about the Magic School Bus lately! Monkey's read chapter books about bats and the skeletal system, we've got a library book about ancient Egypt, and we've watched episodes about bats and energy.
Bug completed the worksheets I had about the Spanish alphabet and basic phrases and vocabulary. She decided she wanted to step it up a bit, and Daddy remembered he had a stack of Instant Immersion Spanish CDs. She's loving it! And, now that it involves fun computer games, Monkey and Lion are intrigued as well.
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