Children's Museum - December 7, 2015

I have started feeling all the feels about Owen going to Kindergarten.  Seriously, I could bawl just thinking about it!  :(

Did I cherish every minute of his infancy/toddlerhood/preschool years?  Did I give him enough one on one time?  Did he get to do all of the little kid things before big, bad Kindergarten steals him away???

I'm a mess.

And it is still 9 months away.

Anywhoo....  I decided that I need to make better use of our Mondays.  We need to do some fun things one our Mommy & Owen day.  On December 7th, we loaded up with some friends and headed to the FW Museum of Science & History.

Sweet little buddies  ;)

Medieval Times Field Trip

Home Education Day at the Ballpark in Arlington - 4/17

On April 17th, we joined some friends at the Home Education Day at the Ballpark.  It turned out to be such a fun day -  I'm so glad that we were able to participate.  We were a bit unprepared for the chilly weather, but we managed to huddle up and stay warm.  :)

There was a educational program at 10:15, and then the ball game started at 1:05.  I was a bit concerned about the game being during Owen's nap, but he was such a trooper!  He loved every minute - we all did.

The boys loved seeing their friends from church at the Ballpark.

During the zoo presentation, the kids got to see a Boa Constrictor, Porcupine, Great Horned Owl, American Alligator, Trumpeter Horn Bill (bird), an Anteater, and even a Cheetah!  They brought the cheetah out right on the field.  Apparently, it was raised with a black lab, so they travel together.  Very interesting...

 O-ster loves his Daddy!

The zookeeper said something about how porcupines urinate on their mates, which caused the crowd to erupt in laughter.  We all know that potty humor is a big hit with 3rd graders.  ;)

This is Fitz, the Trumpeter Horn Bill.  This was taken just before Fitz flew the coop, literally.  Homeboy took off and flew out of the stadium.  Ha!  There were some frantic zookeepers when he didn't come right back.  Later, we learned (via Facebook) that they were able to retrieve him.  Silly bird.

Fitz got a little too close for comfort to O.  ;)

 There was also a penguin.  My kids loved being so close to the animals.

 The cutest Ranger fans in the stadium.  :)

I'm so glad that we were able to share such a fun day with friends!  Homeschooling is definitely not for the faint of heart - it is so much harder than I ever imagined it to be.  Getting to have family time during the week is a definite perk.  I'm grateful that we get to take advantage of these types of opportunities with our boys.  :)

SeaLife Aquarium Field Trip

On September 14th, we went to the SeaLife Aquarium in Grapevine with some other homeschooling families from our church.  The Aquarium was having Homeschool Week and offering a very discounted rate - too good of a deal to pass up.  :)

The kids had lots of fun, but I was a bit of a nervous wreck.  :-/  The aquarium is sectioned off into lots of smaller rooms.  Clayton, of course, wanted to be up front with his buddies filling out the scavenger hunt questions that the aquarium provided.  I was trying to navigate the crowds while pushing the stroller, so I seemed to always be several rooms behind Clayton.  That was a little unnerving - I need to be able to have my eyes on all 3 kiddos at all times.  After a few stern discussions/warnings, Clayton realized that he better stick with me.  I love doing this kind of thing, but I haven't exactly figured out how to keep all 3 of my children happy, safe, and entertained all at the same time in public.  I'm praying it gets easier as they get older...  :)

The Aquarium took this group shot where they added scenery digitally after the fact.  The kids were supposed to look up and look scared.  Clayton's friend in the red shirt cracked us all up - he had his terrified face down to a tee.  Ha!

 My Drew with a starfish - he thought they were really cool!

 He was diggin' the stingrays, too.

 Owen has started saying lots of words!  That deserves a video post very soon.  ;)  He pointed at the stingray tank and said, "See!  See!" over and over again in a really high pitched, sing songy way.  It was pretty cute!

 Clayton was a bit OCD about getting all of the questions for the scavenger hunt, hence the lack of pictures of him.

 Giant Pacific Octopus

 Little H is just a week younger than Owen.  They are at church together all of the time.  It was pretty cute when we pushed their strollers together and they recognized each other.  Owen just rested his hand on H's arm.  Sweet little buddies...  :)

 Miss Maggie was way into the "zebra print" and "cheetah print" eels.  She is her Mommy's girl!  Ha!

 I can't decided if this shot is cool or if it will give me nightmares.  ;)  That shark over my baby's shoulder makes me shudder a bit.

 The boys liked the tank where you could touch the starfish, crabs, etc.

 This was an unfertilized shark egg.

Another fun learning experience under our belt...  Even though it is hard to take all three boys to do this kind of thing, it is always worth it.  :)

Children's Museum Field Trip - 8/30

On Thursday, August 30th, Leah and I took our crew on a "field trip" to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.  We haven't been since our passes expired in February of 2011, so we were due a visit.  My kids LOVE it there!

We spent a solid 3 hours there and still didn't see it all.  I have a feeling we may be going back quite a bit this year.  The Grossology and Risk exhibits were ending the weekend after our visit, so I was glad that we went in time to see those.  Grossology was, well, gross.  It taught about the biology behind belching, flatulence, vomiting, snot, boogers, and poop.  Oh my...  That's all I'll say about that.  ;)

The Risk exhibit was a little over our kids' heads.  It was about the human drive to take risks - risky professions, risk taking behaviors, etc.  We went through that one pretty quickly.  The "bed of nails" at the end was the hit of the day with my crew.  They thought it was way cool!

We started out in the middle rooms with exhibits that change frequently.  The centrifugal force spinner was fun for my big boys.

Owen just chilled in his stroller taking it all in.  He never cried to get out until the very, very end.  Three hours straight strapped into his stroller - he's the most awesome baby ever.  I'm pretty sure that I am going to owe him a pony at some point for being so good to his Mama.  Ha!

 Drew really liked the room that focused on light.  The giant light bright, in particular, was super fun for him.

They had this cool giant kaleidoscope, too.  It made for some fun pictures...

Leah and I had to take advantage of the opportunity to clone ourselves.  Ha!  If only we really could make that many carbon copies of ourselves...

Love my hula hoop boy with his tongue sticking out in concentration.  ;)

They had a table with poop from various animals.  This was where the day made a drastic turn to the gross side...

Grossology was next on the agenda...

They took turns pumping gas into this guy's stomach and hearing him burp.  Lovely.

Drew thought that the machine that made tooting noises was hilarious.

They shot boogers into the giant nose...

They played in the digestive system - climb in through the mouth, slide down the esophagus, play in the stomach, and then crawl through the intestines and come out the, well, you know...

Right after I took this picture, Clayton said, "Wait...  I'm the poop?!?!"  He was repulsed, but wanted to go again.  Ha!

I couldn't get too close to the zits, blisters, and scabs climbing wall.  I was totally ooged out by that point!

Sweet baby...  Still chillin' in his stroller.  Bless him.

On to the bed of nails...  You laid on plexi glass and then, with the push of a button, the plexiglass lowered and you were left on the bed of nails.  Clayton was, of course, the first one to try it out!

Maggie and Drew were completely freaked out and adamantly refused to lay down.  But...  Sweet Sadie Bug was willing to take a turn!  Brave little thing!

After seeing tiny little Sadie be a brave sport, Maggie and Drew decided to give it a go!

It was legit, y'all...

The grand finale of the day was a contraption that simulated a tornado with winds up to 73 mph. 

Drew, Maggie, and Sadie bailed with the gusts got up to 25 mph.  Clay-boy was the last man standing!

We had such a fun day with the Hunt girls!  The museum does such a good job of making learning fun.  I have a feeling that we will go back again and again.  Maybe next time we will make it to the toddler area and Owen will actually get out of the stroller!  ;)