Beacon Academy

Birthday girl

2010-12-18T17:49:00.003-05:00

Kathryn had a good 10th birthday today. Grandma, Uncle Matt, Aunt Melinda, and Phineas came over for lunch (calzones) and cake.

She wanted a penguin cake. I think she's just testing my decorating abilities.

Pretty earrings!

She got several pairs of earrings for her birthday, then went out to Claire's with some of her birthday money and bought some more. Now we just have to wait six weeks until she can wear them!

Black belts!

2010-11-25T23:52:00.003-05:00

Here is a video of Kathryn and I breaking boards for our black belt ceremony. This was the last step of our belt test, then we got our new belts.

As part of the belt ceremony, Master Williford ties on our first black belts. It was wonderful getting my belt, and even better watching Kathryn get hers.

Chicks

2009-05-14T22:07:00.005-04:00

We have had so much fun with our embryology unit these last few weeks. The three weeks the eggs are in the incubator go by pretty slowly with not much to show for it. But boy, is day 21 exciting! As soon as the first chick started to hatch, the kids had to call Daddy at work with the good news.

It looks pretty pathetic, but it's hysterical to watch them flop around the incubator. This one was doing cartwheels trying to get used to its feet.

Our first two chicks.

What a difference a day makes!

Last time we did this, we didn't take them outside. I'm glad we did, though -- they loved it! Even at 75 outside, it was a bit cold for them (the brooder box is 95 degrees), so we only stayed out a little while.

Kathryn gave one of them a clover hat. The chick was not impressed.

Two cute kids; nine cute chicks.

Here's the brooder box in Daniel's room. It was fun having fewer chicks this year -- it was easier to play with them, they had more room, and they made less of a mess.

Fashion Review

2009-04-20T20:56:00.002-04:00

Today was the judging for the 4-H Fashion Review. The entries could be anything wearable and sewn. There were aprons and jumpers, robes and sweatpants, dresses and skirts. Oh, and one really cute purple poncho...

Kathryn was very confident talking to the judge about her outfit, She talked about making it, where sher go the pattern (thank you, Babba!) and why she liked it so much.

The hood turned out great. Attaching it to the poncho was the toughest part for her. That and ironing the seams. She got a little burn on her hand from the edge of the iron. Thankfully the iron wasn't on a really hot setting.

Next week is the fashion show. All the participants will get a chance to model their creations and the prizes will be awarded. Since Kathryn is a cloverbud she isn't competing for a prize -- she'll receive feedback and a participation award. Didn't she do a great job?

Glasses

2009-02-25T08:57:00.002-05:00

The big day finally arrived. Kathryn got to pick up her new glasses yesterday. Doesn't she look cute? From this angle you can't see the little butterflies perched on each of the ear-pieces. They're adorable! And best of all, she can see clearly again. I hadn't realized how impaired her vision was -- it happened so gradually that she never complained and I didn't catch it. Even good moms miss things sometimes, I guess. Daniel has an appointment to get HIS eyes checked next week. I don't think there's a problem, but you never know.

They're both out!

2009-02-10T16:26:00.003-05:00

Just so everyone can see, Daniel is now without BOTH teeth on top. And he was able to hold onto this tooth long enough to get it under his pillow. Isn't he cute?

Snaggle-tooth

2009-01-26T15:12:00.003-05:00

Just had to share some cute pictures. Daniel lost one of his big top teeth this past week-end. It came out at Pizza/Movie Night at TaeKwonDo. In fact, he lost it twice: once when it came out and again when he couldn't find it to bring home. He was happy to find out that the Tooth Fairy came anyway.

Sigh. Do you think a brick on his head will keep him my little boy? He's getting so big...

Here you go, Dad

2009-01-10T21:02:00.003-05:00

Today was Kathryn's birthday party. With her birthday so close to Christmas, this was easier for my sanity, not to mention finding a day when all her friends were free. The girls (and Daniel) all had a lot of fun. First they each made a fleece pillow. I did all the cutting ahead of time, so they just had to tie and stuff. They looked great!

We played a snowman beanbag game with Mr. Frosty here. Kathryn and I worked together on it, and I think she did a great job. The idea for this was all hers.

The obligatory photo of everyone around the table having cake (or in this case, cupcakes).

Half of the cupcakes were decorated with snowmen and half with snowflakes. The snowmen bodies are mini marshmallows, and the nose is a little orange sprinkle. Aren't they cute?

Here is the tray of cupcakes we served at the party.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATHRYN!

Fair, part 3

2008-09-26T11:24:00.001-04:00

My turn! I didn't take part in any of the shows, like the pet show or the healthy food fair, but I still entered several items in the fair. For adults, they only give out ribbons for entries that place (unlike the kids, where every entry gets a ribbon, even if it's just a green participation ribbon). So, those things without ribbons didn't place.

Here are: non-portrait photograph, plastic canvas tissue box, and bead jewelry.

A cross-stitch picture.

Handmade doll, crocheted bag, crocheted baby item. I was kind of upset about the handbag when I got home. On the tag was a note from the judge: "The handle should be the same color as the purse." Can YOU tell it's supposed to be a rainbow over Noah's Ark? Oh, well.

Christmas ornament, sculpy clay pendant, and crocheted snowflake.

Portrait photograph and scrapbook page of a place.

My food entries didn't make it back from the fair, obviously, but I made: raspberry swirl fudge (third place), pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, cherry winks, and wacky chocolate cake with peanut butter icing (first place AND judges' choice!!!). Now to start preparing for next year... :)

Fair, part 2

2008-09-24T14:20:00.003-04:00

Today is Kathryn's turn! She had a great time at the fair as well. She dressed as a farmer for the Healthy Food Fair and made some terrific deviled eggs.

The next few pictures show off some of her craft entries. Here we have a pillow, a colored pencil drawing, a mixed media drawing (paint and colored pencil), a candle, and a greeting card.

A decorated flowerpot, jewelry (very nice earrings that she gave to me), a camp craft (the bracelet), a craft representing another country (the sombrero), and a sculpy clay pirate.

A skirt, a purse, a collection of patriotic sculpy clay pieces (a little person saluting the flag), and a handmade doll (Lucy, who is supposed to be a dog but I think makes a very fine cat).

Her poem. The theme for this year was "Great Americans."

Her decorated pumpkin, which came in second, and her tie-dyed pillowcase which came in third.

Her terrific rock collection, which earned her a blue ribbon. We studied rocks last year in science, so we had a nice collection to choose from. We looked up and labeled each one, except for the pinkish one second from the top left which we were not able to identify. It's definitely not quartz. Anyone know what it is?

I am so proud of Kathryn! She worked hard this year, and it showed.

Fair, part 1

2008-09-23T13:45:00.003-04:00

Well, the fair ended this past Sunday. It was a BUSY week and a half, but so much fun! Today, I wanted to share Daniel's accomplishments.

He earned first place showing his gerbils at the Pet Show. He went on stage and took the mike. He was articulate, knowledgeable, and not a bit shy (and pretty cute, too).

He earned second place for desserts at the Healthy Food Fair for his chocolate pumpkin cupcakes. He had to decorate the table as well as prepare the food and answer the judges' questions.

Here are his entries: recyclable craft (a warthog), a crayon drawing, and a poem. Not pictured is his 2 ft x 2 ft board with all his dinosaurs (it didn't make it home in one piece) and his decorated apple (moldy!!). I included the red ribbon to show the apple, but I just remembered that he got a BLUE ribbon for it, not red. Sorry, Daniel!

A few close-ups.

He did great: $42 dollars, 3 blue ribbons, 2 red ribbons, and lots of good memories!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-08-20T13:24:00.004-04:00

Wordless Wednesday

2008-08-06T11:17:00.002-04:00

Brusters!

2008-08-03T16:53:00.002-04:00

What better way to spend a hot Saturday evening than to take a family trip to Brusters! If you've never been, Brusters is a great ice cream place that has between twenty and thirty different flavors of hard-serve ice cream. The flavors constantly change, so you never know what you're going to get (other than messy).

This was my favorite picture of the evening. Daniel got cotton candy explosion, and loved every lick of it.

Did I mention getting messy?

Kathryn got cotton candy explosion, too. This is her favorite flavor, and sh'e slucky -- they usually have it.

We came here on our last day of school in June, and I'm thinking this might be a good way to usher in the new school year, too. What do you think?

Sports camp

2008-08-01T15:04:00.002-04:00

The kids spent every morning this week at church at SPORT'S CAMP! They did basketball, volleyball, creative movement, yoga, soccer, and a few things I can't remember right now. They even learned how to spike the volleyball, using a beach ball (and a small ladder to get them high enough)-- can you picture Daniel doing that? :) They had a ball (no pun intended), and enjoyed playing with their friends from church all week. I enjoyed having EVERY morning this week to do as I pleased. I haven't had that since before Kathryn was born!

Daniel told me last night (Thursday night) that he was sorry that there were only three days left in sport's camp. I think he almost cried when I told him that there was only one day left. "But Mommy, you said that there were seven days in a week, and this is a week-long camp..." How do you argue with that? I tried to explain week-days versus week-ends, but I'm not sure he bought it.

The girls in the creative movement class put on a mini performance for the parents yesterday. You can see it at http://muirschapelumc.com/ministries/childrens/sportscamp.html.
Kathryn's group is the first one (the second one is the older girls), and she is wearing a yellow shirt. Enjoy!

My visit to Pennsylvania

2008-06-30T14:54:00.004-04:00

What a great week-end we've had in PA this past week-end! Between the wedding and the family gathering, we've been running at full steam for the past two days. Now we can rest a bit.

Recital

2008-06-03T07:18:00.003-04:00

Saturday was a busy day. Kathryn had her dance recital and did a GREAT job! She was confident on stage, remembered her steps, and looked like she was enjoying every minute of it. Even Jason got to dance -- the first dance in the recital was a daddy-daughter dance. Judging by the smiles on both his and Kathryn's faces, his dancing debut was a success.

This was her outfit for tap and acrobatics, plus a bit of attitude.

The three musketeers -- Kathryn and two of her best friends, Esther and Brenna.

And here is my princess.

Their ballet number was "Going to the chapel." Seeing sixteen or so girls twirl around in wedding dresses was beautiful.

Daniel and I received our next belts for TaeKwonDo this week-end as well. Daniel is now a senior yellow belt (his new belt has a black stripe down the center) and I am not a senior white belt. And like his sister, Daniel has an attitude all his own.

What a week-end!

2008-05-12T21:32:00.004-04:00

I had a wonderful Mother's Day week-end! Saturday started with a mother-child Tae Kwon Do class. Daniel and I had a great time training together, and all the mothers got to break a board before the end of class.

Daniel is doing really well, and is learning a lot. He's also impressed that he's two belts further along than Mommy.

Jason's parents came into town Saturday as well for Melinda's graduation. We are so proud of both Matt and Melinda -- the Masters!

It's been a long time coming.

Best wishes to you both as you start the next phase of your life.

Old pictures - sorry!

2008-05-08T22:10:00.003-04:00

Dad was giving me a hard time about how long it's been since I posted to my blog. And he's right -- it's been almost two months and I know how much grandparents like to see their grandkids! I wanted to put something up tonight (so he would stop picking on me) and I realized I haven't downloaded pictures from my camera since March. So, here are some pictures of the kids at our church's Easter egg hunt. Yes, they're old pictures, but since you've never seen them, they're still new, right? :)

We had a covered dish lunch after church, then the kids went out to look for eggs. It was quite cold that Sunday (even though there was no snow, it was still right around freezing), so all the kids were bundled up.

It didn't take long for the locusts (I mean kids) to find all the eggs.

Daniel managed to find a section with very few other kids in it, so he had quite a full basket before he was done.

He promised to share some with his sister, though. And Mommy. And Daddy.

Once all the eggs were found, we went back inside to warm up and see what candy the eggs held.

Yellow Belt

2008-03-11T09:30:00.002-04:00

Daniel's belt ceremony at the end of February was held at the local YMCA. They all marched in to the theme music from the Olympics.

After breaking a board (palm strike, first try!), Daniel was called up front to receive his certificate and his new belt.

Now that he is in the novice group as opposed to the beginner white belt group, he gets to spar as part of his training. Here he has his full gear on: helmet, mouth guard, chest protector, gloves, arm guards, shin and foot guards, and cup. Whew!

Do you remember the Peanuts comic strip where Charlie Brown has so much winter clothing on that he falls over and can't get himself up? That came to mind for some reason...

And here he is, sparring for the first time. We're so proud of him!

Snow day

2008-02-19T22:26:00.004-05:00

Last Thursday (Valentine's Day) we got our first snow of the year. It was only an inch, but you would have thought a blizzard hit! The schools were closed, and although we still had classes, we took a 1-hour delay so we could play in the snow first.

This poor snowman flag has looked so out of place all winter. Now he looks happy!

My daffodils are starting to come up, although they haven't bloomed yet. I don't think this snow is enough to hurt them too badly.

My crocuses look cold, too.

Daniel's favorite part of playing in the snow was having snowball fights. He had a hard time making the snowballs round and hard enough, so he would wait until someone else threw one at him, then scoop it up from the ground and throw it back. His gloves are new, and he enjoyed trying them out.

Here is our snowman, Kathryn's favorite part of our snow day. It is only about eight inches tall, but she was quite proud of it.

My little (or not so little) snow girl.

School update

2008-01-27T21:57:00.001-05:00

Here is some of Kathryn and Daniel's latest school work. I thought you might like to see what we've been doing. (Note: If you want a closer look at any of these pages, just click on it!)

Here is an illustrated narration of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, by Kathryn. She had to summarize the story after I read it to her, and she did a wonderful job illustrating it.

We recently covered Australia in history, and this is Daniel's map for that lesson.

Daniel's very first math worksheet. He is now in Math 1, and is having a great time with it.

Kathryn's math work:

Our latest state in US Geography was Maine. Here's Kathryn's map.

Geocaching 101

2008-01-12T20:45:00.001-05:00

At the bottom of my blog, I have links to some of my favorite websites. One of them is to the official geocaching website. This is one of our favorite family pastimes, and if you've never been, I would highly recommend it. To start with, go to www.geocaching.com, plug in your ZIP code, and find a nearby cache. Then it's off to the woods!

The only tool that you really need is a GPS. This will help you find where the cache is hidden. It only gets you close, though. And sometimes you can spend a LOOONG time searching. Snacks and bug spray are good to have, too.

Well, look what we found!

Here is the cache container, covered in camouflage tape so it's harder to find. I never even knew they made tape like that!

This is the kids favorite part! Most caches (except for the very smallest) are really treasure chests. Nothing fancy, but you can take a treasure and leave a treasure. It's important to sign the logbook, so you can show you really found it.

Once we signed the log and everyone had a new treat, we hid it again so that it was ready for the next adventurers. then it was back to the car for a drink and crackers (snacks are VERY important for little cachers). Daniel got a new toy ambulance and Kathryn has a new princess yo-yo.

Best of all, it's a great excuse to get outside, breathe some fresh air, and get some exercise together as a family. Shhh, don't tell the kids. They just think it's fun. :)

4-H Friday

2008-01-11T19:06:00.001-05:00

Today was our first day back at 4-H for 2008. Since 4-H works on a calendar year instead of a school year schedule, all the new classes started today. Daniel is now in the cloverbud group, and Kathryn has moved up to the older cloverbud group. I am so glad we split that group - there were TWENTY-SEVEN cloverbuds today, 12 in the younger group and 15 older ones. The kids were all so happy to be back!

Daniel's group did Art today. They worked with glue and tissue paper (and of course Daniel added some beautiful dinosaurs to his paper). here is his masterpiece:

Kathryn's group had Music today. The big project for music this year is learning to play the recorder. This will include learning how to read music as well as how to actually play the recorder. The din was a bit much when they first got their instruments, but hopefully they will get the hang of them soon.

Next meeting, they will switch topics. Kathryn will get to do the art project and Daniel's group will all get recorders. I think I will help the art class... :)

And now for something completely different...

2008-01-10T14:04:00.001-05:00

Going, going....gone!

2008-01-09T12:39:00.001-05:00

The leaf truck came by yesterday, and we had fun watching it suck up all our leaves.

Our pile was quite large. Although the truck has been by twice already this fall, the leaves fell late this year and we didn't have a lot of leaves to put out front. This pile was from our heavily wooded backyard, and repsresented hours of work and blisters.

This is the first time we've seen a fully automated leaf truck. Usually there is someone holding the nozzle and directing where it should go. This time, all of the controls for the vacuum nozzle were in the cab of the truck, and the driver controlled both the truck and the vacuum. He drove on the passenger side (so he could see the leaves better) which both kids thought was really weird.

I wish the nozzle was big enough to go all the way to our backyard. That way, we wouldn't have to rake anymore! Keep dreaming...

And there go the last few leaves...

See ya later, truck! No more raking until next November (thank goodness)!

Gingerbread House

2008-01-08T21:30:00.001-05:00

Look what we did!

I know it's after Christmas and all, but we are just getting around to making our gingerbread house now. And did we have fun! Yesterday we made the gingerbread pieces (with a few extra cookies, of course), and this afternoon we assembled it. There's just something about working with lots and lots of sugar that puts everyone in a good mood. :) The kids did most of the work -- I just helped with general construction and help as needed.

Kathryn took this picture:

And here's the back.

After I took this picture, it lasted a grand total of about three seconds before Daniel had one of the Twizzler pieces off, and Kathryn was attacking the marshmallow door.

I can't wait to see what we do next year!

My 888 reading list

2007-12-31T12:38:00.000-05:00

No pictures this time - just a reading list. There is a reading challenge posted on a homeschool website I like to visit (www.welltrainedmind.com - a great site for classical homeschooling!) that I will be trying this year. The concept is simple: pick 8 categories of books, with 8 books in each category that you will read in 2008. To help a little, you can have 8 books overlap categories. I really like this idea, because I have been a bit neglectful of my own studies the past few years. I have been putting a lot of thought into my kids' studies, but I've just been reading whatever looks good at the library for me. I deserve a little thought, too! So, in case anyone's interested, I thought I'd post my reading list for 2008. Call it my New Year's resolution!

1. Biographies
a. Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution, by Natalie S. Bober
b. Shakespeare, by Michael Wood
c. Thomas Alva Edison: an American Myth, by Wyn Wachhorst
d. Joan of Arc, by Sir Winston Churchill
e. The Last Lion, Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-1940, by William Manchester
f. Without Precedent: The Life and Career of Eleanor Roosevelt, by Joan Huff-Wilson and Marjorie Lightman
g. Thomas Jefferson: Stateman of Science, by Silvio A. Bedini
h. Lightning in His Hand: the Life Story of Nikola Tesla, by Inez Hunt and Wanetta W. Droper

2. Christian Non-Fiction
a. The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence
b. Prayer: Does it Make Any Difference? By Philip Yancey
c. Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, by Joanne Weaver
d. The Problem of Pain, by C.S. Lewis
e. The Four Loves, by C.S. Lewis
f. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe
g. For Women Only: What You Need to Know About the Inner Lives of Men, by Shaunti Feldhahn
h. Cure for the Common Life, by Max Lucado

3. Parenting/Homeschooling
a. Drawing with Children, by Brookes
b. Raising Life-Long Learners: a Parent’s Guide, by Lucy Calkins
c. The Organized Homeschooler, by Vicki Caruana
d. Character Matters: How to Help Out Children Develop Good Judgment, Integrity, and Other Essential Values, by Thomas Lickona
e. Dumbing Down Our Kids, by Charles Sykes
f. Raising Strong Daughters, by Jeanette Gadeberg
g. The Assault on Parenthood: How Our Culture Undermines the Family, by Dana Mack
h. 7 Things Kids Never Forget, and How to Make the Most of Them, by Ron Rose

4. Shakespeare I’ve Never Read
a. Love’s Labor's Lost
b. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
c. Richard III
d. Henry VIII
e. Titus Andronicus
f. The Merry Wives of Windsor
g. Much Ado About Nothing
h. King John

5. NC Authors
a. The Cat Who Ate Modern Danish, by Lilian Jackson Braun
b. Magic Street, by Orson Scott Card
c. Postmortem, by Patricia Cornwell
d. The Best Short Stories of O. Henry
e. On Agate Hill, by Lee Smith
f. Look Homeward, Angel, by Thomas Wolfe
g. Walking Across Egypt, by Clyde Edgerton
h. A Virtuous Woman, by Kaye Gibbons

6. War and Conflict
a. 1776, by David McCullough
b. The American Civil War, by Sir Winston Churchill
c. The Red Badge of Courage, by Steven Crane
d. Poetry of the World Wars, ed. By Michael Foss
e. Joan of Arc, by Sir Winston Churchill
f. The Black Arrow: a Tale of the Two Roses, by Robert Louis Stevenson
g. The Last Lion, Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-1940, by William Manchester
h. In Search of the Trojan War, by Michael Wood

7. Poetry
a. Lady of the Lake, by Sir Walter Scott
b. Collected Poems, 1922-1938, by e.e. cummings
c. Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson
d. Evangeline, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
e. Poetry of the World Wars, ed. By Michael Foss
f. In the Clearing, by Robert Frost
g. Collected Poems of Sterling A. Brown
h. Awake My Soul and Sing: Poems Inspired by Favorite Hymns, by Helen Steiner Rice

8. Books I Own and Have Never Read
a. Lady of the Lake, by Sir Walter Scott
b. The Problem of Pain, by C.S. Lewis
c. Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson
d. The Red Badge of Courage, by Steven Crane
e. Evangeline, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
f. An Autobiography of God, by Lloyd John Ogilvie
g. The Curse of Chalion, by Lois McMaster Bujold
h. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, by Victor Hugo

Mom has already said she wants to make her own list, which is great! If anyone else wants to try this, let me know -- we can compare lists!

My dancing angel

2007-12-21T13:35:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday Kathryn's dance studio had their Christmas recital. It is a bit smaller than the end-of-the-year performance (her class only did one number instead of the three they will do in June) and the costumes aren't elaborate. They are theoretically things that are already in their wardrobe. This year, though, they were supposed to wear all-white outfits. What mom gets her child an all-white leotard? They get dirty so fast, and Kathryn would normally opt for pink or purple or fancy anyway. In fact I couldn't find one at Wal-Mart or Target at all. So, my wonderful friend Allyson made three matching white leotards with skirts for her daughter, Kathryn, and another girl who they are good friends with. She made all three in about a day. I am in awe of her seamstress abilities! In return, I baked a double batch of cookie press cookies that she needed. I think I got the better end of the deal!

Tae Kwon Do

2007-12-05T14:08:00.001-05:00

These pictures are from right before Thanksgiving, but with our traveling I am just getting them up now. Better late than never!

Daniel has been in the Little Dragons class in Tae Kwon Do since August, and was in his first belt ceremony on November 15th. He got to trade in his original white belt for a new one, showing that he has attended class and learned all the enw material from the last three months.

Here is his old belt. Each month he earned a new black stripe.

Here are a few of the other Little Dragons. You know, I'm not sure why they use that name for this class. The kids ALWAYS reply, "I'm not little - I'm BIG!"

As part of the belt ceremony, each child got to break a board. Here, Daniel is practicing his strike before he tried it on the board. He broke it first try! :)

The lady giving Daniel his new belt is Ms. Needham, one of Daniel's instructors. She is great with the kids.

Daniel's certificate, showing that he earned his belt.

The new belt, complete with his "on guard" scary face. Priceless!

And just so she doesn't feel left out...

Living Room Revamp

2007-11-14T23:09:00.000-05:00

I didn't have my digital camera at the start of our living room/dining room project, so I can't show before and after shots. I can show you some nice after pictures, though! The furniture is not all back yet (obviously), and we will be getting an area rug for the living room, hopefully soon. Hopefully this will give you an idea of what our new rooms look like.

Here is our dining room, aka our school room. We do just about all of our writing and other seatwork right here, so this room got finished first. We still have to work on pictures for the walls, but I'm waiting until all the the furniture is in place in the living room before I try to decide what goes where.

Here is our living room, complete with one VERY spoiled dog.

Our entryway. Didn't Jason do a great job with the floor?

My Little Zoo Animals

2007-11-12T20:23:00.000-05:00

Kathryn and Daniel really enjoyed their trip to the zoo. Between the animals, the bug play area, the carousel, and our yummy picnic lunch, it was a great day. Field trips like this are the icing on the homeschool cake!

The carousel is fairly new, and it has plenty of exotic zoo animals to ride. Kathryn chose this zebra, and Daniel rode on a dolphin next to her.

Kathryn likes to pretend she's a spider.

This is safer than riding the real thing...

Daniel enjoyed being a spider on the climbing ropes. He can get all the way to the top easily these days.

A bumblebee makes a great seat.

The rhinos have been off exhibit while they have been renovating and expanding their habitat. It doesn't officially open until next spring, but we got a sneak preview this visit. Only two of the rhinos were there, but there will be 8-9 when the habitat is complete, including some young rhinos. In the meantime, we got to enjoy the rhino statue.

Zoo trip

2007-11-11T15:04:00.000-05:00

I love our zoo! We manage to get there a few times each year, and I love seeing the beauty of the zoo and the diversity of the animals there. Friday it was on the cool side (low 50's all day), and it was a perfect day to enjoy fall outside. The leaves were turing and were much more colorful than at our house. They do such a nice job keeping up the grounds at the zoo, it feels almost more like a walk in the woods than a managed facility.

Anyway, on to the pictures! I think I've figured out how to get pictures on this blog, so here are a few of my favorite animal shots:

The elephants have been off exhibit for almost two years, so it was a real treat to see them up close again!

This grizzly bear decided it was time to cool off in his pool, despite the cool weather.

Up and running!

2007-11-10T20:10:00.000-05:00

I've finally taken the plunge -- I'm starting a blog! There are several blogs I read daily (or at least as often as they post new entries), and I always thought I might try my hand at one. There were only two small problems that I could see:

1) I didn't have a digital camera. Yes, this is a pretty sorry excuse, but if I ever did this, I would want it to be a place to keep family up-to-date with how the kids were growing, so as long as I didn't have a digital camera I didn't have a good way to get my pictures onto the computer. Well, Jason got me a camera for my birthday! I now have a camera that can fit in my pocket (that's a change from my last one!) and can get my pictures quickly and easily onto my brand-spanking-new blog. Of course, I haven't tried it yet, but the directions look easy. I mean, how hard could it be, right? Right?

2) How on earth will I find neat and clever things to write about on a regular basis? That problem's still there, but I guess whoever reads this will just have to live with it.

Yesterday was a fabulous day for a trip to the NC Zoo. We had a blast! It was really busy (apparently a lot of school groups thought the same thing we did), but it was great nonetheless. I'll try to upload some pictures in the next few days.