Field Trip!

My sweet husband took a day off of work yesterday because he knew that I needed a day of fun. We decided to take the kids to the Rochester Museum of Science for the day. We picked it because we knew we could get in free with our MOST pass, and Strong's (the other great kids museum in Rochester) would have cost us almost $50.

I have to say, that this was the most productive, fun field trip/museum outing we have ever done. Jacob is finally getting old enough to want to learn about the exhibits instead of just running around like a wild man. And Gabriel, being more studious by nature, took an interest in some things as well. Cadence didn't really learn much, but she is happy doing whatever her brothers are doing.

The first lesson of the morning took place at the giant sand and water table. We talked about erosion, and then Jacob got to see it in action as we built a path for our river and watched the water flow through it.

That kid the long blond hair next to Jacob is a boy. I made him cry. Todd told me I was a bad person.

We learned about the Mastodon fossils that were uncovered right in the Rochester area. The boys were especially fascinated by all the fossil exhibits.

On the second floor we explored "Flight to Freedom: Rochester's Underground Railroad". I took the kids through the story of the young slave girl, Imani. They got to imagine being chained up, hiding in the roots of a giant tree, rowing a boat, and hiding in a wood shed. They were anxious to hear what would happen to Imani next.

The thing that amazed me most about our trip was that even though we were there until 2:00, not one of the kids ever uttered the words "I'm hungry"! Usually the chorus of "I'm hungry"s starts around 10:30 at home. They were so engrossed in everything the museum had to offer, they didn't even notice the time. It was a great field trip.

The Polar Bear Paper

First, thanks for voting! Hook #1 was the clear winner both here and on the message board frequent. The report is finished, and since we are basically "sabbathing" (I think I just made up a word) today, I have time to post it to the blog.

I will correct the few spelling errors that he didn't fix, but other than that - here is Jacob's polar bear report.

Most people think polar bears are white but they aren't. Their fur is hollow and when the sun reflects it makes them look white.

Most of the time they live on the ice. When they catch a seal, They find a seal's house (or hole) and wait for the seal to come up and the polar bear springs on the seal before it can escape. They do not always eat seals. Sometimes they will eat dead whales, geese, grass and fallen berries.

They will make dens on the ice and get ready to have babies. They are mammals so that means they have babies from their tummies.

Polar bears are strong. They can swim 60 miles without rest but polar bears have been seen 100 away from shore. Sometimes they even swim under water. They also can run up to 30-35 miles per hour. They love to play with one another.

Polar bears are becoming endangered. Man humans go and kill polar bears for their skin. Scientist have been trying to save polar bears for a long time.

So, there you have it. The writing process was a little painful at times because Jacob hates writing. But in the end I think that he enjoyed it - he certainly learned a lot. And there has been significant progress in his writing style over the course of this project.

Now I think I'll go play XBox...

The Incredible Shrinking Woman

This past weekend, my sister and her family came to town! We went to the place they were staying for dinner Friday night. The family they were staying with has 11 kids! Only 5 still live at home, but most of the married ones live near by, so all of them (and all of their little kids) came over, too. My kids were excited to have so many playmates for the night.

As we were walking in the door, Jacob looked at my 15 year old niece, Nicole, and said, "Nicole, have you been shrinking? It looks like you shrunk." He was very serious, perhaps bordering on concerned. His big cousin was looking pretty small. Now, mind you, it has only been a month since we saw them.

We told Jacob that his cousin wasn't shrinking and he, in fact, was growing. He kept looking at her saying "But it really looks like you got smaller, Nicole. Are you sure didn't shrink?"

Our hostess, who has 9 boys, shook her head and said "That sounds like something a boy would say..."

I do have to admit, when I saw Jacob standing next to Nicole it did look like she shrunk! He is getting awfully close to her. The more I thought about this, the less I liked it. You see, two years ago my Nicole got taller than me. She celebrated by buying me a shirt that said "shorty"! Yesterday I measured. He is only around 4' 7", and come in around 5'2". I think I should have at least one more year of being taller than my firstborn.

Happy Birthday, Gabriel

Yesterday, Gabriel turned 5! He helped me bake some snowball surprise cookies for after his birthday dinner. We will be having cake at his party at the MOST next weekend. My parents came over for dinner and presents, and Gabriel was the life of the party.

Every time he opened a gift, he stopped and smiled this big silly smile at the camera.

The other day when I went on a "date" with Gabe, I was thinking about what a unique kid he is. I composed a little bio about him in my head...

Gabriel enjoys playing chess, listening to jazz, and reading. His goals including becoming president and racing for NASCAR. He sometimes dances around the house with underwear on his head.

On the one hand, it is hard to believe that 5 years have passed. On the other, sometimes I forget that he is only 5. He is truly a joy and we are so blessed to have him as our son.

2nd Place

Last weekend, Jacob competed in AWANA Bible quizzing. This was his second year quizzing, and it something that he really enjoys. Him and his partner competed against 9 or 10 other teams from area churches. They started studying before Christmas, and Jacob missed many Giants games for quiz practice.

Last year, our AWANA club took first place in every bracket. They did really well this year, but I think that there was a little disappointment that they didn't sweep like last year. Jacob and his partner tied for first place with another team. According to the rules, a tie is broken by giving 5 extra points to the team who scored highest on the written portion of the quizzing (each kid takes their own written quiz and the team's score is a combination of all written/oral quizzing). Unfortunately, Jake's team did better on the oral stuff :(

So his team took second place. That was especially disheartening as our club took second on a tie breaker two or three times this year! I really don't like that rule, but I guess there isn't a much better way to settle a tie. And as I pointed out to Jacob, that rule would have been just fine if he had gotten the first place medal. And I am still really proud of him. It was exciting to watch all his hard work pay off!