Let the Florida Adventure Begin

Our trip started with a big hiccup. The van was packed, we were ready to pull it out of the garage so we could park Derek's car. Then...... it didn't start. It clicked, the radio played, the air blew but the engine wouldn't start.


Grrrrrrrr.  Well, everyone out of the van and go play in the back yard. Derek went and chatted with our neighbor. They figured out it was the battery. So out came the van battery and off to get a new one. Amazingly it was only 45 mins later and we were on the road, leaving the Grove about 12:15.


Driving went wonderful. Derek drove two 4 hour stretches. Then, I drove a 5 hour stretch. After that they got shorter but we had breakfast on the south side of Atlanta, GA. The boys did great in the car. They read books, drew pictures, played bingo, played with their pencil box of toys and watched one move. All three slept decently through the night. We stopped to swim and get a good nights sleep in Lake City, FL.  

With about 3 hours to go to get to Orlando, we want to find something simple but fun to do. So, I tried to find some place we could go see alligators and the natural habitat of Florida. The boys were impressed when we stopped for the night that the Palm trees were real. Superhero Matthew gave me some flying lessons around the Palm trees of our hotel. 

 I found a hiking trail in Gainesville, FL that was about a mile long and is home to alligators - well when Florida is not in the middle of a drought. We still had fun hiking the trail and seeing where the alligators would be if there had been water in the creek. The boys though the moss from the trees was great and the leaves from one of the trees felt like thick construction paper.  

Overall, the drive to Florida went great. I was thankful for an easy second day and two good nights of sleep before we hit the parks.

Tim Hawkins Comedy Show: Des Moines, Iowa

The last weekend of March, we went to Knoxville, Iowa to visit the Faust's and to have a great double date. The four adults hired a baby sitter for the six kids and headed to Des Moines to the Tim Hawkins comedy show. I think that was the quickest 90 minutes any of have had in a long time. We laughed hard, as he so accurately described each of us in different sketches. 

The kids had a blast playing in the back yard. Sticks and dandelions are endless fun, for boys and girls.

Sunday after church, we headed to the amazing castle playground. Derek and I had fun snapping pictures of all the kids while they ran from us. Eventually we were able to catch everyone's faces.

Derek had fun entertaining the kids. Showing Caroline and Matthew how to make duck calls with a blade of grass. Then being the bottom of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

We ended Sunday with a round of baths or showers for all the kids. While waiting for others to be done, Derek entertained the kids with singing. 

It was a great weekend in Iowa, but we were happy to also be celebrating the Faust's moving back to Minnesota. 

Wordless Wednesday

Cooking Breakfast Over the Fire

Saturday morning was a beautiful time to sit around the fire. Derek decided we would enjoy breakfast outside. He cooked the bacon and mixed up the bannock. The boys found sticks and were ready to cook their bannock. 

After much patience and fighting of smoke, the bannock was done. While it cooled the boys enjoyed a few pieces of bacon, then devoured their bannock.

It was fun to watch the boys learning how to cook over a fire, a favorite past time of their Dad.

Magic Tree House: Passport to Adventure Tour

Micah and Matthew both love to read the Magic Tree House Books. They are great books to get kids reading chapter books and to learn about many different places of the world and different times in history.

Time for a Magic Tree House Adventure!

The boys are ready to go. In amazement at the huge bus. Especially that Jack is riding the Pteranodon from the book Dinosaur Before Dark, which he had started reading in the morning. 

Enthralled! Matthew sat, watched and laughed as Jack and Annie sang and shared. Micah was actively engaged in all that he could. Clapping and yelling. Both boys are becoming Magic Tree House Reading Ambassadors.

New Reading Ambassadors meeting Jack and Annie. All the books we had with us are stamped by Jack and Annie. Matthew is now more excited, if that is possible, to read all the Magic Tree House books. Micah is ready to see if he can find any that he hasn't read.

Slowly goes the Sloth

Continuing on in our study of the rain forest.  We spent a day learning about the slow moving sloth. 


How slow does a sloth move?  Well much slower then the boys do. We read that it can take a sloth up to one hour to move 15 feet. To give the boys a visual, I taped off 15 feet and asked them to walk it as slowly as they could. Bryce managed to last about 60 seconds, Derek had to work really hard to last 2 mins. 

Slow, Slow, Slowly goes the sloth but not the boys.

Then we spent time making Sloth Notebook pages. All the boys drew and colored their own sloth. Next, they wrote about what we had read. I am amazed at how different the details can be and how well they are able to draw when drawing from an example. 

South America

Earlier this year, I realized that geography was not happening during our school day. The boys were learning about many different cultures through out our studies but not where these cultures were in the world. They had an idea of what a continent and country were but struggled with the difference between the two. I knew it was time for a change. So, as I re-worked our schedule after Christmas, I decided to start Bryce and Micah in A Trail Guide to World Geography. This went wonderful. The boys loved being able to label maps and quickly were picking up different geography terms and learning how to read maps. Then, Matthew started wanting more school and wanted to participate with his brothers. 


The answer combining A Trail Guide to World Geography and Galloping the Globe. Bryce and Micah were about to start learning about South America. This lead me to starting a huge cooperative art project. Creating a rain forest in our front hall way.


To start off, we read a few different books and discussed the various levels of the rain forest. It was decided that Matthew would paint the river. Bryce would work on the forest floor and the under-story. Micah would work on the canopy and then help with the under-story.  A morning spent painting the rain forest in the kitchen was enjoyed by all. The boys worked hard and were anxious to start creating the animals that live in the forest. 

In the following weeks, we will study the culture and countries of South America. Each week, we will read about and create animals to add to our rain forest.