Discovery Lab

 Today we made our first visit to the Tulsa Children's Museum's Discovery Lab.  We've been to the temporary exhibits before, but this summer they opened this new building.  We decided to wait until the public schools were back in session so we wouldn't have to fight the crowds!

 They have two large rooms full of fun stuff!

 That thing going all around the room?  It's a tunnel made entirely of packing tape.

 It ends in a huge slide.

 And of course, the slide is much more fun if you go down in a pile with your friends.

 In the Make Shop, both of the kids made bags from old t-shirts.

 This kind of thing is right up Alice's alley!

 Jack really enjoyed working with the circuits.

 The house the boys built.

 Alice's house.

 I'm so glad Rachel had the idea to have the kids do this on the way out, because it's one of my favorite pictures from the day!

 There is also a splash pad right next to the museum so we spent a bit of time there, too.

It was over 100 degrees and we were stuck in traffic for over an hour on the way home, but we had a terrific day!

Back to School!

 Today was our first day of school!  I'm not sure why the kids look so traumatized here, but rest assured, it did go well.

 Our traditional first day picture!

 We had to take Alice in for an eye appointment this morning--more on this to come!

 We also got to meet up with our favorite lunch date!

When we got back home, Alice worked on her collage and some math and Jack did history, math, science, geography, and spelling!  We had a busy but great first day!

Happy Birthday, Jay!

 Today was Jay's birthday!

 Jack got Jay this book and couldn't wait to give it to him, so he started getting presents last week.

 Alice got him a frame so he can have some of her artwork on his desk at work.

 I got him earmuffs for when he mows the lawn.

 In addition to helping make the carrot cake, Alice made Jay a "rosemary cake"--heavy on the rosemary.

My favorite part of the day was getting to pop in this VHS tape of his fifth grade play, where he played Tom Sawyer.  Several friends also made appearances, so it was a lot of fun to see!

Happy birthday, Jay!  We love you so much!

Jim Murphy

 Each August I go to the presentation of the Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature.  In the past we've gotten to see authors like Kate DiCamillo, Avi, and Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.  This year the award went to Jim Murphy.

 In the spring I saw an announcement that teachers could request books for their students, so I sent in a request for one book.  A month or so later, I got an email that my books were in and when I went to the library there was one box of books waiting for me.  I passed them out to people in our homeschool group and friends.  It was great to get to participate in that part of the program!

 This year they had some Civil War reenactors there to share while we waited in the book signing line.

Mr. Murphy was a great storyteller and took the time to chat with everyone in line.  It was a great evening!

Not Back to School 2013

 I've posted before about how we try to do something special on the day the public school kids go back to class.  This year we ended up taking a little trip to Oklahoma City.  We left yesterday morning.

 Our first stop was the Science Museum.  It wasn't very busy at all since all the area schools are back in session.

 Jack was excited to see the giant chessboard.

 Alice twirled herself almost the entire time Jack was playing chess!

 Later we met friends at the Children's Garden and Thunder Fountain.

 Jay came down at dinner time and surprised the kids.

 I was glad he got to see Alice do this!  A week ago she just started swimming--no lessons, no instruction of any sort.  I thought she was walking around on her hands in the pool and then I realized she was swimming around.  She is like a fish now!

 Jack loved this water explosion thing.

 I love this picture.  And this boy.

 Our room had a view of the baseball field, but thankfully there wasn't a game.  I think it would have felt like I was trying to sleep in oncoming traffic with those huge lights!

 Jay left this morning before 6:00 and the kids and I spent a couple more hours in the pool.  I made sure to tell them at 9:00 to be glad they didn't have to go back to school today!

 We spent the afternoon at the zoo.  We tried out the new Stingray Bay exhibit.

 Alice wasn't really in to touching the animals, but she loved watching the sea lions.

We had a great trip, but we were hot and tired and ready to come home this evening!