Egypt Box Wrap-up

We recently wrapped up our fun with our Summer Adventure Box. The last big thing was this Playmobil sphinx. Over the summer we opened several related figures and the kids have had fun with this.

Our local museum has great art classes for kids--they are two hours long and are only $5! During one class, they learned about heiroglyphics and made wall hangings. Jack loves Model Magic, so he really enjoyed this one.

He also took a class where they made their own Egyptian treasure chests.

And remember the treasure we were having so much trouble excavating? I finally gave up and poured water on it until we got it out. This little sphinx is about the size of a game mover. Probably not something we'll try again soon, but kind of fun anyway.

We had a good time learning about ancient Egypt this summer!

Nature Study: Creeks

Today was our first nature study group for the new year. We met at a local nature park to observe the creek.

Alice did a pretty good job of keeping up, but I still had to carry her quite a bit--sometimes because she was tired and sometimes because I was afraid she would get a little too close to the nature.

Jack at the creek--Can you spot the two frogs in the picture? We also saw lots of tadpoles swimming around.

Frog 1

Frog 2

We had a great time and we're looking forward to more outings--especially once the weather is cooler!

15 Months

Alice turned 15 months old yesterday. Some days she hardly looks like a baby to me anymore!

She already has her eye on my pearls. She carried my bracelet around yesterday and bawled when I put it on. Jack found her pink bracelet for her and that calmed her down a little, but the pearls caught her eye a few times through the afternoon.

She is sure that she is just as big as everyone else. She can hardly stand it if someone else is on the computer without her. (Yes, FIAR ladies, she's looking at the boards there.)

My computer time is limited now, though, because she won't stop climbing, and every time I sit down, she wants to see, too. She took a header off the bar stool last week and got a big knot on her forehead. It stopped her for about two minutes.

She is quite independent and into everything. She tried to take over Jack's chess game for him.

She's only independent if I don't go too far. If she thinks I'm too far, she comes running.

And she still likes her nose.

We love you, Alice!

A Few From the New Camera

Last month, I thought my camera was a goner. We ordered a new one, so I let Alice play around with the old one. She dropped it and brought it back to life! I finally got a memory card for the new camera last week and am going to start trying out some of the features when I can. Tonight I used the low light feature to take some pictures of our hummingbird feeder. These were all taken through the window, but I think they still look pretty crisp.

This female kept coming back, but she was easily scared away. I was impressed that Jack remembered right away that the females don't have red throats.

I think I'm going to be pretty happy with this camera. Some day I would like to get a fancy one, but right now almost all of the pictures I take are when we're out and about, and I really don't have the time to learn how to use a fancier one, and I really don't want to worry about it falling into the wrong hands. Yes, I'm talking about Alice's!

Happy Birthday, Granny!

Friday was my grandma's 80th birthday.

We went to the park and had lunch.

Today we had a big birthday party. The other lady dressed like her is her twin sister. (The band leader, who is one of their brothers, is also a twin. No, I am not ever planning on testing my luck with a third pregnancy.) Jack thought the dancing was great.

My grandma eventually moved on to other partners. I just wish Jack could have enjoyed himself a little instead of being such a wallflower.

He and his cousin went a few rounds on the dance floor a little later. We're thinking maybe we need to hire the band for his next birthday.

A sign like this on the thermostat isn't too unusual, right?

But isn't it a little strange for it to be up so high? Jay is 6'1'' and I don't think he could have reached it. (How about that beard? This is the first time he's been able to grow one since 2002!)

It was a great party for a couple of great ladies!

My New Favorite Picture

There's nothing else to say about it!

The Oklahoma Aquarium

Yesterday we wrapped up our ocean study with a trip to the aquarium. Jack had only been once before and he had just turned three, so he really had no memory of it. When he walked into the main hall, he turned around and gave me this look.

Jack really enjoyed the different touch tanks. Here he is touching a horseshoe crab.

He also tried feeding the shrimp.

We spotted some real live moonjellies!

Jack was excited to find some alligator snapping turtles. He loves the one at the Oklahoma City Zoo.

Alice finally woke up around the time we were ready to go into the ocean room.

The shark and stingray touch tank was fun, too. One of the stingrays loved to have people pet him and would flop up out of the water.

Alice wouldn't put her hand in the water, but she liked looking at the babies in the nursery. She even used one finger like you were supposed to do in the touch tank.

Feeding some shrimp to the stingrays. I thought it was a little weird that you could feed food to the shrimp, but further down the hall, the shrimp became the food!

I think this was a shark egg. Alice would not touch it, but she liked looking at it.

Shark teeth!

We had a great time!