Awesome Australia

 Yesterday morning we left bright and early for a homeschool zoo class in Oklahoma City.

 All of the class pictures are from Alice's class since that was the one I went to.  They had classes for Pre-K through 6th grades, all about Australia.

 In Alice's class they talked about the ocean and Alice got to be the model for what you would need to swim in the ocean.

 She thought it was so fun!

 After class we spent some time at the zoo.

 Somehow we had never done the Explorikeet Adventure, so we tried it!

 This one took the lid off my nectar container all by himself!

 

 Alice wasn't completely sure what to think.

 Jack loved it!

 Since it was supposed to be warm, I had packed a picnic lunch, but it was so chilly we ate in the car!

 Thankfully it warmed up later in the afternoon!

 We met friends at the park and played quite a while.  The we checked into the hotel and swam.  The kids were super excited because Jay came, too!

 After swimming, I went to get dinner and when I came back, Alice had already passed out!

 Jack ate his taco in bed.

This morning we checked out and continued out fun--to be continued in another post soon!  Alice got this little baby doll backpack with wheels this week at a consignment sale and I think it might be the best $5 she's ever spent.  She loved wheeling her baby (named Angela) around!

Winter's Last Hurrah (Hopefully)

 Late Saturday night the sleet started.  It kept on most of Sunday and it.was.cold.

 The kids ventured outside for all of about five minutes.

 The ice was just like sno cone ice!  Jack added some flavoring and had a snack!

 Sunday night the snow came in!

Schools have been out Monday and Tuesday so today we had lunch out with cousins.

 

 

I'll miss these winter sunsets, but I am so ready for spring!

Pancake Day!

Today is Pancake Day at IHOP!  You can also find some fun pancake stuff over at MetroFamily!

The Jokers

 You might remember this suit Jay got for Jack as a joke at Christmas.  I never got around to returning it and it has been in the hall closet ever since.  In the mean time, Jack has been asking to watch The Simpsons, and Jay jokingly told him he could if he would wear the suit.

 Last night after dinner he came out dressed like this.

 He was shocked when Jay said he would follow through and let him watch an episode.

Alice decided she would get dressed up (which is completely normal for her) and join them!

Artist Study: Botticelli

 In February we learned about Botticelli.

 Even though he's a really famous artist, there's not a lot on him out there for kids.  We did use our tried and true biography, of course!

 If you couldn't tell by all the sticky notes, we use this one a lot, too!

 

 There is lots of information for each painting in the book.

 I also checked out several art books from the library.

 Discovering Great Artists also had an activity for Botticelli.

 

 Jack with his own art in the round!

We can't see any real Botticellis nearby, but last week we visited our local museum and found some pieces from the same time that were similar.

 We also found some modern round art!

 I turned around and saw Alice looking at this painting and thought it was a very nice image.  When I asked her what she thought about it she said, "I like how this baby is naked except for that little bit of plastic wrap around his waist.  That's nice!"

Next up is Renoir!

Pioneer Kids

 Today we went to a Laura Ingalls Wilder event at one of our local libraries.  They do this each year, but the last time we went was four years ago.

The dress she wore is the one my mom made for me when I was her age.  According to the date on this picture, it was about two months before I turned 5 and Alice will be 5 in three months!

 They listened to some stories and a lady from the historical society brought some things for them to pass around.

 While they listened, they passed the jar to make butter.

 And they had some yummy gingerbread again!

 The kids got to make buttons based on the stamp for Little House on the Prairie.

 They also made paper dolls, which Jack made sporting authentic pioneer tie-dye.

 Alice with her doll!

Afterward we stopped by McDonald's for some ice cream and playing and I laughed every time I looked up and saw a pioneer girl in the climber!

If you have boys that don't want to read a girly book like the Little House books, check out Little Britches, which is the true story of a boy and his family who move to Colorado in the early 1900s to start a ranch.  This is such a good book!  (Bold and italics, people!)  There is some language and graphic stuff like animals dying and I have a sinking feeling the ending is going to be terribly sad based on the chapter titles, but it is just.so.good.  It's actually the first in a series and I've already ordered books two and three we have enjoyed the first one so much!

Oklahoma's First Capital

 This morning we set out early for Guthrie, the first capital of Oklahoma.

 Our first stop was the Oklahoma Territorial Museum and Carnegie Library.

 We've been reading about the land runs and how Oklahoma became a state, so this was a great place to visit!

 They had dress up clothes for the kids, too!

 I was interested to read this in one of the exhibits because we were just talking about how Mary is always wearing purple in this season of Downton Abbey.

After lunch, we went to the Oklahoma Frontier Drugstore Museum.

 There were all kinds of weird things there.  Who would even buy this?!

 And this?  This is just bizarre.  How did this man-baby get malaria?

 This pencil sharpener held your razor blade still for you so it could hack off pieces of wood.  I'm pretty sure I would have lost a few digits using something like that.

 Jack got to learn how to be a soda jerk!

 Next we took a historical trolley tour.

 Alice loves to watch Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, so she was really excited about this!

 Our last stop in town was the Oklahoma Sports Museum.

 We took a different route home and met a friend for dinner at Joseppi's!

Today's mileage was 267.5, which brings our total for the year to 554.4.  That number is about to explode in the next couple of months!