School Week Highlights: Week 4

What a week for non-book learning!!

1. First Daughter was up and building early one morning with her K'nex sets (Marbles and Wildflowers plans). Apparently she wanted proof she had completed them because she took some pictures on my camera.

2. We went to children's adoration.

3. Second Son had his very first soccer practice! He forgot his glasses but managed pretty well.

4. Kansas Dad had a conference in St. Louis last week. A few days before he went, we decided to take the whole family. (Pure craziness!) So we drove to St. Louis on Wednesday. Usually Kansas Dad prefers to drive, but he downloaded a bunch of papers and midterms to grade and I drove. I missed our exit off the turnpike so we went a longer route and almost missed our exit in Kansas City, but we made it!

5. My parents came down from their home in Illinois to spend less than two full days with us. That was really a treat for our kids - a hotel and grandparents!!

6. On Thursday, my dad drove us all to Illinois to visit the Cahokia Mounts State Historic Site. My brother-in-law (who has a PhD in early American history) recommended it for learning about pre-Columbian Native American culture and people. The interpretive center there is exceptionally well-done. They have recreations of Cahokia homes in a little village you can wander through, to Second Daughter's especial enjoyment.

7. We climbed Monks Mound, the highest one, and admired the arduousness of digging the soil, carrying it up steps, and layering it carefully to build the mound. It was hot and I forgot the water, so the kids were not too happy even once we reached the top. But they survived.

It's hard to tell, but the Arch is in the background. We debated going up in it, but decided to wait until the museum at the base reopens.

8. The kids swam in the hotel pool for about two hours. Hotel pools are magical places to them. This one was shallow enough I didn't have to get in to make sure Second Son didn't drown. Dad and I sat under the umbrella and talked. Kansas Dad got back from his conference early enough to join them, which they loved.

9. We played games with my parents in the evenings and didn't always have the TV on. (There were three televisions in our suite. How crazy is that?)

10. On Friday, we only had a few hours in the morning before Kansas Dad's conference ended. My dad drove us to the St. Louis Science Center. It was easy to drive there and park and our local science museum membership gave us free parking (avoiding the $10 fee, though the museum itself is always free). We couldn't see a planetarium show as it was closed for cleaning, but the rest of the museum was entertainment enough. The kids spent a long time building sails and testing them at one of the better types of "build and test" exhibits I've seen. The materials are durable so they weren't all broken and the test is quick and easy to adjust. All the kids redesigned their sails for great improvement in the time we were there.

They also had kiosks for programming Mars rovers, a bridge that crossed over a six lane highway with radar guns (and lots of neat bridge building and engineering activities), a flight simulator on which all the kids were able successfully land their planes, exhibits on water for Second Son's Rivers and Oceans, and exhibits on mountains and earthquakes that matched Second Daughter's studies.

We usually skip driving through St. Louis between Kansas and my parents in Illinois, but it would be very easy to get off the road, visit this museum for a few hours, then hope back in the van to drive the rest of the way and it would certainly be worth it.

11. We drove home on Friday after Kansas Dad's conference (which also went well). It was a long drive with multiple traffic snarls around accidents and, again, I drove quite a bit including around Kansas City with the sun in my eyes. We got home really late but stopping wasn't an option because...

12. Second Son had his very first soccer game! They were adorable on the field. (I remember when I though the U8 kids were so big when First Son played but now the 8U kids seem so tiny with my youngest on the field!)

Second Son is in orange.

1t3. And...First Son, First Daughter, and Kansas Dad went to a taekwondo tournament. First Daughter received firsts in her form and her sparring. Kansas Dad also won first for sparring. First Son received silver but only after the judges had to decide because he and his opponent were evenly matched even in the sudden death round.

14. Then Kansas Dad and I made it to a fundraising dinner for his university, a lovely dinner outside with some of our favorite people at our table.

We also celebrated First Daughter's birthday, but that will be another post...in about four months at the rate I'm going.

2016 Grand Adventure, Days 21-23: Vancouver, British Columbia

You can find links to any other 2016 Grand Adventure posts at the "home page." 

Day 21: Finally, we set off for another country! Our main goal, the farthest point of our journey, was always Vancouver. Kansas Dad had always wanted to visit it and we thought it would be exciting for the children to visit another country. Kansas is just about as far from the borders of the United States as you can get.

On our way from the Washington state park to Canada, we took a ferry, driving the van right onto it. Of course the children had never done such a thing before and were thrilled with our little ride. We hopped out of the van and ate our lunch on board.

A quick picture on the deck before heading back to the van.

We still had a few hours' drive after the ferry to get to Vancouver, but arrived in time to unpack in our apartment (so much better than a traditional hotel!) and visit a grocery store to buy supplies for the next few days.

Total driving for day 21 - 232 miles (not including the ferry ride).

Day 22: On our first full day, we went to the Vancouver Aquarium (tickets provided by the ever-fabulous Grammy) and spent the entire day there. We packed a lunch and wandered around, visiting the favorite sites multiple times. I think Second Daughter spent over an hour with her hand in the ray pool.

The mammal on the left is a false killer whale, which is so unusual, the keeper had to Google it when they rescued him. First Daughter particularly liked this show and watched it two or three times during the day.

First Daughter took this amazing picture of the jellyfish tank.

She also made a video of the electric eel. It's difficult to see the eel, but you can certainly see the lights he's powering.

We finished our day with our only meal out in Vancouver - Legendary Noodles. The food was terrific. The server was gracious and kind to our whole family. The kids were entranced with the woman right behind us who made all the noodles right in front of their eyes.

Total driving for day 22 - 0 miles!!

Day 23: On the second full day, we visited a local Chinese Garden. It was a lovely oasis in the midst of the city and they had wonderful tea available for guests.

We were there when they fed the fish. One of the employees (or perhaps volunteers), rang a gong under the water to call them to the meal.

Then we visited the Science museum, because it was close by and free with our local science museum membership. The kids enjoyed it tremendously.

a view of the harbor

We went to bed early after packing everything and loading as much as we could at the end of our second full day because the following day was the Day of Driving.

Total driving for day 23 - about 5 miles. (Don't worry; we more than make up for the lack on the next day.)