TRYING OUT A NEW PARK

Peter had heard that there was a park with some trails that we hadn't been to and took us to try it out last week. We walked on a trail one particularly nice evening after dinner. Below, the boys are looking at a reservoir that we found along the walk. Posing with their matching red stripes.
A suspended log must be walked on.

The truth is that Peter was the first to try that out.

I thought this was a funny look for William.

A bench at the end.

Oh, and we can't forget to add Cecily.

LAST SUNDAY

I had fun dressing up the girls last week and took a couple of pictures to keep. This Sabbath seems like a good day to share them.

Amelia is going through Cecily's socks and...

trying them on!

A COUPLE OF PICS FOR SATURDAY

This is just a picture that I particularly liked of Cecily. I like her little hand resting on her leg. Amelia had a desire to hand out a bunch of kisses the other day. The boys were happy to receive them. :-) You know...on noses, eyes, foreheads, or wherever they landed.

DAILY PICTURES FOR GRAMMY

I was sad to hear about some disappointment over my slow posting! I really must keep Grammy content with grandchildren pictures! :-) I hope that my mom will not mind me mentioning that she has been off of her feet recovering from surgery for several weeks. She has had some blood clotting problems that have been a real setback to her recovery. If you would pray for her improvement and mental encouragement, I would greatly appreciate it. It's hard that I can't be with her right now. In lieu of bringing some kids to see you and getting to take care of you myself, I'll have to do the best I can with posting new pictures for you each day, Mom.

I pulled out a bunch of individual shots of the kids today. After I was done posting them, I realized there wasn't one of Benny. So, this one below is a sneak preview of our ice skating trip we took yesterday, so I could include him too. Magnetism is awe-inspiring.
Scrambled eggs.
My sweetest 9 year old. :-)

Classifying sentences, labeling parts of speech.

Just waking up from a nap. That's the smile that greets me. :-) :-)

We need a longer couch perhaps. Storytime is pretty crowded.

I just enjoyed how Millie's feet were crossed.

I think this look on her face is pretty funny.

Oh! Cal snuck in!

The kids have been asking me a lot lately to take pictures themselves. Ben took this one of Calvin with his knights. Not bad. (By the way, that's his new dresser).

Have a great day, Mom and all!

SIMULATED BLUBBER

We have been studying Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day for science this year. We did a chapter about seals and sea cows in which we learned why seals, walruses, whales and others have layers of blubber under their skin. It's insulation. Many of them live in polar regions. They can swim about comfortably in water that is below freezing temperatures. So, we did an experiment at the end of the chapter to give the kids a better idea of how well blubber works. What you see below is each child with two latex gloves on each hand, the right one with gloves only and the left one with a 1 inch thick layer of vaseline in between the gloves (simulated blubber). We filled a bowl full of water and lots of ice. Good and cold. Then they each stuck in their hand that only had gloves. We watched the clock to see how long they could keep it in before it became too uncomfortable. The one who held it there the longest only lasted around 60 seconds.
Next, we tried the other hand. We discovered that they could keep their hand that had the layer of vaseline on it in the water indefinitely. It was such good insulation we finally had to just decide we were ready to clean up this experiment and be done. I think we waited about 7 minutes before quitting.
Doesn't that look like fun?
I think they were a little surprised that I had been willing to get so messy with that oozy vaseline. When I reached my hand in the container, removing huge globs and applying it all over their hands, their eyes got pretty wide. They were thrilled to get to do something "hands on." Also, in the end, I think it actually did make an impression on them about how WELL blubber works. It's amazing.
Science for the glory of God. He thinks of everything!

70 DEGREES AND CROCUSES

I guess everyone is about the same way. Most regions have probably had a burst of warm weather and are starting to see their first flowers appear. Millie is happy to pose with our pretty first flowers.
Alright, I couldn't help but post two. They both had such nice smiles.

The little ones and I went and tried out that swingset that's been neglected in the cold months!

Those knees are so knobby I can't help but comment...

Ben has finally learned to pump his legs to get himself going on the swing. He was feeling pretty proud of himself.

The first warm day is always the most enjoyed!!!

Welcome Spring!!!

A VISIT TO THE FIRE STATION

We went to visit a local fire station last week. It was actually the special activity that we picked out for Calvin's birthday but it doubled as a homeschool field trip and we invited the Oldlands to come along.

This is Benjamin with William Oldland. These two are the same age and have the exact same birthday. Here is Jocelyn with her girls and baby Jonathan.
Sam and Will. A fireman put on a video for the kids to watch before their tour.

Samuel Oldland and Calvin.

The fireman who was going to give our tour got called out on a fire call and so I think this is the Captain instead. Here he is showing us the kitchen. This firehouse has paid firefighters who have 24 hour shifts. They are paid to be there and wait for calls. The Captain told us that they use the kitchen quite a bit. While they're there they often have a lot of time to cook up good meals.

Here the kids are walking through the sleeping quarters or bedroom of the firemen.

Out in the garage, seeing and hearing about a truck.

Looking it over.

This is the pumping mechanism. It runs on the same engine as the truck. The truck stores 750 gallons of water. That's enough to pump water for about 5 minutes before the truck would have to hook up to a hydrant.

The hose coiled up below the pumping mechanism.

Talking about the ladders.

The Captain showed us all of the storage compartments and explained the equipment that was stored there and how it was used. There's an amazing amount of hose stored on these things!

More storage and baby Jonathan. :-)

This is full of nozzle fittings, Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus, flotation devices and other things.

I didn't realize that firemen carry many tarps to cover people's property in an effort to protect it during the spraying necessary to fight a fire.

Calvin is in the front row. He is intently viewing all of these interesting things! We knew he would be the one to especially enjoy this trip.

The firefighter who went out on a call returned and we were able to go over and take a look at the truck he brought back.

I asked the Captain about the fireman's uniforms and he showed me that the man on duty keeps his boots and pants stored right on the truck, as I photographed below. Just as you'd picture, they put their feet in their boots and then just pull up their pants and put their suspenders over their shoulders.

There's all of the kids.

Calvin enjoyed his fire visit!

As we were leaving he predictably said, "When I grow up, I'm going to be a fire engine man!"