SCIENCE FIELD TRIP/BIRTHDAY OUTING

For William's 8th birthday, he chose a trip to the Pittsburgh Aquarium as his special activity. It was among the list of options given to him for a couple of reasons. We are studying swimming creatures this year for science. We also have free entrance to the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium for this year.

Science is by far the boys' favorite subject. It's not really like school for them. I think it has a lot to do with the great curriculum we've found. This is wonderful read-aloud that is interesting for all age levels, so the little ones actually get a lot out of it too. I'm posting a picture of the book that we're doing this year. It's put out by Apologia Science. Obviously, another super thing about this curriculum is that it is creation-based.

Another creation-based tool we found is this audio series. We saved it to listen to on the way to and home from the Aquarium. It gives facts about 100 different aquatic creatures that are proofs against the evolutionary theory. It's very hard to find that kind of science teaching for kids.

Alright. So, we chose the day before Will's birthday to make this trip. It turned out to be about 18 degrees when we got there. The zoo is mostly outside with the Aquarium and the chimp house being indoors along the way. Most of the animals are not fond of these temperatures and weren't out anyway. So we had a frigid walk through an empty zoo to get to the Aquarium.

There is an elevator to take you from the parking lot to the entrance of the zoo. You can see that they look cold and we haven't even entered the zoo yet!

The Aquarium was a huge relief! Exotic jungle landscaping to greet us and a heat wave of indoor heat!!

Now comes your tour of the Aquarium. This Redtail Catfish was enormous. Unfortunately, you can't really tell in the picture. I'm guessing he was about 3 feet long.

These large fish are called Pacu and live in the Amazon River. They weigh around 50 pounds, which is pretty BIG for a river fish!

Bonnethead shark.

Lace Moray Eel.

Puffer fish.

These two zebra sharks seemed to like to swim together.

One thing that you see over and over again is camouflage. It's incredible how many animals can just blend into their surroundings.

The Piranha.

We're not sure, but we think this is some sort of clown fish.

The Lionfish.

A Seahorse.

The boys LOVED the octopus!

An up-close view of the underside. :)

Always sort of magical to watch the jellyfish.

These are forever endeared in our family. Somehow, the penguin has become like a family mascot.

I took a lot of penguin pictures. We also took a short video clip of them. It's so nice to be able to "bring them home."

The next two pictures are of different species of the Leafy Sea Dragon.

Back outside. Here is a very icy fountain.

There are a few animals who brave low temps. This tiger looks entirely unaffected.

I guess peacocks are all-weather birds.

Aw. Back inside. The next few pics are a sampling of the chimps we saw.

A Mandrill.

The elephants actually have an indoor viewing area as well.

Warming our hands in the hand dryers.

Looking down at the parking lot. You can barely see it, but our car is the only one there.

We're really thankful that we live close enough to an Aquarium to go to it. It's so wonderful for the boys to get to see the things they're studying in real life. I, myself, enjoyed it immensely. God's creation is so fascinating to study!

4 MONTHS OLD

She's getting pretty close to rolling over and also to grabbing objects with her hands. She really recognizes me now and will almost leap out of Peter's arms to come to me.

A BROKEN CLAVICLE

We have achieved the first broken bone in our family. Ben had a sledding accident yesterday. He landed very hard on his shoulder and it became quickly evident that it was a lasting sort of injury. I took him in to get these X-rays and as you can see, it is indeed fractured. He's doing well. There's no cast or any treatment for this type of break. He has a little sling to support his arm and remind him to keep it still. He was rather calm today, but otherwise entirely himself. This is the third X-ray that Ben has had. There seems to be one accident-prone child in every family. I told Peter last night that all the gray hairs coming in on my head are a result of the worry over dear Benny. I went to bed feeling comforted that God can take much better care of him than I can. He's got it under control.

TODDLER PLAY

I recently bought this blue container to hold some play food, but naturally, Amelia thinks it's a great place to sit. Calvin enjoys piling the food in around her while she's in it. This is her *new* face for the camera lately.

It is sometimes very interesting to watch a toddler play. You can follow their thoughts. Here Millie is trying to retrieve a magnetic toy that fell into her boot.

After no success, she finally decides to remove the boot.

It looks like she's getting it out. But no. Actually, this has given her a good idea.

Why not put all of the magnetic toys into the boot.? A very fun game.

A LITTLE CHILDISH POETRY

Sitting by the fire...reading some childish poetry.
My mother-in-law included this in a box of books that she sent for us to borrow. We recently took the time to enjoy some of these silly verses for some light reading.
I really must include an excerpt:
TEDDY BEAR
"A bear, however hard he tries,
Grows tubby without excercise....
Now tubbiness is just the thing
Which gets a fellow wondering;
And Teddy worried lots about
The fact that he was rather stout....
One night it happened that he took
A peep at an old picture-book,
Wherein he came across by chance
The picture of a King of France
(A stoutish man) and, down below,
These words: 'King Louis So and So,
Nicknamed "The Handsome!"' There he sat,
And (think of it!) the man was fat!
Our bear rejoiced like anything
To read about this famous King,
Nicknamed 'The Handsome.' There he sat,
And certainly the man was fat.
Nicknamed 'The Handsome.' Not a doubt
The man was definitely stout.
Why then, a bear (for all his tub)
Might yet be named 'The Handsome Cub!'"

SUNDAY DINNER WITH MATT AND EVAN

Last Sunday, two young men from church joined us for lunch after the morning service. Evan is on the left and Matt on the right.Evan was brave enough to try out holding the baby.
Evan gnawing his fist like Cecily.
The men all played a game of darts and this was the winning throw for the game, made by Matt.

Dart throwing.

The little men enjoy darts too.

Dessert. Strawberry shortcake.

If you haven't guessed yet, Evan is a character. He wanted to make sure that it was evident that he was enjoying his dessert.