More of spring break to come, when I get a moment . . .
(Update: look in post on June 21st.)
March 19, 2008
March 16, 2008
Tuesday's friend
I found a butterfly outside Tuesday morning. It was obviously old and faltering, so I brought it in for the children to see.
It held on for a few days but seemed determined to fly anytime it was touched. With it's wings in such bad shape, it couldn't do more than flutter. It wasn't interested in the sugar water or the very over-ripe banana we tried to give it.
Emma and Matthew were the most interested. Emma even built it a little lego house!
Apart from the butterfly, we had four or five additional friends over for most of the day -- jumping on the trampoline, playing board and video games, running around with light sabers, baseball bats, and all sorts of paraphernalia -- great fun!!
It held on for a few days but seemed determined to fly anytime it was touched. With it's wings in such bad shape, it couldn't do more than flutter. It wasn't interested in the sugar water or the very over-ripe banana we tried to give it.
Emma and Matthew were the most interested. Emma even built it a little lego house!
Apart from the butterfly, we had four or five additional friends over for most of the day -- jumping on the trampoline, playing board and video games, running around with light sabers, baseball bats, and all sorts of paraphernalia -- great fun!!
Inner Space Caverns
The children had spring break the week of March 10 - March 14th, so we decided to go on some adventures together.
We'd just gotten out of the rain and were lined up waiting for our turn to explore the caves.
Wish I'd remembered how to take the picture sans the flash. It was a much richer sight for our eyes! (I also could have gotten a picture of the bats -- pictures without flash were allowed for them. They weren't cluster oriented but were about the size of a small mouse. Very cute!! I saw one bat, but some of our eagle-eyed children saw two or three altogether.)
And then, after a few more shots, the camera battery went dead. I usually leave all of the picture taking "chore" to Ben, so I've stayed comfortably ignorant, if there is such a thing. Gotta learn sometime, especially if I am ever going to post a picture here!
Anyway, the caves were great! We also came home with a few fun things from the gift shop -- a coon skin hat, two rubber band pistols, a rock bracelet, and an arrow head necklace. Matthew wanted something too, but couldn't find anything really worth the price, so I think he is saving up for later.
We'd just gotten out of the rain and were lined up waiting for our turn to explore the caves.
Wish I'd remembered how to take the picture sans the flash. It was a much richer sight for our eyes! (I also could have gotten a picture of the bats -- pictures without flash were allowed for them. They weren't cluster oriented but were about the size of a small mouse. Very cute!! I saw one bat, but some of our eagle-eyed children saw two or three altogether.)
And then, after a few more shots, the camera battery went dead. I usually leave all of the picture taking "chore" to Ben, so I've stayed comfortably ignorant, if there is such a thing. Gotta learn sometime, especially if I am ever going to post a picture here!
Anyway, the caves were great! We also came home with a few fun things from the gift shop -- a coon skin hat, two rubber band pistols, a rock bracelet, and an arrow head necklace. Matthew wanted something too, but couldn't find anything really worth the price, so I think he is saving up for later.
Sock War!
This is one of our favorite Family Home Evening activities -- we roll up about forty socks for a "snowball" fight (notice the colorful battle line on the floor dividing the teams).
March 1, 2008
The miracle of watermelon at home
Our family has been working on anger recently -- rather we have been working on controlling our anger -- and finally filled our cotton ball jar with a month's worth of daily personal effort from each person, so the children got to pick a fun place for all of us to go together.
We ended up at "Main Event," an inside entertainment center with extensive rock climbing walls, laser tag, bowling, arcade, etc. The rock climbing was fabulous! Wish we'd brought a camera. Daniel wasn't tall enough, but everyone else tried it. Emma determined after about 60 seconds that it wasn't for her. Matthew took most of the half hour fighting his fear of heights, but by the end was doing very well. Josh and Isaac ate it up. ("Do you think I got more muscles, Mom?" Josh asked.)
Then the three older boys and Ben went over to play laser tag. Sadly, the equipment they were given was poorly constructed and barely functioning (ie: Ben's shooting accuracy was 384% and Isaac's vest wouldn't recharge for anything). After that, we discovered that the arcade was noisy and set up for you to pay out a lot in a hurry, although the center did have quite a few high-tech motion oriented games. So, by the time it was time to go, we were all VERY ready to leave.
We stopped at the store for milk and bread on the way home and picked up a small watermelon.
Eating a cool watermelon on a warm day outside (78 degrees right now) is far nearer to absolute bliss than that mega-entertainment center. Happy chatter and quiet slurping are music to my ears compared to the onslaught of raucous arcade action. I wonder if next time we have earned a family outing I can pick the "main event." We had a nice time today, but for next time, a walk in the hills and a watermelon would be heavenly.
We ended up at "Main Event," an inside entertainment center with extensive rock climbing walls, laser tag, bowling, arcade, etc. The rock climbing was fabulous! Wish we'd brought a camera. Daniel wasn't tall enough, but everyone else tried it. Emma determined after about 60 seconds that it wasn't for her. Matthew took most of the half hour fighting his fear of heights, but by the end was doing very well. Josh and Isaac ate it up. ("Do you think I got more muscles, Mom?" Josh asked.)
Then the three older boys and Ben went over to play laser tag. Sadly, the equipment they were given was poorly constructed and barely functioning (ie: Ben's shooting accuracy was 384% and Isaac's vest wouldn't recharge for anything). After that, we discovered that the arcade was noisy and set up for you to pay out a lot in a hurry, although the center did have quite a few high-tech motion oriented games. So, by the time it was time to go, we were all VERY ready to leave.
We stopped at the store for milk and bread on the way home and picked up a small watermelon.
Eating a cool watermelon on a warm day outside (78 degrees right now) is far nearer to absolute bliss than that mega-entertainment center. Happy chatter and quiet slurping are music to my ears compared to the onslaught of raucous arcade action. I wonder if next time we have earned a family outing I can pick the "main event." We had a nice time today, but for next time, a walk in the hills and a watermelon would be heavenly.
February 8, 2008
Are these games?
I just have to post this before I forget:
I have been contemplating how to further explain to my children my loathing for violent video games. Today presented a perfect example. The news websites that pop up when I log on had two news-breaking articles about people getting angry and going on a shooting rampage. And then, lower down the page in the video game news was an article on the awards a number of 1st person shooter games had recently received.
I would call my understanding of world happenings pretty limited. I don't take the paper (although one is delivered to us once a week). I don't watch news on television. I tend to find out most major national and world happenings long after the fact. But this week has been full of terrible gun tragedies, local and world-wide. Every time I have sought or even been exposed to any news this week, I have heard of someone shooting someone else, sometimes even family members.
And then Matthew came home today with a request from a friend whose birthday party is tomorrow -- a request for "HaloWars" -- I'm not sure what the friend was talking about, because I don't think it is even out for purchase yet, but it is an RTS game building off of a line of mature-rated games. And the boy is turning 11.
Furthermore, his party is being held at an arcade/pizzeria. I went to check it out today, because thankfully my son Matthew is very strict about immodesty, something for which many arcade games don't have a very high standard. I didn't see a lot of bare skin, but the lighting was low, the music was very loud, and there were lots and lots and lots of guns.
So, I would like to say -- what gives? How can adults, and especially parents, play these games themselves and allow their children to play them and not think they will have a deleterious and even sometimes deadly impact?
I guess the real question is how can I help my children hold to the standard in the "Strength of Youth" pamphlet: "Do not attend, view, or participate in entertainment that is vulgar, immoral, violent, or pornographic in any way," when it is all so readily available and acceptable in our society?
I feel like the dam holding back the tide. But too much is slipping through.
I have been contemplating how to further explain to my children my loathing for violent video games. Today presented a perfect example. The news websites that pop up when I log on had two news-breaking articles about people getting angry and going on a shooting rampage. And then, lower down the page in the video game news was an article on the awards a number of 1st person shooter games had recently received.
I would call my understanding of world happenings pretty limited. I don't take the paper (although one is delivered to us once a week). I don't watch news on television. I tend to find out most major national and world happenings long after the fact. But this week has been full of terrible gun tragedies, local and world-wide. Every time I have sought or even been exposed to any news this week, I have heard of someone shooting someone else, sometimes even family members.
And then Matthew came home today with a request from a friend whose birthday party is tomorrow -- a request for "HaloWars" -- I'm not sure what the friend was talking about, because I don't think it is even out for purchase yet, but it is an RTS game building off of a line of mature-rated games. And the boy is turning 11.
Furthermore, his party is being held at an arcade/pizzeria. I went to check it out today, because thankfully my son Matthew is very strict about immodesty, something for which many arcade games don't have a very high standard. I didn't see a lot of bare skin, but the lighting was low, the music was very loud, and there were lots and lots and lots of guns.
So, I would like to say -- what gives? How can adults, and especially parents, play these games themselves and allow their children to play them and not think they will have a deleterious and even sometimes deadly impact?
I guess the real question is how can I help my children hold to the standard in the "Strength of Youth" pamphlet: "Do not attend, view, or participate in entertainment that is vulgar, immoral, violent, or pornographic in any way," when it is all so readily available and acceptable in our society?
I feel like the dam holding back the tide. But too much is slipping through.
January 24, 2008
Update on Sampson
Exciting news!! Matt came home from school today with a few copied pages from a book about African-American inventors that had a very short chapter on Henry Sampson. AND, it is written for elementary age students -- explanations of inventions included. (One of the other children is also researching Sampson and located this text.)
Hurray! So, although we don't have a lot of extra info about any other aspects of his life, at least we don't have to read through any more patents to understand the applications of his inventions or go looking for abstracts in old periodicals.
Nice little present, those three copied pages.
Hurray! So, although we don't have a lot of extra info about any other aspects of his life, at least we don't have to read through any more patents to understand the applications of his inventions or go looking for abstracts in old periodicals.
Nice little present, those three copied pages.
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