Wordless Wednesday: Sunset

Photo is SOOC

This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom (Wordless Wednesday).

You Capture: Body parts

I found this post in my drafts folder.  This is something I put together nearly a year ago for a photography challenge before I went in a completely different direction (you can see that post here), and I'm glad I did--that's now one of my favorite posts.  But, since I was looking through my drafts folder, I thought I'd post this one since there are some pretty cute pictures in this post. 

That's my criteria:  pretty cute pictures.

~~~~~

This week's You Capture theme is body parts. (Um...yeah.) Now, I'm pretty sure there are going to be some shots of dogs

Buck the beagle, who is one of the greatest escape artists in the neighborhood.  He comes to visit our kids regularly.

and a cuddly little girl

Grace--age 4

giving instructions to her toy horse



and maybe even some fairy wings.

Grace--age 4

But...

I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who has a photo of Gutsy the Flying Fox

juggling basketballs.

The talented guest of our Upward basketball awards ceremony.

Speaking of body parts, Gutsy didn't have a tail.

Check out other You Capture entries at I Should Be Folding Laundry.

Charlotte: Discovery Place

During our weekend getaway to Charlotte, NC (November 2011), we went to Discovery Place, Charlotte's children's museum.  We went on a Monday, on the day we were heading back home, because we thought we could avoid crowds that way.

(We're homeschoolers.  As a general rule, homeschoolers will do practically anything to avoid crowds.  Fellow homeschoolers, am I right?)  

Well, guess what?  When we arrived, there were a bunch of middle school kids there on a field trip.  However, we were still able to take our time looking at various things that they weren't looking at...and then they left and we went back through the portions of the hands-on museum that were previously crowded.

I think Josiah (9) and Grace (5) could have stayed at this station for hours...pulleys!

There was also the bed of nails to try out...

 

(In the photo above, Grace has her duct tape creation sitting on her belly.   That's another station all of them could have stayed for hours!)

I forget the purpose of this exhibit, except it had something to do with the smoke and lights.  Josiah loved it. 

Grace liked the water table.  She was able to touch starfish and other creatures I've probably still never touched.  

 

She also looked at her duct tape creation with a fancy microscope.  (There were slides available to use with the microscope, but why look at those things when you can look at something pink and purple?)

There was a bear exhibit that apparently just begged for a little dramatic performance...

 

We walked through the small aquarium exhibit...

...which wasn't anywhere near as extensive as, say, the Georgia Aquarium or (our current favorite) the Tennessee Aquarium, but was still nicely done.

 

The rainforest exhibit...

 

The next photo was particularly impressive to me, since I took the photo while standing on the observation deck of the rainforest exhibit and this little blue frog was waaaaaaaaaaaay down below me on the floor of the exhibit...and he's in focus.

The only disappointment I can remember is the rope bridge in the rainforest exhibit, which was mentioned on the website and sounded like a big deal.

Well, this was it:

 

It took each kid maybe 5 seconds to cross it.

But I won't complain, because my 14 year old, who started off our visit with comments like "Can we go now?  Why did we come here?" ended up laughing,

 

sailing boats,

playing with his brother and sister at an elaborate, kid-powered pellet-moving machine,

and making a "Tips" jar out of duct tape (which he set out in front of the pellet-moving machine while he, Josiah, and Grace were doing the "work."  Unfortunately, they didn't get any tips.)

And, yes, he zipped across the little rope bridge at least once.

 Do you have any kid-friendly, budget-friendly places you would recommend to visit?

More of North Carolina: The Museum of the Waxhaws

Here are more photos from our trip to Charlotte, North Carolina (November 2011).

We went to the Museum of the Waxhaws while we were in the area.  I wish we could have explored more of the outdoor exhibits, but it was rainy and we weren't feeling that adventurous, seeing as we were still in our church clothes for the most part.

Robert (14) sitting in a replica of a one-room schoolhouse...with his iPod.  Josiah (9) was momentarily appreciative of the relative comfort we enjoy in our kitchen table chairs during school...momentarily.

Disclaimer:  This next pose was completely voluntary...

As was this pose...

Grace (5) with the teacher's switch

The railroad that passes through Waxhaw, N.C.

The Waxhaw water tower

Here's Robert looking contemplative (and very, very tall) in the hotel.  Seriously, we could just get a hotel room and all three kids would be perfectly happy.  Jason?  No.  Me?  Probably not  (although eating out would help).  But the kids?  Yes.  Perfectly happy!

Charlotte

We took a quick trip over to Charlotte, North Carolina...in November 2011.  Judging from my last few blog posts, I'm trying to catch up with the last several months.  Either that, or now I'm going with a Charlotte theme...the doll and the city.  :)

These are a few of the photos I took in downtown Charlotte on the way to Discovery Place, the children's museum.

Hopefully I'll post pictures of Discovery Place, too, and not just randomly refer to it here.

And, yes, we saw "Occupy Charlotte" on the way out of town. 

The torch has been passed

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you've already heard this, but it's been a few months...

So bear with me. 


In October, we took the kids to a local church's Fall Festival, and Grace dressed as Laura Ingalls, wearing the dress and bonnet my mom sewed for me for my birthday when I was that size.  Grace brought along her baby Emily, and said Emily was Charlotte (Laura's rag doll she got for Christmas during the Little House in the Big Woods time).

In a moment of madness, perhaps, we took the kids to another Fall Festival the next evening.  Because, really, do these kids look like they need more candy?

Josiah (9) dressed as "Dr. Sam," a made-up persona who has a truly hideous bedside manner, and Grace (5) dressed as Laura Ingalls in the dress and bonnet my mother made for me long ago.

Grace was again dressed as Laura. She had her baby doll Emily again, too, only this time she said Emily was dressed as Rose. I questioned Grace, for Jason's benefit, and asked, "Who is Rose?" Grace answered, "Laura's daughter." I smiled at Jason, sighed, and said, "The torch has been passed." (I used to know way more than I know now about Laura Ingalls Wilder...used to, so, really, no need to question me.)

Robert was listening and, in his typical 14-year-old fashion, began his oh-so-common series of rhetorical questions. "What torch? There's a torch? Why didn't I know about the torch?" 

I love my 14 year old.  (If you're friends with me on Facebook, you've heard this already, too...several times.)

Robert (14) dressed as...well, a Georgia voter, according to him.  He said that next year he'll dress as the Tax Man and go around taking half of every kid's candy.

Well, even if there were a literal torch to be passed, I think Grace might insist that it be a princess' tiara instead.

Wordless Wednesday: Yellow River Game Ranch

These photos are from our trip to the Yellow River Game Ranch that we took in November 2011.

This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom (Wordless Wednesday).