Field Trips

This week was a busy week due to our various field trips. Monday morning we had gymnastics and then I was planning to do our school work in the afternoon. As I was enjoying a little bit of quiet time after I lunch, I decided I should look in my email for details on our tour of Z88.3 (Christian radio station) that was taking place the next afternoon. But then, holy cow! It was Monday, not Tuesday. I keep my schedule in my brain but I guess we see first hand that this method is not fool proof!

Elaine was supposed to come over and watch the boys because you had to be five and up to do the tour (I assume because of noise?). That wasn't going to happen at this late of a notice. Fortunately I recalled that a friend, Kat, from gymnastics is part of this group so I sent a text to her as to whether the girls could tag along with her and she said that was fine. So we were saved. I had to wake Colby up early but it was all good.

The girls kind of cracked me up because they were all like "Oh, a radio station? We've been ON the radio so this is no big deal!" That was when they did a snippet on the meaning of Christmas on my dad's radio program the last couple of years. The tour was really neat though. When you walk in the front door, you immediately see the personalities broadcasting in their booth. The two on in the afternoons are Suzanne and Deano. Admittedly I did not know them from Adam because although I do listen to the "Z" on occasion, I mostly listen to kid's stuff while I'm in the car. Everyone working there was really, really nice and they even let Brady and Colby come on the tour since it was such a small group. Some things that I thought were interesting is that they plan what songs and the order of playing them days and sometimes a week in advance. Also, they have a room that is entirely wall to wall with thousands of CD. It's, of course, all digital now but they have them there for back up...just in case. When we left, they gave the kids posters, bumper stickers, etc and they thought that was pretty cool.

Behind the kids is the ON AIR studio. The lady you see sitting there, Suzanne, came out on commercial break and took a picture with the kids.

She's a natural!

Tuesday was a home day and then Wednesday we were off again to the homeschool day at the Central Florida Zoo. The topic this time was turtles and tortoises. We chose a table to sit at that had a guy and his son sitting at it. No sooner did we sit down than Calleigh tells the boy, "Hey, you play soccer with me." Sure enough, the kid, Joshua, plays on the other team and the dad, Jonathan Hillock (sp?) works at AHS. Small world! The mom was also there with the younger son and it was nice to chat with them as we went to each of the stations. They do a great job putting on these education classes and we really enjoyed ourselves. My favorite part was seeing one of the giant tortoises that lives to be a 150 years old. People have them as pets and have to put them in their wills because they will outlive their owners. The only downside to the morning was that the train was broken. As we were leaving, Aubree says to me, "But YOU SAID we could ride the train." Hold on, Aubs. Let me wave my magic wand and make it magically fixed. I mean, really!

Getting details about box turtles.

Took a little quiz at the end and got them all correct.

Okay, it's an "Inja" turtle but it IS a turtle!

"When I'm five can I watch "Inja" turtles??!!" What do the Ninja turtles actually do on that show, anyway?

This lady asked questions and then whoever hit their buzzer first got to answer. Do turtles have ears? No!

Making an "enrichment," a sweet potato/carrot pizza, for the giant tortoise.

At one point, they were all crawling right for Brady but he kept his composure.

Wednesday evening the girls had Adventurers. Duncan made it home in time and volunteered to take the boys while I took the girls. Win for me!! After I dropped them off I had to make a last minute run to Publix to pick up some more packages of Morningstar Farms veggie food. I have been waiting forever for it go on sale (Buy One Get One Free) again and I wasn't going to be in the predicament again of having to pay $4.19 for a box of stripples. Nothing makes me feel dirtier than paying full price for that stuff. So I probably bought about 60 boxes of various things and hopefully this will last until the next sale. By the way, I highly recommend the Baja Black Bean pizza. Delicious!

Yesterday morning our homeschool group had a field trip to a nursery in Apopka....a wholesale nursery that sells to other nurseries and not directly to retailers. Of course, it was basically the coldest morning of the year in Orlando (30's) so I had to go dig up our jackets, gloves, mittens, etc since we would be outside some of the time. I wasn't expecting to see that stuff again until next year and I can't say it was an all together happy task. Colby started being a pill, surprise, surprise, and Brady kept yanking on my hand asking when we were going to go. Apparently they weren't appreciating the beauty of all the plants like the we girls were. Fortunately Kat came to my rescue again and pushed the stroller while I was holding Colby as he fell asleep. Thank goodness for friends around to help because this is why I haven't wanted to do any field trips until Colby is more manageable.

The lady, Heather, giving the tour.

These folks were taking tiny pieces of a plant and putting it into a small pot to grow a new plant. What tedious work! Heather told us that almost 100% of the workers are woman for whatever reason.

I thought this was interesting. These are pepper plants. But they don't sell them because of the peppers. They get bad bugs and put them on the plants. Then they get good bugs and put them on the plants to eat the bad bugs. Then other nurseries buy these plants so that the good bugs will spread to their plants. Very clever.

Venus Flytraps. Amazing little plants, for sure.

Incidentally, not sure if I mentioned it but this homeschool group is one that I came upon while looking at the FPEA's (Florida Parent Educators Association) website. The FPEA is the group that puts on the big homeschool convention each year, FYI. Because of Calleigh's big disinterest in most of school, a few weeks ago I started researching field trips, homeschool groups, etc and saw this group that is not far away in Winter Garden. It's through the First United Methodist Church but anyone can join the group. After I joined is when I discovered Kat from gymnastics was a member. So far, it's been really great and the good thing is that the field trips AREN'T on Fridays so I don't have to miss yard sales.

Other than the field trips, this week wasn't exactly a stellar week for school but we did get some learning in watching the show "How the States Got Their Shape." The title is pretty self explanatory. It's a documentary series that originally aired on the History Channel (I believe) and is now on Netflix. Calleigh is addicted to it and begs me to watch it every day. Did you know Mormonism started in New York and not Utah? Did you know that Wisconsin was originally known for their beaver furs and not for cheese? Did you know that the first oil boom happened in Pennsylvania? How do these facts relate to how states got their shapes? I guess you'll have to watch out. But seriously, she is glued to the TV while this show is on. So she may not be a whiz at math, spelling, reading, etc. but she knows her history!

In closing, one conversation with Calleigh while we were up in her room getting ready for bed. She bought a new Lego set with her money and she has to watch it like a hawk so it doesn't get wrecked. Of course, leaving it on the floor doesn't help so it was no surprise when we noticed someone stepped on it, most likely Brady.
Calleigh: "Brady!! You wrecked my Lego set!!"
Me: "Calleigh, I don't think he did it on purpose."
Calleigh:"Yes, he did."
Me:"No, I don't think so. I think he would have been laughing about it if he did. Look at him. He doesn't even realize what happened."
Calleigh: "If you knew him as well as I do...if you hung out with him in the afternoons...you would know."

Some other pictures to close:

Visiting Aunt Wanda at church last Sabbath on Valentine's Day.

I know this wastes electricity but he was having so much fun I couldn't stop it.

Then he carried everything over here.

Fell asleep eating a lollipop (thanks Valentine's Day) and was still chewing in his sleep.

See? I took a video of him and asked in the video if he was awake or asleep and he said awake. When I asked why his eyes were closed, he said "I'm cold."

So I love this. He puts underwear on over his diaper since he's not potty trained, as you know. And then,, he sticks batteries into the hole where the, you know, comes out. It's actually kind of a little pocket that you can store stuff in. He's at least resourceful!