BIG Field Trip Day

Back at the beginning of the month we headed out to tour the vet tech facilities at one of our local community colleges. I wasn't sure how excited the kids would be, but they did really well and enjoyed it! We also had some other homeschool friends tag along and that was fun too.

One of the school vets gave us the tour, it was very nice of him. We saw xrays of several animals.

Why look at xrays when you can hang on Nana's shoulder?

Ummmm, don't get bit kids! We've been there and done that...

One of my favorite parts, seeing the horses.

The kids enjoyed feeding grass to this beauty!

The cows also all came running in hopes of food. The boys were really excited to get to see one pee!

After our friends left we visited the Anatomy lab for a few minutes. Beemer was really into it! Mommy was really embarassed at her lack of knowledge as to where things go.

 

This was such a simple part of my day, but probably my favorite. Right as we were leaving I heard something hit the floor. I feared we had broken the body! It was actually a tiny little baby that fell out of the model uterus. It was a nice moment to teach my kids about where life truly begins and have them see it with their own eyes. One of many seeds of truth being planted.

We also visited the rooms where they practice their nursing skills. I think this was where
Beemer hit the patient. You're not going to make a very good nurse buddy!

 

 Beemer is trying to figure out if this guy is here for a broken leg. Hah!
(The Officer broke his leg back in December and spent three days in the hospital.)

 We headed on from here to Texas Discovery Gardens where we visited the Butterfly House.
Check it out here! It was a long day, but a fun one and very educational.

Butterfly Release

For our Butterfly unit we purchased the butterfly kit. It was about $30, but totally worth it!
I think I may shell out the almost $20 to get the caterpillar refill next year. We really
enjoyed the ants also. There is much to be learned from God's creation and it was so neat to
see the caterpillars truly become a New Creation!

We were heading to the Botanical Gardens for lunch and a playdate so I thought it would
be the perfect time to release our butterflies! That, and I was afraid I'd kill them if I kept
them any longer :) We hit up Sonic for 50 cent corn dogs, thankfully my friend was driving
by right as I needed to borrow some money. Left my wallet at home!

Dearest Sister, thank you for being so cooperative for this picture!

  

Off they go!

Watching one fly away.

All five of our caterpillars formed into chrysalis and eventually emerged. One fell in
the forming process and his wings never formed. Beemer had it on his Spring Bucket List
to touch a butterfly, I really didn't think we were going to see this one happen!

We saved our crippled beauty for last and he gently placed him in the garden.

You can see our other butterfly activities, including the Butterfly Garden, here.
I didn't go all out like this for many of the units, but we were really excited
about butterflies and enjoyed the activities we did do.

Butterfly Garden

 We are getting close to wrapping up the end of Kindergarten! I have really enjoyed the
My Father's World curriculum and I love all of the hands-on activities. It's hard for me
to do them sometimes, but generally the kids have so much fun when we do. 

I was really excited for the butterfly unit and wanted to put a little more into it than
some of the others. In Bible we learned about how God makes us new. 

This was the highlight of my year right here:

Beemer told me during Bible time he wants God to make him new and live inside his heart.
I talked to him in more detail about what it means and said let's pray, fully intending to do the praying. Before I could, he started praying and telling God he wants Him to make him new
and live inside his heart. Oh my word, sweetest moment ever! The next day when I mentioned
God making us new he said "So, everybody but Sister". I asked him further about it and
he told me that he was being made new too because he prayed the day before.

One of the things I really enjoy is field trips related to our studies. For butterfly we visited
Texas Discovery Gardens and saw their butterfly house. It was so neat! Beemer enjoyed it a little more than Sister. The whole thing starts upstairs on a bridge and Sister wasn't a fan. She also is squeemish about flying things, any guesses where she got that from?

This was a long field trip day. Before heading to Discovery we spent the morning
at a local community college touring their vet tech building. This was unrelated to butterflies,
but a really fun trip. You can see those pictures here.

I wish I could remember what he was saying,
something about how God created everything!

Trying to have a butterfly land on their hands.
Mom went to the garden in Missouri and had much better luck.
Probably something about her sitting still for more than a few seconds.

Watching the caterpillars eat.

Butterfly hands again.

Sister: Can we go yet?

Can you see that huge moth he's looking at?

This butterfly had just emerged,
his wings were metallic blue on one side.

Touching a butterfly wing.

Then we headed outside to wander the actual Gardens. It was pretty, but not super enjoyable with little children. I think they offer free admission on Tuesdays (Gardens only). Pricing is very reasonable for the whole thing though and we parked for free.

We made one more pass through the butterfly house.

These two were really, ahem, close to each other.
When they flew off and didn't detach I figured it was time to move on!

Lots off Chrysalis waiting to emerge.

Additionally, for this unit we purchased a butterfly kit. You can see our release pictures here.
We also checked out a Story Kit from out library about bugs/butterflies and enjoyed
Spring weather while reading some books. The kids loved pretending to go through
the caterpillar process. After we did it once they kept going!

Eggs on a leaf.

Rolling around in the Chrysalis, not that Chrysalis roll!

Emerging.

Cutest caterpillars I've seen!

Flapping their newly formed wings!

Getting a drink of nectar.

I don't buy juice often so this was a special treat.

Ahhh, I think I'll just lay here.

And then the fun kept going! They wrapped each other up, rolled each other around
the yard and encouraged their chrysalis to open. "Hey, Chrysalis, come out!

Saying YES More Often

We've had some pretty nice Spring days lately. The kids went out to play last week so I took a few stuffed animals, a blanket, and my camera to practice while they played. The Minnie Mouse dolls were quickly confiscated by Sister so I bribed Beemer with some TV time to sit nice for some photos.

Look Mom!

 

One of my favorite things in photography is taking something ordinary
and making it look interesting. If you haven't checked out
my online portfolio yet you can hit me up on facebook to do so!

Poor bears, every single one was dropped to the ground.

 

But then they got to swing, I think they got over it.

After a while I headed inside and the kids asked to play waterguns.

NO I quickly stated with a slew of excuses running through my mind! But, then
I remembered my prayer that morning, that I would stop saying NO when it really wasn't
necessary. I had no reason to say NO. Why not say YES more? I'm so glad I did. 

The waterguns held their attention for quite some time. When Sister headed in Beemer continued playing for at least an hour. He made lots of mud. Then he decided he wanted to take a bath outside.
I looked out and he had his bucket almost full to the top.

"Mom, can you bring me some bath toys?"

 

No, I don't normally allow my children to jump in and out of their, um, bathtub?

 

 

It turned out to be a really fun afternoon, I think I'll say YES more often. I wonder how many fun things I've stifled by saying NO for no good reason? I don't want to think about it. 

Do you struggle with saying NO too?