The Great Wolf Lodge

This place was AWESOME! A cool inside water park with fantastic slides and water fun.

That big bucket on top would fill and dump intermittently.

Two weeks later and my legs are finally back to normal- they got quite a workout walking up the thousands of steps. Funny thing is that the warning that "this ride is not for those with heart conditions" was found at the top of all of those steps. Let me assure you, those with heart conditions would have NEVER made it up all those stairs.

These ropes were a lot of fun.

Check out that raft- we'd just gone down one of the really big slides.

Do these guys look tired or what? Especially the little one!

Thanks again Grandma! We all had a really good time.

Jamestown Take 3

More photos....

The Susan Constant



The working top (We found that this is NOT a crow's nest- those don't show up until later- but a working top)

Down Below

Officer's Quarters





Inside the fort

Inside one of the houses

Armory and Armor

Jamestown Fort and Boats

This burnt-out canoe was outside the fort. The Powhatan shared their techniques with the settlers.



Wattle and daub

We studied this type of building when while studying the middle ages.

Here they have a display to show how they'd weave the walls.




The Smith- the first thing she pointed out was the historical inaccuracy of having a woman there.
Nathan got to pull the bellows.



I've tried several times to add more pictures to this post, unsuccessfully, so no boats yet. I also just accidentally deleted a cute picture of the boys in armor so I'm going to stop here, post, and try again later.

Day of Pumpkins

We usually don't get our Halloween pumpkin until the week of Halloween. Then we carve it the day before. To all those up north this may sound like waiting until Christmas Eve to put up the tree, but here in Florida, we end up with a rotted moldy mess if we carve too early. Definitely scary, but not the effect we're looking for. The first year (or maybe two) we lived here, I insisted on carving a pumpkin early and purchased several beautiful mums for the porch... by Halloween we had a melted orange blob and brown sticks in a pot. So, this year, we've yet to purchase our official Jack-O-Lantern and I'll pass on the mums, although they do look pretty and tempting sitting in front of the grocery store... hmmmm.

This year Nathan has a pumpkin contest for scouts, fortunately they aren't allowed to carve. Here he is painting and the final result. Cute, simple and fun! (and please ignore those lunch dishes in the sink! You probably didn't look at them until I said something, did you?)

We also participate in a monthly visit to a local nursing home with our homeschool group. We usually bring crafts to hand out (it helps to break the ice). This month we made table decorations. Again, cute, simple and fun.

Jamestown and Other Fun Things

During our trip to VA we got to visit Jamestown Settlement with Grandma- thanks mom! Since we are soon to be embarking on a study of Jamestown and The New World, I can count this trip as school... so sneaky! We learned many things and spoke to many costumed guides but the most interesting included arrow making, the sailors and the folks in the armory. We took so many pictures I'll break the visit up into a few posts.

Powhatan Indian Village

Arrow making

We discovered that the Powhatan made hollow arrow shafts with removable heads because the arrow shafts took so long to make they didn't want to lose it in an animal.

Powhatan animal traps (we think)

Making brown dye from walnut shells.

Crack and pull the outer covering away, then put in a clay jar of water warmed by the fire.

Inside and outside a Powhatan yehakin (not a wigwam) -a BIG bear skin and grinding corn to grain.

Check back for more Jamestown pictures (the fort and boats) and posts on other places we went including Busch Gardens and The Great Wolf Lodge.

Home Again, Home Again

We've just returned from a visit to Virginia. My fall fix! Alas, we had only a few days of coolish weather and the leaves were just beginning to turn. But it was enough. We were very busy with some really fun activities that I'll post about later this week.

That's an OUTSIDE Toy

Wordless Wednesday

Home by Noon

We had quite a day, starting early Saturday. We met with the scouts this morning to do our quarterly park clean-up. Nathan has been on too many to count but this one was the first one that was officially his. This time Sully was the tag-a-long. Tides have turned.

A new game that they played was to hide 4 playing cards to ensure the boys were really looking for trash and those that found cards, got to trade them in for a prize. Luckily, Nathan found a card, as did all 3 tigers who were there. I wish we'd thought of that game when Sully was a cub.

Then we headed over to an open house at a local fire station. What a fun time! The boys got to climb into the fire trucks, jump in one of those blown up jumping rings, see a bomb recovery robot, lift weights like the fire fighters, see a fully dressed fire fighter and the best part, spray a fire hose. Sponsors had provided lunch so we had the choice of hot dogs, hamburgers, or sandwiches followed by either a piece of cake or a snow cone.

A really fun morning and we got home in time for house projects. Yea!

Nature Study Friday

Perhaps, we are finally starting a routine of nature study. Does twice make it routine? We went out this afternoon to observe our backyard again. I was planning on choosing something other than the aloe that we drew last week but we found that very plant to be in full bloom so decided it was worth drawing again. The photos of our drawings are a little blurry but I think you can get the idea. (first Nathan's, then Sully's and mine)

Here's what our plant really looks like...

And we also discovered brand new tomatoes!!! Maybe this second harvest thing isn't too bad.

Our Family in Images

I found this site over at this blog, where I enjoyed perusing some autumn themed posts. Check out your name in images- it changes with each entry.