the insectarium

We went into the insectarium to see the butterfiles but there were lots of other things there as well. Water bugs, a rhino beetle, bees, ladybugs. These were all on display outside the actual butterfly area. I think the kind of freaked Oliver out.

We saw lots of butterflies but I think the coolest one was this guy. The boys watched him crawl out of the cocoon!

digging for fossils...

One feature of the Dino trail is that you can dig in this big pit area. They brought the dirt in from a beach somewhere and it's REALLY old dirt. There are tons of fossilized corals, shells and even sharks teeth!

lost in Spaaaaace

There were a few activities like "get the spaceship to the planet" - where both were revolving at different speeds and you had to calculate when to eject the ship (a little ball) so it would go to the planet (a wooden thing with a hole to catch the ball), and another one where you had to adjust the orbit of a space shuttle so that it would dock at the space station. The boys just liked pushing the buttons on those things. They also liked the model of the mood lander.
There was a model of a little space ship and the boys peeked out at me!

The inside wasn't that cool, it just had a few buttons and switches that didn't do anything. I think the last time we were here it talked. oh well, the boys seemed to like it although they didn't spend a lot of time in there.

cooking over the fire...

Here's Oliver cooking his hot dog over the fire. He was a little scared to get even remotely close to the fire at first but as he realized it wouldn't burn him from afar he inched up until his hot dog was actually being heated.

This is one of the sweet potatoes we cooked in the coals. I didn't have any foil so I just threw them in and hoped for the best. They turned out so delicious! Even the burnt crispy part was sweet so it didn't matter if a little blackened outside got mixed in with the soft yummy inside.

After dinner (which also included cantaloupe) the boys got a real treat! We toasted marshmallows! Wyatt got bored about two seconds in but he sure did like to eat them. Oliver was very patient and waited until at least two sides of the marshmallow were toasty brown. He loved the gooey inside.

Oliver got to cook his own dinner. He overcame his fear of fire. He was very proud of himself!

Oliver being Oliver

He's adorable. and so sweet.

Playing outside

Oliver got these dump trucks for his birthday from Grampa Steve one year. He took them out to the sand table and they just have a ball!
Wyatt seems to really enjoy them, too. He makes the bulldozer fly sometimes. I don't know what's up with that kid. The boys really shared so well - and usually do when they are at the sand table.
They went out front because it was sunnier and warmer and kicked this ball around for a while until Bob got home. This was after we had lunch (cheese and humus sandwiches and salad) and naps (two and a half hours) and I cut Oliver's hair. He calls himself fuzzy peach head now.

the solar oven

We built this from a kit (obviously) but it didn't work because it kept getting shady wherever I would put it. We tried to cook an egg but it did NOTHING. The egg was completely uncooked when I cracked it. We're going to try again tomorrow in a different spot. I found one that stays sunny for about 6 hours.

Oliver whacked himself with a hammer

This is two days later. He'd barely let us look at it until then. He was helping hammer stakes for the garden when he did this. I was inside and heard his scream. I ran out immediately and there he was crying and wailing. We put Mr. Bump (a cold pack) on it but the finger still swelled up to about twice its normal size.

the finished product.

We still have tomatoes to plant in there but it's a bit cold today and they aren't very big so we're waiting. Here's everything as it stands now. The gourds on the far left, cucumbers next and then carrots. The fake snake is to help keep chipmunks, birds, squirrels and who knows what else out.

After the boys had fun watering the garden with the hose and digging up worms to put in it they did a "we just made a garden" dance. They made up a song to the tune of "we just got a letter" from Blues Clues and danced away!

the garden

We went to Lowe's yesterday and got these stones, the dirt, and some mulch to build this lovely garden! We let it settle overnight (and get slightly rained on) and today we transplanted our gourds, cucumbers and carrots into it. Oliver dug the trenches and helped me cover up the roots once I got the plants disentangled. Wyatt was helpful with covering up the roots, too.

another picture...

Oliver drew this one, too. It's him "when he was just a little boy"

a face

Oliver drew this face. I LOVE the eyelashes!

Oliver's drawing

Oliver drew this on his whiteboard. We usually use it for letter practice and such but after his lesson I let him mess around a little. He drew a house with a tree next to it. That's Oliver playing in the yard.

it was just cute...

stringing beads

We got these the other day at the toy store. I've been thinking about getting them to help with teaching patterns and to improve eye-hand coordination. Oliver was a pro at stringing them after about two minutes but the pattern-making was a bit harder to teach. This is one of the patterns I helped him with.

Wyatt wasn't bad at stringing the beads, either. He had to try a lot harder and was not very fast but he did it! He put all his beads on and off about six times before he got tired of it. I think he only got tired of it because Oliver wanted to stop at that point.

Look at the concentration!