Taking the Scenic Route

We snuck downstairs to see Zora having a big party for her dolls, followed by a “ride” on the big stuffed dog.  Adorable.

(that is her blur in the foreground, but we didn’t want to turn on the flash and alert her to our presence)

Nature right up close and personal.  The kids discovered a young bird in the backyard, almost stepping on it.  It wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about moving and seemed pretty unsure of where to go or what to do.  It eventually walked to the corner of the yard and we sat outside and watched it for a long time.  Occasionally a mama bird would come by and try to scold us and lure us away.  We were in and out of the house to watch it throughout the day as it tried to fly.

By the end of the day it figured out how to fly.  What a treat to watch the process.

“Toad” from Mario Bros. (oil pastels on construction paper)

Her (completely imaginary, just to be very, very clear) baby sisters. (on the dry erase board)

Sidewalk Chalk on Cement

a person with a striped shirt

“duck”

This summer we added a literacy component to Zane’s ST schedule, focusing on Reading Comprehension.  Since he loves science and doing science experiments, that is the vehicle we are using to help develop comprehension and writing skills.

This session’s experiment was putting Mentos into various kinds of soda pop to see which had the strongest reaction.  By the end of the experiment, he was wet and sticky from pop hitting him.  He kept licking himself. 

(photos from a combination of my cranky cell phone (first one), and the video the Clinical Educator is taking in this photo)

The Group Picture from Vacation Bible School. Notice anything odd?

How about this:

Smiley camera-ham girl  vs.  trying to get a good photo is like catching lightening boy

Amazing, isn’t it.

Videos of the three songs the kids did with the children’s choir in church this morning.  Zora was belting the songs out at home, but got shy in front of the crowd.  I have a feeling that will go away soon though, given her personality.

Forgive the camera work…I was trying to watch it live while shooting the video with my camera, and that doesn’t always work well.

Meet Me on the Mountain

Obey My Voice

Come Walk With Us

Both of them are less than seasoned performers, to say the least, but I am so glad they are getting the experience. It drives me a little crazy that my two are the wiggliest ones up there though, but I should expect it given their genes.

The kids really enjoyed VBS this year.  Zach and I were only there for the last day (to help watch kids on the blow up waterslide, for safety), but both kids came home happy and tired each morning, and Zora even took a few naps this week.

Zane had a jr. high girl that hung out with him all week to help him, and I was so thankful.

The group in the sanctuary, there were about 30ish kids this year, a group size that works so much better than the enormous group at the other church last year.   They did several hands on service projects, one of which was making backpacks with hygiene supplies (for Youthville) and a pillow, and it took a lot of explaining to get both kids to understand that they weren’t taking them home with us.  Early in the week I didn’t know what the project was, but I was pretty sure that they weren’t going to bringing home the toothbrushes, soap, and “special backpack” they kept talking about.  I was very glad to see a variety of projects like that because it stimulated a lot of good conversations this week.

The one project that we were there for was writing cards to send in care packages to soldiers.  (and I plan on taking pictures of the other crafts, but my camera batteries need to be recharged first, so it will be another post)

This is Zora’s card:

And this is Zane’s card.  It tickled me.  (it is a stickman style maze/obstacle course, including an exit)

And some crafts from the week:

And, for the final hurrah, the waterslide

The remarkable thing about this picture is that it isn’t as remarkable as it once was.  Zane standing in line, something I wasn’t sure if I would ever see a short while ago.  It’s those little invisible victories that make life so great.

The big kids helping the littler ones up the slippery stairs.

And when did my girl sprout legs like that?  She is growing so fast.

Zane struggled to get up there, but he was so happy at every step.

Taking a break to enjoy some birthday cake.  There were a handful of birthdays this week, and both of my little stinkers tried to claim it was their birthdays too.  (both are fairly obsessed with birthdays and parties right now). 

I love this church.  I am finally starting to feel like a member of the community there.

Teaching Zora (and Zane, but he was earlier) how to play Suduko, via a Mario Bros. game board.  True nerd bliss.

Exploration Place has some new exhibits that are a lot of fun.

Zane has been interested in studying the human body, so this was the most perfect exhibit possible for him.  It was really well done and kept both kids, but especially Zane, really engaged.  The animatronics did elicit some nervous giggles from Zora, who was a little freaked out by giant talking creatures.

“Gas Attack” pinball, with info on what causes gas.

The Urine game:  a video game where you learn which things the body leaves in the bloodstream and what gets sent into the urine.

Foreground:  Operation game with rubbery organs; Background:  Digestive tract playground…you walk in the mouth, slide down into the stomach and then past the intestines, and exit through the, well, let’s just say you exit onto a brown mat. 

Burping

There was also a “More Munsch” (author Robert Munsch)  exhibit that talked about creating stories.  It had a lot of neat literacy stations.

And, of course, the familiar exhibits that they always want to see.

Zora *needed* to stop by and play Veterinarian for a while with the other kids.

And the Tornado machine.  (yeah, you can tell these kids were raised in Kansas…they get less than concerned about high winds.)

In fact, Zane is nearly blissful.  He wants to do this over and over again.

In the flight room

An EP employee actually took the time to walk Zora through an entire flight sequence.  It was really neat.

And, in the corner of the flight room, an exhibit we had never stopped at before, but this time it captured the kids attention for quite a while.  It is an active beehive, with the hives inside plexiglass (or something like it) and an exit to the outdoors for the bees.  It was a lot of fun to watch.

It was a great trip.  He has been reading a lot about the human body, especially the digestive tract, and after leaving they both have wanted to know more about bees.  It was on a Friday, when the Zoo has their “wet & wild Fridays”, so the crowd was greatly reduced.  The perfect amount of people…enough that Zora could get some interaction, but Zane wasn’t overwhelmed.

After our weekly family meeting, we let the kids pick a game each (and do everything we can to dissuade them from Mousetrap, because that game is torture for adults) and play.  Zora chose the Dora Candy Land game, but since we only have one surviving original piece (Boots with Balloons) they raided the toy box to find other characters to play.

Zane chose Uno.  (and the adults cheer!).  Since both kids lack the hand size and motor planning that Uno often requires, I ran downstairs to my “don’t want to throw this away just in case I need it” pile and grabbed a piece of styrofoam.  A few slices with a knife across the top and you have handy dandy card holders.  I have seen these made out of those foam florist bricks wrapped in packing tape and it worked a little nicer, but this was successful, and FREE. (although the styrofoam snow was a tad annoying to me, it didn’t really bother anything).  The original idea was passed on by a local OT designing something to hold cards for stroke patients.  I thought it was pretty clever.

Oh, and Zach lost.  By a lot.