Moments Caught Monday ~ 11/19/2012

a post by Jenni {aka Mom}

Back in May we took a field trip up to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. Along with being the location for many other historic events, Harper's Ferry is where Lewis and Clark stocked up on supplies for their expedition across the continent. Bo has been interested in Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and their journey for some time now, and was very excited to see and have his picture taken at this spot. He'd like to go to Fort Clatsop, Oregon one day, where they ended their journey on the west coast. This was one of the fun moments on our field trip in which history came alive as Bo set his feet on what he has been reading about for the last few years. 

 

 

Street Photography Outing

a post by Jenni {aka Mom}
My partner in crime (Bird) and I stole out this morning to play with some early daylight autumn street photography. I've begun my first *real* aspiring hobby photographer project, and to begin with there are several places I want to capture while they're soft, quiet, and rather empty. Also, the trees in town are really turning beautifully and I wanted to shoot them at dawn and late afternoon/dusk today. Here are a few shots of Bird I caught while we were out:

And, of course, no chilly autumn morning in town would be complete without hot chocolate with Apple Brioche! (And coffee for mom!!)

Blue & Gray School Year Launch

a post by Jenni {aka Mom}

This summer Rooster and Bird had the privilege of attending Civil War Camp at VMI's Virginia Museum of the Civil War in New Market, Virginia. As anyone who knows us could tell you, Rooster has been obsessed with interested in The War Between The States for some years now (remember his Kepi birthday cake?), and was thrilled at the opportunity to attend this day camp. I plan to post sometime in more detail about the camp. It is very well run and we definitely recommend it. (By the way, their Homeschool Day each March is outstanding!)

Well, since this period of American history has been of such strong interest, and since it's the 150th anniversary year, and since R & B had just had such a fun introduction we decided to launch our school year with our 1st ever unit study covering nothing other than -- The Civil War.

In conjunction with the unit study we planned several field trips to reenactments, battlefields, museums, etc...the first of which was a reenactment of the skirmish in Orange, Virginia. This colorfully named little town dubbed the event The Blue & Gray in Orange. 

My father lived in Orange for a portion of his childhood, so it was an extra neat treat to consider his having been there and to drive by the home in which he had lived. 

The timing coincided perfectly with the beginning of our 2012-2013 school year, and this outing became a fun family launch to the year ahead.

Here are some highlights from our visit to The Blue & Gray in Orange:

Bird (in gray) and Rooster (in blue) await the beginning of the festivities

All 3 handsome boys sit for a spell, and patiently pose for another picture

A small band of Union soldiers enter the town square

Pursued by Confederate soldiers, the Union soldiers turn to defend themselves

Rooster was surprised by the first shots fired :)

The Confederate cavalry rides in on the attack

Union soldiers try to hold their ground (that's Bo on the right, enjoying the show)

LOVE this reenactor with the cigar and the pistol! He was SO into the story.

The Confederate cavalry runs the small Union force down the street, where the Union finally surrenders.

My 3 boys enjoying themselves :)

The Confederate infantry celebrate their victory

Watching the parade...R's a bit bummed at this point after it sank in that this reenactment depicted a Union loss.

Bird excitedly has his photo taken with "General Lee"

We hope everyone's school year is getting off to a great start! We're having a fantastic week so far. Lord willing, I'll expound on it in Friday's Weekly Wrap-Up. :)

Spontaneous Field Trip - Creation Museum

Museum photo op :-)

Recently we made an impromptu trip to the Creation Museum in the Cincinnati area. My husband had taken the younger two boys back in January, and had taken our oldest son to the Apologetics Mega Conference that was held there this summer, so everyone had gotten to see the museum, except me. *pouts*

(Not really pouting – I was actually quite happy with my time while they were away – I really like accomplishing things I don’t have time for otherwise!)

Pouting or not, I was very excited to go this time.

We really, really enjoy the photo op as you enter the museum! (see top photo) As some sub-set of our family has been through multiple times, it's become a fun challenge to invent new ways to pose for the "scary" pose. I love how my husband is rising to defend us :-) I also love the low prices to purchase the photos afterward - it's extremely reasonable for a touristy-type thing - and I love that they offer all your poses on a CD along with the rights to reprint and post online. Good thinking!

One resource offered by the museum is a schedule of workshops for children. The boys had already attended two, so we looked at the museum’s schedule online and planned our visit during a time in which a workshop they had not completed was being offered.

On this occasion, they participated in a fossil workshop. 

 

In this workshop they learned about the process of fossilization (which we studied last school year, so it was great reinforcement!) and were able to see and hold a LOT of fossils. 



They also made necklaces from fossilized sharks’ teeth. 

I think many, if not all of the children’s workshops at the Creation Museum include a project or craft that the child is able to take home with them. 

The workshops are all complete with a presentation of the Gospel message. I was very impressed with the program overall. 

I was also impressed with the museum itself. 

This realistic robotic model is uber creepy!

Bo reading about how life lines up according to God's working

Rooster and Bird check read about the history of God's Word

Rooster - aka Mr. Serious and thoughtful

Bo and a pre-fall dinosaur

The boys do an interactive activity inside Noah's ark

It was high quality, interactive, and thoughtfully put together. 

The planetarium was by far my favorite part (even though I had to close my eyes during portions of the shows to keep from getting motion sick!). It was breathtaking. Digital planetariums are so much more vivid than the more traditional “pin-point” planetariums, and hearing a presentation which lines up with the historical truth of God’s Word is both refreshing and worshipful. Our God truly is amazing!

Additionally, the talks and shows offered were wonderful and very edifying. We enjoyed listening to Dr. Purdom expound on the biology of the white blood cell - sounds boring, but it was glorious and fascinating! The boys were even able to follow the presentation, and learn from it.

The Creation Museum's gardens are absolutely beautiful. 

Out in the beautiful gardens

across the floating bridge

Daddy, Bird, and Rooster out on the walk through the gardens

They provided a nice place for our picnic lunch, and a nice walk afterward. (Although all the food in Noah's Cafe smelled fantastic, I had already packed our lunch. Daddy did make sure he and the boys got a Bruster's Ice Cream while we were there - and I had a skinny latte from the coffee shop downstairs.)

The petting zoo was a lot of fun - the boys had not been able to really enjoy it on their previous trips (Rooster and Bird had been there in the winter, and when Bo was there it was for the conference so he and Daddy really didn't have time to do everything at the museum). 

A petting zoo is a petting zoo, I know - I do need to point out that this one was exceptionally clean with exceptionally friendly and knowledgeable staff and wonderfully friendly animals as well as unusual animals such as a Zonkey, a Zorse, and wallabies.

Bird feeding a llama at the petting zoo - looks like it tickles!

Bo really enjoyed feeding and petting the Zorse and the Zonkey (as did I - they were super sweet and friendly and full of personality!)

The goats were overly eager to get their snacks - Bird was trying to ration his handfuls evenly

Bo feeding one of the eager goats

Rooster was mainly interested in feeding the chickens...birds of a feather??

We really enjoyed our family time together, and all we did and saw on the trip. I highly recommend at least one visit to the Creation Museum – from the exhibits to the shows to the gardens to the zoo, it is all-in-all a wonderful and edifying experience.