Florida Vacation & Homeschool World Series

Once again this year we made the trip to Florida for the Homeschool World Series.  We planned a few fun stops along the way so that the littles would have something other than baseball to look forward to while we were there...

 

 

First up was Pensacola Beach on the way to get Daddy from the airport.  The kids loved the beach and the stay over for the night!

 

 

After we got Daddy we made our way to Clearwater Beach and the Clearwater Aquarium.  We were able to see "Winter" the dolphin (Dolphin Tale movie), go on a science trip with a marine biologist and watch her log ocean animals that are in Clearwater Bay.  The kids had a great time seeing some animals that they have never seen or touched before!  They experienced hurricane strength winds, saw Winter and her prothstetic tale, touched sting rays and so much more!

 

 

On our day off from the HWS we went to watch the Lakeland Flying Tigers play the Cubs.  They are both minor league teams and we had a great time at the game.  Yes, more baseball, and it was hot (so the kids say) but we still had fun. 

 

 

The HWS was fun this year and the team played some good games (and some not so good games).  Codey is already having withdraws and it has only been a week. 

Florida Vacation

Our first family vacation (other than camping trips) was planned around a trip that we had to take for the Homeschool World Series.  Codey's baseball team was competing so we thought we would make a fun and educational trip out of the experience.  Here is a look at the stops along the way...

Mobile, Alabama: USS Alabama Battleship & Submarine


The Hungry Owl as seen on "Man vs. Eats"- Jeremy ordered the burger that was uggested from the show and ate every mouthwatering bite


LegoLand


Daytona Beach


Homeschool World Series: There were 25 teams from 10 states.  The team placed 14th overall, 6th in their division.

Dewberry Farms

We went to Dewberry Farms with one of the Homeschool groups that we are a part of.  The kids had fun, as usual, and didn't want to leave!

Gone To Texas

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Christian was asked to play the roll of Sam Houston's youngest son in a skit at the Folk Festival this year. He did a great job!  To top it off, we all learned a ton about Huntsville and Sam Houston that we did not know.  What started as our annual fieldtrip ended up being a fun family event and memory!  It was a fun day!

Fort Parker State Park

We took a short drive over to Mexia to Fort Parker State Park.  We had never been there before and with gas prices rising we thought it would be a quick weekend get-away.  The park is very small and quiet.  There was only hiking and canoeing to do there in the park but the surrounding town and the park itself have a ton of Texas history.  So, we took in some of the historic sites and learned about the Commanche Indians, Cynthia Ann Parker and the insuing raid that went on.  The kids even got into the history which is always a good thing!  I very highly reecommend this park for a quick weekend get-away if you don't mind small and quiet!  Here is a quick slide show of our weekend...

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Ellen Trout Zoo

Brogan's final assignment for her Animal Kingdom class was to classify and report on 8 different animals.  To do this her teacher arranged a field trip to the zoo.  We went to the zoo in Lufkin rather than having to deal with Houston traffic.  Since I grew up going to the Houston Zoo, it isn't a big deal to go down there for us.  I had never been to the zoo in Lufkin but it was great little zoo.  We did the entire zoo in about 2 hours and the kids saw an animal at every corner.

Here is Brogan doing her assignment.  And I just had to get a picture of them drinking out of th lion water fountain.  There used to be one a the Houston Zoo when I was little and I even have a picture of us by it.  I couldn't believe they had one and the kids thought it was cool.

Just some of the animals.  This was the biggest raccoon we have ever seen!

I got on the website before we went and it said they had a baby wallaby so, while we were there we looked for it.  At first, we couldn't find it and just as we were about to leave it stuck its head out of the momma's pouch.  We hung a around a little longer longer and got to see it jump out and eat.  The kids thought that was super cool!  So, did I!

Once we were done with the zoo we rode the train thru the park, had a picnic lunch and played on the playground.  The kids slept all the way home!  What a fun day!!



Folk Festival

Every year Huntsville hosts the Sam Houston Folk Festival.  Our family loves to go!  There are people walking around in costumes from the 1800s and the kids get to see people making pottery, glass bowls, soap and much more with tools used in that time period.  They also get to take a look at guns and knives and see how a real cannon operates.  It is always a lot of fun and this year was no exception!

Just an example of some the demonstrations

The souvenier of choice is always a gun.  But, of course, that is the only way we can be soldiers or cowboys!

Making marble art is always fun!

The festival is held at the Sam Houston Duck Pond.  We go there often just to feed the ducks but we have never seen a family of ducks until today!  The kids were so excited to see them and the ducks acted like we were not even there...

2011 County Fair

Well, it has been a very busy week here!  It is Walker County Fair this week and we have definetly had our share of the fairgrounds!

  

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Just a quick recap...

Thursday Brogan turned in her Canned Good: "Spirited Pumpkin Butter".  She won fifth!  Not a bad showing for her first fair.

Monday Jeremy & I took our rabbits over to someone so he could tell us what he thought.  The news was not very good.  We warned the kids about what we were looking at and told them not to get their hopes up.

Monday night we had the Little Tykes Rodeo.  Christian looks forward to this all year.  He counts down until it is time for his rodeo so when this came he was on happy cowboy.  This year Rylen was old enough to participate and Brogan decided since she would be to old next year she would give it a try.  Christian won 1st place in the "Run to touch the Dog" and 4th in the "Stickhorse Race".  Brogan won 1st in the "Stickhorse Race" and 2nd in the "Wagon Pull".  She beat out a group full of boys!  Rylen waited to whole time and kept asking when he was gong to get his trophy.  He finally got a ribbon for participation.  He was so happy!

Tuesday Brogan, Codey & Joshua showed rabbits.  This was the second year for Codey but just the first for Joshua and Brogan.  To our surprise we did well.  We were extremly happy that we were not in the bottom eight.  These were "No placed".  When we made it past that we were a little more relieved.  Joshua ended up 18th and Codey 20th.  Codey was bummed but they both took it all in stride.  Brogan however was doing really well.  After every 5 we were feeling a little better.  Not that we felt we had winners but we were relieved that she was still in the running.  She ended up 6th!  She was so happy and is still saying "I can't believe I got 6th on my first year!"  We go to the Premium auction next.  Ughh!  So nerve-racking but so good for her!

Also on Tuesday Brogan had her sewing competition.  She ended up 2nd in the interview and 4th in the construction.  We were so happy for her!  I think I was more nervous about this than the rabbits.  I was so happy that she did so well!

We also did the Kids on Parade on Tuesday.  Rylen & Christian modeled with Brogan.  All of the kids got a special gift for participating and the boys had fun.

It was one looong day to say the least!

Wednesday we went to Kindergarten Day at the fair.  We went with some other families and the kids had a fun time looking at and petting the animals despite the cold weather.  We waited outside 45 minutes to ride an old firetruck.  It was the only thing Rylen had been asking to do and I was determined that we would wait and do it for him.  We did and then we hurried to the car and headed home to a warm house and lunch.    

Tomorrow is Thursday and we have the Premuim Auction for Brogan.  More nerves.  Friday morning Brogan turns in her bread for the Baked Goods competition.  Saturday is the freezer sale for Joshua & Codey and Sunday we pick up rabbits and clean up the fairgrounds.  One long week but well worth it! 

Joseph & the Amazing Dreamcoat

 Members of our homeschool group went to see  production of CYT's "Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and let me tell you...it was AMAZING!!!  The production was a Broadway-type show with the entire cast being students 8-16 years old.  One of the main characters was a fellow homschooled student from our area.  These kids did a great job!  Our kids had a blast watching them.  So much so that Brogan wants to take a class and try out for a show.  Maybe after her Cinderella gig is up we will see.  All in all it was a great day!

Our Thanksgiving Vacation

We don't usually get to take family vacations but this year we planned way in advance and made sure we had the time to take one.  Jeremy, Joshua and Codey missed two days of school and we headed out to West Texas to the mountains.  We were gone a week and visited three state parks and several other neat places.  Brogan had lots of great things that covered history and science and, most importantly, we enjoyed God's creation.  We spent Christian's 5th birthday camping and he loved every minute of it.  here is just a little recap of our mile-filled week...

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The Huntsville Item

We went on a fieldtrip with some pre-school families from our church to the local newspaper.  It was a very intersting tour and the kids really enjoyed it.  This picture below even ended up in the Sunday paper!!

We started with a talk about what the newspaper is and does...

Then there was so much for the kids to look at...

Thanks Sarah for organizing it!

Folk Festival

The annual Sam Houston Folk Festival was this past Friday and, like always, the kids had a great time.  I didn't get many pictures this year but I did catch Rylen and Christian playing the part with their new guns.

KSTAR 99.7

Today we went on a fieldtrip to KSTAR Country 99.7 radio station to find out what disc jockeys really do and what it is like inside of a radio station.  We got to see Brave Dave and Lisa and they were very nice to let us sit in on them while they did their show.  We got to see how all of the equipment works and got a chance to pick the movie for the contest they were doing.  Brogan picked "High School Musical" but got vetoed for "Ice Age".   We even got to say "Hi" to all of their listeners.  Thanks KSTAR for letting us come hang out!  All in all it was a fun day!

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Duck Pond Outing

We took a quick trip to the Duck Pond one day when we had a little time to spare.  I caught some cute pics of Rylen and Christian just hanging out together.

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San Antonio Zoo

Are you as big as a Condor?

Birds

The kids area was a great place to take a break and get away from the heat

Codey took this picture of a crocodile and his reflection off of the water.

More Birds

The jaguars were sleeping

The reptiles and snakes were a big hit

Brogan and Christian stand with a pride of lions

It was one hot day but fun!