Fire Station!

I started a Young Homeschoolers Play Group a couple months ago and it's going really well!  I find around age 4 and 5 that it's hard for homeschoolers, as most of the friends they have made go off to school.  So, I started this group to build community for Blossom's age group.

We do a couple park days and a couple field trips each month.  One for this month was the fire station!

Kids got to climb in and explore the various trucks.  Then, they saw a firefighter put on all his gear so they won't be scared of him if he's in their house to rescue them!  This was everyone's favorite part.

This fire station was downtown.  Afterwards, we walked across the street to the big park and splash pad.  Blossom hasn't been here in such a long time, it was seemingly all new to her, and I was surprised that she jumped right in!

Great way to cool off on a hot July day!!  Hope you all are having lots of fun Summer adventures as well!

Just the 3 of Us

The boys are in Memphis for 2 weeks with their grandparents.  Usually in this time, I get to work a lot, and get some good time with ZB (doing activities just geared for her).  She's going to camp at her preschool this coming week, and then a VBS at the church on our block the following week.  Hopefully she'll like both of them, so she'll be staying busy (at least in the mornings)!

A few days ago, we met with some other homeschooling families with young kids to go to the Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary.  I haven't been there in about 16 years, I can't believe I'd never taken the kids.  What a sweet spot!  The favorite spot of most of the children was this climbing tree:

They climbed for a solid half hour and then wandered down the path to ooh and aah over all the turtles in the lake :)  We have lots of fun activities planned with this sweet group this Summer.  It seems even in break times, we stay awfully busy!

Gray Fossil Dig

Just over the Tennessee border, in the town of Gray, is an active fossil dig.  The younger kids and I had a really fun day today accompanying Clay's high school Earth Science group on a field trip to the dig site.

The DOT was actually bulldozing for a new road and starting seeing bones.  They explained this is quite common, and they have paleontologists that routinely come check it out, usually finding bones as old as the Ice Age.  At this site, researchers found bones that were even older, back when this part of the country was very warm (they found an alligator)... so cool!  They have also discovered two new (extinct) species at this dig site - new kinds of red panda and badger.  Also prehistoric bears, tapirs, a mastadon, etc.

We had a great tour guide show us the active dig areas and patiently answer questions from all the kids, including Blossom asking things like, "When will it be Saturday?" and "What will happen if it's night and a girl comes out of a volcano that comes out of a mountain, that comes out of a rock?"  Hahaha!

The guide said she was very impressed with our group.  She said most teens come through and are very disinterested (or at least trying to act like it), and don't pay attention, just goofing off the entire tour.  Our group was asking lots of questions and actually listening (yay homeschoolers!)

The labs are inside the adjoining museum.  Researchers were busy cleaning and examing bones.  It was pretty neat to be able to see this work in person.  To preface this photo, I'll say that whenever Clay saw me snapping a photo, he decided to be totally goofy, so half of the photos I came home with look like this:

The museum was small, but pretty neat.  Some of the kids brought home applications to volunteer as site workers this Summer!

No one in the group had to be home yet, so we decided to spend more time in Tennessee.  We headed to Bays Mountain.  It's only a $4 entry per car, and it was really beautiful!  There was a lot to do there, and we picked the ropes course for this group, and a quick walk to see some of the nature center animals.  We had hoped to visit the planetarium at the end, but the teens found a really great hike, so we followed their lead on that one.

The low ropes course was intended for team building.  The kids had a blast on it!

On the hike, the boys had discovered what looks to be an old dam or bridge maybe.  It is all surrounded by forest now, but apparently used to have a road, as they also found a car at the bottom of it.  The whole structure was semi-dilapidated, which I guess makes it all the more desirable to a teenage boy!

ZB was not allowed to go on top of the structure (lots of holes over a pretty big drop), so she settled with just striking some poses next to it ;)

The group of boys (7 of them, I believe) went off to explore the woods on their own for a while, and ZB found her inner mountain goat and was rock climbing all over the place!  It was really the perfect place for it.

If you ever find yourself near the Tri-Cities area of Tennessee, and have a couple hours to spare, I highly recommend checking out the dig site or Bays Mountain.  I'm sure we'll be back!

Rainy Day Birthday

Little ZB is 3!!  She's so excited about it, too.  Each day since her birthday, she has been asking if she is still three, just to be sure :)

Her party was rained out, so we took her to the toddler free-play at the gym.

She jumped and played the entire time.  Apparently, she even has some time to kick back and relax as the parents did all the work with the parachute!

 A few of her friends were even able to make it and play.  After gym time was over, we walked across the street to the Asheville Brewing Company.  The parents enjoyed their great beers, and the kids enjoyed pizza and homemade ice cream.

 ZB asked for me to make chocolate and avocado... yum!  Made with good ingredients like maple syrup for sweetener, and eggs from our own hens, it was nothing to feel guilty about eating :)

We are all so in love with this fun little girl!  She's growing up way too fast...

Thanks to everyone for their sweet birthday wishes and gifts, she has enjoyed everything!
Love to all!

Big City, 5 - Sunshine!

After cloudy and rainy days since our arrival, we were so glad to awaken to a sunshiney and warm Fall day!  We started the day off going into Brooklyn and walking back to Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge.

It is very windy up there!  Both boys had to hold their hats several times for fear of them blowing into the East River.

And the views were spectacular!!  Statue of Liberty on one side with the harbor, and the city skyline on the other.

With the Saturday sunshine crowds, also came the guys making money any way they could.  This guy would let you hold his snake if you paid him :)  We opted for the free version of Reed just standing next to him.

Once we were on shore again, we stopped to watch a street performance, and Reed was pulled out of the crowd to volunteer in a guy-flipping-over-a-bunch-of-people stunt.  It absolutely made his day to be chosen!

Next, we rode a train to the East Village.  It was a totally different vibe than the more touristy areas we've been in so far.  Lots of college students, homeless folks, and general hipster-types.  Restaurants and bars at nearly every doorway, only interrupted by a few tattoo parlors, piercing shops, and general provision stores.  We had read about a little place called Crif Dog and as soon as I told the boys, "they serve deep-fried, bacon-wrapped hot dogs with chili cheese tater tots", they both immediately asked how soon we could go.  The hotdogs were delicious, the place was full and generally a dive bar type place.  I ordered BLT dog off the menu, and the boys ordered pretty plain dogs (if you call call something wrapped in bacon "plain").  They regretted their boring choices, so we ordered one more for the road.  This is called the Lil' Mama: bacon-wrapped hot dog, topped with peanut butter, pickles and crushed potato chips.  All three kids LOVED it.  You can form your own opinion on that taste combo, but I figure, at least their trying new things, right?

Since we were in the neighborhood, we had to go to Houston Street - the only reference we know of, of how to pronounce our last name correctly ("like Houston, Texas?  No, like Houston Street in New York City.") 'House-ton'

It was getting kind of late at this point, and we decided to put off the last part of schedule for a different day, which was taking the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty.  At the Port Authority, waiting for our bus back to the apartment, it was obvious Gram had adjusted to the way things are here.  I don't think I ever would have guessed I would see her sitting on the floor of a bus station.  But, in a place with no benches (none!) and tired people, sometimes you've just got to make do.

Back to the apartment for dinner from the Quiche restaurant downstairs and a bath for the toddler who felt inclined to skooch herself across the floors of multiple grimy subway stations today.  Until tomorrow, rest well - I know we will!

Big City, 4 - Walking!

We all have sore feet tonight!  Today was our big walking day.  Gram arrived from Memphis last night, so she got to walk out into Times Square with us this morning.  First stop was The Cake Boss cafe - I think it's the closest door you can walk into after walking out of Port Authority Bus Terminal.  We all chose delicious and way Times-Square-overpriced-sweets :)  Then, we walked east and Gram got to check out all the Times Square madness.  We didn't leave the crowds, but did leave the utter chaos as we headed East on 42nd to the Main Branch of the New York City Public Library.

Gram is a librarian, so this stop was requested by her, and I'm glad we added it to the itenerary.  It is a really beautiful building inside and out.  Also, we got to walk through the Reading Room (the Ghostbusters theme song is now stuck in my head all day), ZB had a great time in the Children's Rooms (one room just had squishy foam gym mats all over the floor!), and there was a really neat exhibit on Children's literature.  We learned that pop-up drawing were used for hundreds of years before anyone had the idea to make them into a children's book.  We learned the origins of picture books, saw the original Winnie-the-Pooh stuffed animals, went through a hallway of banned books (I had no idea all the edited out parts of the Diary of Anne Frank!), and ZB spent probably an hour just in the room dedicated to her very favorite book, Goodnight Moon:

We kept walking down 42nd St and toured Grand Central Station (largest train station in the world!) which is amazingly gorgeous inside.  Then we walked just another block to the Chrysler Building and checked out this art-deco icon.

Some legs needed resting after this walk, so we took a subway north and got out at the Apple Store.  Gram took the boys to wander while I walked ZB across the street to Central Park.  Rock climbing and seeing the ducks in The Pond were on her agenda.

 ZB says, "Now take a picture like this!"

The kids were not impressed with the Apple store, and they shortly joined us in the park.  We found a big playground, where Clay and Reed rock-climbed, while Gram put her feet up for a while and read a book, and ZB loved another chance to play!

The sun started to set, and we headed out to wander around in search of food.  We are having great luck finding delicious food at hole-in-the-wall places instead of trying to find more popular spots.  We found a yummy and very affordable (for Midtown Manhattan) Korean restaurant tonight.  Everyone tried something new and loved it!  And Reed showed off his chopsticks skills...

The good food gave us a second wind, and we trekked down to the JP Morgan Museum and Library.  He's one of the fellows who pretty much financed Manhattan (along with Rockefeller and the likes), and not only lived in a mansion in Midtown Manhattan, but collected ridiculously cool stuff.  On Friday nights, the museum is free, so we at least wanted to take a peek.  We saw hand-written letters from George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, Beethoven's hand-written 9th Symphony, precious stones and jewels, artifacts from Mesopotamia, it was really a random and cool collection.  We only lasted about an hour before Reed declared "too tired to go on".  So, we made for home before anyone passed out or had a major meltdown, which is a win in my book with this trip :)

Tomorrow it's down to the Southern end of the island to see the Statue of Liberty!  See you then, Julie

Big City, 3 - Tourists

We must have heard "Where are you from?" over a dozen times today from museum docents, waiters, subway riders, etc.  I guess we just look like tourists - or it could be because we pretty much just stuck to touristy destinations today.  It was kind of the 'Intro to the Big City Day'.  Our bus ride is great into the city, about 20 minutes.  This morning we headed straight out the exit doors at Port Authority Bus Terminal into Times Square ... yeah, that place is nuts!

We were all just dazed for a little bit.  The kids were quickly acclimated to the chaos, figured out how to quickly cross a street, not stop for everyone that wants to hand you a flier and sell you stuff, etc...

We wandered semi-aimlessly for many blocks, looked at cool buildings, Reed took about a bajillion pictures, we tried to find the Apple (electronics) store and became sidetracked when we found Rockefeller Center.  We had actually intended this to be on the itinerary today, but as I was about to order tickets, found at that kids under 6 can't go in.  Boo.  This is the same reason we can't do the Tenement House Museum.  Oh well, there are just too many other things to do and see in New York to get upset over those ones!  At Rockefeller Center, they were just starting to fill/freeze the rink for the seasonal ice skating - that was neat to see in progress.

Reed was super excited to find that the NYC Lego store was located just in front of Rockefeller Center!

Of course we had to go in!  Lego murals, lego statue recreations of the Rockefeller Center famous statues.  Way cool.

Times Square was overall a massive amount of chaos and advertising, but something we just had to do, if just so the boys can say they were there.  Clay checked out the Element skateboard gear shop, Reed bought some touristy souvenirs.  Fortunately, the kids had no desire to go on the Toys R Us ferris wheel, and I forbade them from going in the M&M store.  This is not the real New York, this is tourist trap central with glorified chain stores.  And after a couple hours, we were all tired of it, so hopped on the subway uptown to the Museum of Natural History.  Before heading in, we crossed the street to the western edge of Central Park and the kids had their first New York hot dog.  And blech - only Blossom liked it, and that's probably because she hasn't eaten bread in months, so the whole thing was pretty fantastic in a way that only a white bread hot dog bun can be.

Back to the museum.  Unforunately, a lot of the really big exhibits (like, the Ocean animals, the huge dinosaur skeletons, etc) were blocked off for some fancy-pants party being held at night.  We didn't see all we wanted to, but did see neat stuff.  We all liked the Minerals hall, the Meteorites hall and the few dinosaur exhibits that were open.  Another thing I particularly liked about this museum is that it is a "suggested payment" museum, so you pay what you wish.  They don't really tell you that, but the cashier didn't blink an eye when I handed him the credit card and told him I'd be paying $30 total.  I think I would have felt a little ripped off, actually, had I paid full price only to find out that the largest exhibits were closed for a private party.

We grabbed a subway back to near Times Square to find a pizza place (the kids insisted they HAD to have New York pizza ... can't blame them), and thankful that is something not hard to find here.  I will say that the kids are already very comfortable with all the public transportation.  Here's Blossom riding the subway like a pro (with Reed feeling very protective of her :)

I think ZB's favorite part of the day may have actually been the subways.  She waved to every passing train, held on tight during jerky starts and stops, and really loved the tile mosaics all around the Museum of Natural History subway stops...

The night ended with Blossom passed out in my arms before the pizza even arrived at the table, and some tired & cranky kids back at the apartment.  Staying up late to wait for their Gram's arrival has not helped the cranky-factor.  Here's hoping for a good night's sleep and a fresh start in the morning!