Tag Archive | Sloth

A Long Awaited Recounting…

Ok so NOT as long awaited as DECEMBER… which I WILL cover BEFORE this December comes about… I hope! But I figured before I shared my Mom and Step-dad’s visit I REALLY should cover Karyn and Lauralee’s. The intrepid duo drove from Red Deer, Alberta all the way down to the Grand Canyon and back again. With a stop off of a week at our house in sunny Minnesota – in the summer – when Karyn is NEVER here (for some reason MOST of her visits occur in the middle of winter… who goes from ALBERTA to MINNESOTA in the winter? Well one of the most amazing aunties ever of course!).IMG_20160626_184755

20160624_123857We made sure to show them a little bit of the state – our favourite beach of course.20160626_113159

IMG_20160626_133829IMG_20160626_113417IMG_20160626_131226IMG_20160626_131133Karyn and I ducked out for our usual extensive Mall of America shopping – sadly one of my favourite stores is gone now BUT we did manage to find some hidden gems, spend a little cash and walk ourselves into the ground. SO – good day!

Did NOT purchase

Did NOT purchase

BUBBLE TEA

BUBBLE TEA

We 3 adults joined Ken for an adult lunch. And some MORE shopping (poor Lauralee).

On my birthday (June 24th) the ladies watched our kids so we could go out for a lovely dinner.

First flowers that are REAL since our wedding!

First flowers that are REAL since our wedding!

IMG_20160624_221625Karyn drove us to the YMCA a few times and spoiled us horribly. So workouts and playing did not falter. Seriously, this has to be the healthiest summer EVER for this family – 2 miles either way, lots to do while there. ALL GOOD!20160627_190504

Karyn brought us a marvelous car full of gear. Canadian stuff, stuff from her childhood. Which put Trinity right over the moon. (the shirts she brought for us are in our Canada Day pictures on the post for Canada Day of course.)

We checked out the Como Zoo – because really when we did a comparison the animals at the pay zoo were not enough to make the donation only zoo less impressive. PLUS they had BUTTERFLIES!!!!IMG_8884

IMG_8888IMG_889920160628_121836IMG_893520160628_122136Trinity snuck off with her god mommy and Lauralee for ice cream and Mommy snuck off with Karyn and Lauralee for frozen yogurt. So there was even some sneaking around! 

It was a wonderful visit, and as usual, not long enough. But then again, I doubt there could be a visit that we would feel was “long enough.” I am just so grateful they added us to their pilgrimage south. Now enjoy the rest of our pictures! I couldn’t resist adding more!IMG_8892

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A Zoo Date~

What can I say, we seem to gravitate to the Como Zoo in Minnesota. And what is better than enjoying the zoo on a day where it is NOT packed and not more than mildly chilly? Why going with new homeschool friends! Nathan, Drew and Bella are so much fun. With their mom and Ken and myself we had 8 kids, no crowds, and all the time in the world. They are new to the state so it was fun to take them around and show them our favourite parts… talk about future get togethers and explorations… just generally get to know each other better. DSCF6156

IMAG2950It is such a gift to get to know some homeschool families that are local. This is the second such family that we are getting to know and love. It is wonderful to have moments where the questions are different, the experiences are common and the laughter about personal stories is shared with an understanding that they have been there too! DSCN1541

As it was the end of April when we went to the zoo it was still a breezy spring day, so many of the animals were relegated to their indoor housing. I cannot count how many times we walked into one and the kids remarked on the smell… it is funny how you see how they almost believe the animals should smell like flowers and potpourri instead of animal and musk.

Gavin took this one in case you were wondering what he was certain was the issue in the giraffe enclosure!

Gavin took this one in case you were wondering what he was certain was the issue in the giraffe enclosure!

We were able to take our time at each location and talk about things, speak with the interpreters, take pictures. It was relaxing to not have to hold the kids back but let them run and explore within a greater visual area. IMAG2939DSCF6146

DSCF6107But enough about all that… time for just a wild series of enjoyable images!!! Make sure you scroll to the end. After my favourites are the best of Gavin’s… unedited!!!!

Just the girls

Just the girls

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Starfish

Starfish

PENGUINS! Emanuel demands extra time each trip to visit his all time favourite animal.

PENGUINS! Emanuel demands extra time each trip to visit his all time favourite animal.

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Polar Bears! There were two in the enclosure. They were just hanging out, wandering. Somehow I think the weather was somewhat warm to them, possibly quite pleasant.

Polar Bears! There were two in the enclosure. They were just hanging out, wandering. Somehow I think the weather was somewhat warm to them, possibly quite pleasant.

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Spot the snow leopard.

Spot the snow leopard.

This female tiger is on loan from the Minnesota Zoo for breeding... she was pacing a little... we were wondering if it was man troubles... I could just see her grumbling under breath - stupid tiger thinking I would just clean his fur and be all in love.. wine me, dine me man.

This female tiger is on loan from the Minnesota Zoo for breeding… she was pacing a little… we were wondering if it was man troubles… I could just see her grumbling under breath – stupid tiger thinking I would just clean his fur and be all in love.. wine me, dine me man.

Arctic Foxes look like toys,  Echo and Nathan were in love.

Arctic Foxes look like toys, Echo and Nathan were in love.

Gorgeous bonsai

Gorgeous bonsai

Monkey House

Monkey House

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Such a stately gorilla.

Such a stately gorilla.

I wish I had taken video of this little guy... he was adorable.

I wish I had taken video of this little guy… he was adorable.

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This was the best Ken could do with the wolf... but dang super close!

This was the best Ken could do with the wolf… but dang super close!

IMG_20160427_151358And now, Gavin’s photo efforts!

Sleepy cat

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Ostrich!

Ostrich!

This duck was a kid favourite and not even one of the exhibitions.

This duck was a kid favourite and not even one of the exhibitions.

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Sloth... Butt???

Sloth… Butt???

And a picture of me taking a picture of something.

And a picture of me taking a picture of something.

Recycle on Earth Day

April 22-23

Well, with the ongoing battle of spring VS snow planting our Earth Day tree ON Earth Day simply couldn’t happen. So instead we made do with what we could do inside… starting with TWO books… the first Earth Day by Mir Tamim Ansary. The second a chapter out of our chapter book: Ready Freddy! #25… Save the Earth by Abby Klein.

Earth Day

We started our chatting about it with what we already knew about what we should do on Earth Day… plant a tree, turn things off… and then went on to write out what we learned from our books. The beginnings of Earth Day, what we could do… and then… we did! We looked at our lunch and saw what we could recycle if we took a few seconds and rinsed it out (yogurt cups)… we turned off more lights (like I like to anyway) and opened the blinds in the basement, we had short showers at night (again if only they would be so efficient usually).

Our Earth Week friendly world

The twins spent their afternoon crafting out of the craft bucket using at least ONE item that is recycled. Gavin used yarn bits for his person and a Kleenex box for its home with cardboard for the bed. Zander used a  toilet paper roll judiciously decorated and sparkly to make a lantern for his sister that he then tried to convince his Nana to give him a candle to REALLY light it up.

Clothespin girl

Lantern WITHOUT candle

We talked about how important it was to walk away from the tv and computers… how playing outside uses up their excess energy and doesn’t use excessive household energy. So of course I pitched them outside TWICE to run around and enjoy the almost gone snow… that is now coming BACK. SERIOUSLY!!!

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We have collected some worksheets as well… of course after we finish our week long unit (or before), we will flip the sheets over and scratch paper, colour, give to Echo to create on… where ever the fancy takes us. Let’s see… Trinity enjoyed Recycling at the Beach HERE. We had to put a reminder poster over our recycling containers from an Activity Village poster HERE. I made the K worksheet a little more difficult by giving it to the twins and telling them to read it themselves and go from there HERE.

Recycle!

Ending our day with games with daddy!

GAMES

The next day we had our SECOND crafting day… more creativity but adding in the younger kiddos also meant more whining and confusion. It took Trinity most of our crafting time to come up with her idea… a little house for her small My Little Ponies (Kleenex box). Emanuel was first out the gate with his marble slide (Kleenex box, candy box, toilet paper rolls and Easter eggs), Gavin made a McDonalds for yesterday’s yarn people (toilet paper rolls, tops of a happy meal box, cardboard and paper from their spelling practices), Zander made himself a portable table with caster type things (box and Easter eggs). All very creative and rather amazing!!

Trinity’s house

Marble toy

Gavin’s restaurant

Zander’s table

We had a second craft that was a little more complicated for the twins and I to accomplish over naptime. Origami no less! Using newspaper to make garbage bins! You can follow Activity Village’s instructions HERE.

Garbage bins

We also discussed what is recyclable. The kids are are rather aware of what is and isn’t as here in our area the Recycling is only picked up every 2nd week. Unlike up in Alberta where we had it every week when we lived on our own. You can find an easy list pirintable HERE. Though I am sure areas differ.

We found some Dirty Jobs (a family favourite) episodes showing various ways to recycle. There is the episode Maple Syrup Maker (Season 4, Episode 17) that includes a trip to a paint recycling location. You can watch it on Amazon HERE. (free if  you have Prime) Our second episode was Toilet Crusher (Season 4, Episode 9… I know, out of order) where toilets are removed and recycled. Again you can watch it for free on Amazon HERE (with Prime). I am sure we will watch another one the next day…

We are keeping it minor in the worksheets but I found an adorable tree related one with some facts about how wonderful they are for the world HERE. We were tipped off about an amazing math colouring printables site by our friend and now teacher Steven. Check out Coloring Squared HERE for a series of them with two difficulties. We did  the Lion and the Monkey. It was a little simple for the twins but a good practice of addition and I saw improvement in speed of correctly answering the calculations.

We also snuck in a Wild Kratts – Sloth and the Sloth Moth.

Sloth and Sloth Moth

Add in a tea party and I think we did a good two days of learning and fun!

Tea Party!!!

This entry was posted on 25/04/2013, in Uncategorized. 4 Comments