Tag Archive | turtle

Archelon… the Giant Sea Turtle

Ok do NOT ask how old this is (even though the date is right there… baaaad Lisa). I have decided to push through and post these crazily old posts now before I never get them up!! Hopefully our collection of links are helpful… and still active!!

For Emanuel’s (and now Trinity’s) first dinosaur of the 2013-2014 school year we actually went reptile… giant reptile with the Archelon turtle. This late Cretaceous period reptile was believed to be slow moving and only dove deep to hibernate. A Potential omnivore it spent its entire life in the ocean except to lay eggs. It is thought to be the predecessor to our current turtles.

What I found interesting was that it was soft shelled AND around during the END of the dinosaurs. And HUGE!!!

We watched a short independently made video about our reptile on youTube by Sarcosuchus7 titled Archelon The Biggest Turtle.

And now for our link list:

BBC has some images and a blurb HERE
KidsDinos.com has their article HERE
EnchantedLearning has their information HERE
Animal a Day has a great fossil image HERE
Las Ecomujeres has a great article HERE
Euro Turtle has another great image HERE
Wiki as ever has their say HERE
And of course our colouring page from Super Coloring HERE

I hope these links are helpful!! Enjoy our turtle learning!

November, Over 6 Months Later…

Jun15

November isn’t nearly so busy up in Canada… this American Thanksgiving thing takes getting used to and we have not gotten there yet. I am not a Black Friday shopping person… that is WAY too close to Christmas for my comfort. BUT we do try to cover something about it each year in our homeschool curriculum.

What is funny is that when I do these blog entries looking back at these months long gone I try to think about the month before I look at the pictures on the camera and our phone… November… well beyond Thanksgiving… well I drew a total blank… November, fall, I am pretty sure Nana and Baba took a trip… maybe… crochet, I know I did a lot of that (but when don’t I?)… we had to have homeschooled… crafted some I am sure… but concrete things… well darn you November, you just didn’t stick on the brain!

These flew off to Canada for a group of little girls to enjoy.

Oh wait! Remembrance Day… I mean Veteran’s Day… Though I wear my poppy and called it the former… don’t forget that. We did a mini unit on it that month. I do love the In Flander’s Fields poem (and not just because a Canadian wrote it).

Let’s see… we played in the snow… at the end of the month.

We did Home Depot.

We were thankful with our gratitude turkey feathers.

Echo got her inner artist going.

Trinity and Emanuel helped me make handmade Christmas cards.

We managed to make it to a craft at the Lakeshore educational store.

We started our Christmas decorating with a mini tree in the basement.

And put the large one up in the dining area for a lovely Christmas glow.

We made a trip to the Lego store at Mall of America. The kids love playing with the blocks they have out for use.

Of course we set up our advent calendars. Echo got her very own paper chain countdown that she helped me put together.

We had company over. Cousin Robbie one night, the Schwartz family another.

We made a visit over to Robbie’s house too where Aunty Judy introduced us to their turtle.

And had a homeschool field trip to a newspaper for the twins!

Of course we did some shopping and with decorations at Walmart and cute little ones at Sam’s.. I took pictures. I think all in all we did good last November!!

A Zoo Date~

May17

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.

It 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!

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!

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.

But 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

Starfish

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

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.

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.