Well, we had our last of the real firsts… we missed our first Jimmie birthday party, which is  rather appropriate as the very last thing we did in Canada before we turned to this new chapter in our lives is go to the Tyrell Museum for his birthday. My nephew is now 8 and as he turns 8 we mark our year as uprooted Canadians working on placing our American roots. 

After a year we have found our rhythm. A year of homeschooling in a whole new system awaits the yearly test and on we go with a second year already in the works. We have learned about the platypus, enjoyed the penguins and experienced the neighbourhood…

Ken has been working for nearly 6 month and is grounded and enjoying himself along with his beer league soccer (they are first in their league right now) and his weekly boardgame nights with friends from his youth. Grounds have been revisited, memories unearthed and cheese curds eaten. 

Echo has grown (some) and matured (tons) and become even more precocious. With her words in her chatter, her ringlets and smile are all over the house. 

I have fallen into crochet myself (finally) with the help of reconnecting with my bestfriend from high school (Shandai). I have my all new American baby Lily Bean and a laundry list of Minnesotan landmarks to see. My status is on going and my plans fluctuate but… it is becoming home here. We have home plans! It is good! 

A year after we have had to loosen up on our 2 years in the US plan… what with the whole wanting to buy a house (or so I am told I want to… hehe) and Ken’s wonderful job. BUT I have trips north to look forward to, once I have my status cemented of course! 

We have had a year of American holidays and learning to celebrate our Canadian (and international) one a little more low key. The change has been different but our horizons have been broadened as has our creativity in keeping our Canadian experiences alive. In the wake of a year away I am proud of how our relationships with those up in Canada have continued strong. And of course all new events to enjoy and create traditions around!

We are not exactly where I imagined we would be a year later but we have a plan to be proud of, memories to hold dear and a present that is glorious. I don’t think I will ever stop missing my family, friends, slurpees, poutine… our every day life in Canada completely BUT it is becoming easier and easier to be here… and to be happy and not missing everything up north as much.

When I look back through this year I see a lot of change, and most for good, a lot of adaptation and growth. We have a future to look forward to with lots more change, adapting and learning to go. I just want to say I love and miss you to everyone back up north and thank you to everyone here who have assisted in the process of making us more at home! 

As I have mentioned before Emanuel does love his herbivores… so we moved onto the Ankylosaurus. These armour plated dinosaurs are 4 legged tanks. Club tailed and spike covered, they really are a visual joy for the herbivore loving dinosaur fanatic. Now let’s get onto our videos…First the ever requested I’m a Dinosaur.

Our second video didn’t make the cut with Emanuel, he simply could not sit through it today, BUT it is about dinosaur bones found in the province we used to live in and dealt with the Tyrell Museum (another favourite of the family).

That leads us to the links… Found at the end of the Cretaceous period we had a few good links to share with you. Science Kids has some nice images including the skull and bone structure HERE. Kids National Geographic has a short blurb and an image HERE. Discovery Dinosaur Central as a lengthy article with lots of interesting information HERE. We always love Kidsdinos.com and their charts HERE. Why not check out a site dedicated to the Ankylosaur HERE? Dinosaurs.about.com has a list of the connected dinosaurs HERE. Wiki has an article HERE, and of course there is the colouring page from HelloKids.com HERE.

Rainbow herbivore

I think this was one of the most interesting dinosaurs we have learned about to date… there is so much known and so much UNKNOWN about this creature – the largest flying animal EVER. Seriously, the Quetzalcoatlus (KWET-zah-koh-AT-lus) was the size of a plane!!! There is much discussion about how this massive creature would fly, take off, eat… some figure it never flew, others that it could fly for weeks on end. Even the actual weight of this amazing winged lizard is debated. So lets start with what we DO know about it…

The Quetzalcoatlus was around during the Cretaceous period and was one of the last flying dinosaurs or Pterasaurs. It had a long neck and a toothless beak. It was without feathers and instead had tiny hairs on its body. It was potentially cold blooded. The wings of this beast tied into its fourth finger and it most likely walked on 4 legs. It was definitely a carnivore, though what particular meat it ate (carcasses like a vulture, skimming fish, or attacking land animals) is unknown. They were massive and amazing and as Emanuel says with great joy – AS BIG AS AN AIRPLANE – WOW!!!

Now for the videos. Our first one was a catching song. Everyone boogied along to the music while we enjoyed the images.

You have to go down the list on the site of our second video. But dsc.discovery.com has some great educational videos about various dinosaurs at THIS link. We are going to go down the list and see what other videos they have on our dinosaurs of choice. Triceratops was the first video! 

And now the links… We started with this article form site HERE. Emanuel loved the picture at the top, though we did gloss over the “seeing” of one in current times. Then there is the dino fact file HERE that had a nice little blurb about our massive flyer. EnchantedLearning had a great page to check out HERE, though their Tyrell Museum link is a dead one. About.com had 10 facts to know about the Quetzalcoatlus HERE that was rather helpful. The Melbourne Museum was helpful once again HERE. Kidsdinos.com has a nice write up and map HERE. TheDinosaurs.org has a great page about this dinosaur HERE. Now don’t forget about our colouring pages HERE. 

So, hopefully these links and videos help you and your dinosaur lover learn more about the biggest flying animal EVER!! We really enjoyed learning about him! 

Sleepy but learning!