Extreme Science at COSI

Today we went to COSI as a reward for Alex being extra-good lately. The kids got to make bubbles, make faces in a time-lapse camera, balance in the wacky gravity room, and watch a presentation about the extreme science of combustion. They blew up balloons of hydrogen, lit several salts to see what color they are when they burn (copper is green for example), and made dry ice glow by burning magnesium inside it.

Alex's First Day of First Grade

Today was the 1st day of Alex's 1st grade. His teacher is Mrs. Weinberg and she seems very nice. We also found out not to photograph Alex's new backpack with the flash, due to that snazzy reflective stripe. Glad to know it works. Way to go Alex! We're so proud of you.

School Orientation 2006

This evening we met at Alex's school to see his classroom for the next year. His class is made of 1st and 2nd graders and their are 3 of these classes - the primary grades. Their classrooms are actually lined up along one wall of an enormous room, with each teacher's space marked apart from the others by filing cabinets and other dividers. Another wall houses the 3rd and 4th graders - Lower Intermediate - and another wall contains the 5th and 6th graders - Upper Intermediate. The 4th wall is the area where the whole school meets for a weekly meeting. The middle houses a library/resource center/computer lab. Like I said, a huge room. The top picture is the kids in a covered wagon and near several western facades that have been recycled from the Western-themed auction earlier this year. After a couple of hours of hard orientating, we unwound at Chuck E. Cheese's and beat things with padded hammers.

Back to School Pool Party 2006

Today we went out to the Sylvania Country Club for Alex's Back to School party. One of Alex's classmate's dad is the executive chef there. As you can see it was a pool and ice cream party. Alex is getting to be a better swimmer, though one of his classmates has been taking lessons at our gym and was swimming great today. We may have to sign up. It was fun to see some of his classmates and his teacher even showed up to say "Hi!"

Hoop Dreams

Mark and Melinda got Alex this OU basketball outfit. It's reportedly very comfortable. He wanted to get a shot in it near the only goal he can dunk on. He is eating his vegetables (Ok, one carrot a week) and is growing taller everyday.

The Butterfly House

Today we hauled the troops out to the Butterfly House of Whitehouse, OH. This is the first time we've been here as a family, despite it being so close. The Butterfly House is home to over 100 species of butterfly, depending on the time of year. They had several Monarchs that were raised locally, but will be released for their migration to Mexico in September. The kids were great in there, being very careful not to step on or touch the butterflies. It was a real joy to see them enjoying the butterflies. I know it won't last forever, but for now we can spend a lazy summer afternoon watching pretty butterflies.

Rib-Off 2006

This has been a nearly annual local event for us since we discovered it. This year, they moved this benefit for the United Health Services to the Lucas County Rec Center where they usually have the county fair. There was more room than the usual venue down by the river so we didn't feel very crowded. We went early and had lunch there. We packed the boys' lunch and we had ribs from a couple of different local vendors - very tasty. We spent the next 3 1/2 hours in the expanded kids area they had this year. It was run by Hero's Toledo and was full of inflated bouncing obstacle courses. Alex also stood patiently in line for a painting of a heart on his arm. We topped it off with ice cream and called it a day before the crowds came in for JoDee Messina performing that night. We hope they have it here next year and expand the kids area even more. As you can tell from the last picture, it really wore them out.

Spring Break 2006 revisited

I was way behind on blogging and just finished my Spring Break in Oklahoma entries. In case you missed any, here they are.

Spring Break - We're Late!
Wrestlemania
Baby Manning
Blustery Day in the Backyard
Papa!! Hockey!!
Precious Chunky Doll Baby
Peep Eggs
Nana and the Little Man
Spot the Real Monkeys
Climbing on the Animals
Manning's First Zoo Trip
The Playful Sea Lion
Aaron's a Real Swinger
My Favorite Manning Photo (So Far)
Making Girly Sandals
Marcus's Scarf
Impromptu Family Reunion
Bedtime Stories
Sam Noble Museum of Natural History
Pentaceratops
Posing by Dinosaur Bones
Paleontologists in the Making
Hornhead
Marli's Scarf
Curls and Air Hockey
The Evans Clan - March 2006
Showing the Boys the Duck Pond
The Oklahoma Aquarium
Fishing Equipment for Giants

Evan's Hot Wheels Party

Alex's best friend, Evan, had the whole family over with bunches of other kids to his house for a Hot Wheels-themed birthday party. They had hot dogs for the kids and pulled pork for the grown-ups. They got another inflatable "moon bounce" like they did last year and everyone seemed to enjoy it. It was a hot day, but buckets of iced drinks kept us cool. It was our pleasure to celebrate the 6th birthday of such a great kid.

August Adventures

Alex finished another week of Maumee Valley Day Camp today. This week was a little more active than his week at Hob Haven and was part of their August Adventures week. On Monday he found some fossils in the local fossil park, then spent the afternoon swimming at a local park. Tuesday they went on a nature walk on the school grounds and spent the afternoon swimming at a local pool. On Wednesday he went hiking at Oak Openings and then more swimming at the local quarry. Yesterday was spent at a local farm and today was spent canoeing. This was one of the hottest weeks all year, so we worried about his ability to keep hydrated and reapply sunscreen, but he survived the week (with 35 bug bites). This may become a tradition.

The Laugh Doctor

We almost forgot that we had the local hospital's Summer Staff Dinnertonight. We like to go for the food, socialization and entertainment. For the price of my annual hospital dues, we get a free evening out. Minus the cost of babysitting - nothing's free anymore. It was held at the Sylvania Country Club and the evening summer sun from our 95-degree day was streaming into the dining room, making it warm and stuffy. Announcements were made during our salads, then the Cheif of Staff introduced our speaker as they were bringing us our meals. He was having to speak over the servers and everyone seemed to start talking at once, presumably about the food. It was very awkward until the Chief realized what he'd done and stood up and apologized and suggested we eat first, to which we all heartily agreed. The company was great as we got to update some old residency compatriots with the recent camping trip details. Dinner was pretty good as it usually is at the SCC, Becky and I had the fish The snafu with the speaker was a serendipitous way to start and he took it in stride, because he is the Laugh Doctor.

Dr. Clifford Kuhn is a psychiatrist that came to our function to give us his HA, HA, HA prescription. He helped us develop our Humor Aptitude, enhance our Humor Attitude, and take appropriate Humor Action. Fair warning, avoid getting on a long elevator ride with me, because I have a new trick I would like to try. We really enjoyed the evening and we plan on practicing our new humor skills soon.

Alex's Second Lost Tooth

Alex lost his second tooth tonight. He loosened it for what seemed like forever. It reminded me of a shark's tooth, because the new tooth was poking in behind the baby tooth. He's hoping for a $100 bill since he got the golden dollar he wished for last time. I'm not sure how it works, but I think he'll be disappointed if he's serious. Our tooth fairy seems to like golden dollars.

Camping at KOA

Becky wanted to go camping in an air-conditioned cabin this weekend, but since we started making plans a few days ago, we found out that the air-conditioned cabins this time of year are popular...and booked. We thought that a little fan in our tent would be almost as good. We were wrong. We went camping on one of the hottest weekends of the year and we have the sweat stains to prove it. This was the first camping trip since the fiasco of June 2004 when it rained all weekend. Some rain this weekend would've been nice. We went up to the KOA Kampground about 10 miles north of us near Petersburg, MI and pitched our tent. We had electricity for our air mattresses and fan and running water at our site. We bought firewood there and built campfires to cook hamburgers the first night and hot dogs the second - as well as two evenings of s'mores. Even though it was hot, Becky and I sat and talked by the fire after the kids went to bed. To beat the heat, we swam in the big swimming hole they have at the campground and ate some ice cream. We went though about 10 bags of ice for those 2 days to keep our food and drinks cool. Saturday night the kids got to ride around the campground in a tractor-pulled wagon with other kids. They also had a big playground there which the kids climbed all over. We'll definitely be back.

Penn's Cave

After getting extra smart by staying in a Holiday Inn Express, we drove a little further on Interstate 80 until we reached the turn-off for Penn's Cave. Becky found this one in a brochure rack in Philadelphia. After a week of shorts and sleeveless shirts, the boys were puzzled by why we dressed them in pants and brought their jackets. It all became clear when we descended the long staircase that led to the skinny boats in the 52 degree cavern. This cavern was traversed completely by boat. There was a tight S-curve in the middle that required the boats to be very long and skinny. We saw lots of stalactites and stalagmites and learned which was which. Near the end of the tour, after we learned many interesting cave facts, Becky turned to Alex and asked, "Can you believe that it takes one of those stalactites at least 300 years to grow one inch?" To which Alex replied, "That was real?"

In the gift shop, Becky bought a bag of dirt and semi-precious stones and she and Alex sorted them with a sieve in a sluice set up in front of the shop. Watch for some of those in future necklaces. Tonight we're in the best Holiday Inn Express yet witha huge room and an enormous tub to soak away the road miles. Tomorrow we've got to get another 3 hours down the road to roll into Toledo. This has been a great vacation.

The Jersey Shore

Today was a much better day for the beach. We drove east and turned right at New York City to drive down the New Jersey coast to Island Beach State Park. We paid $6 to get the van in the park (by far the cheapest day we've spent all week) and changed at a large bathhouse. We crossed the dunes on a boardwalk and found a great spot for our blanket. We immediately dipped our toes in the water and a large wave came up knocked Aaron over. The rest of the day was spent enjoying and respecting the waves. This respect included me learning about rip currents the hard way as I got pulled out to sea and accidentally did the right thing and swam parallel to the shore until I got out of the current and ended up several dozen yards downshore. I spent more time near the shore after that. We found a lot of neat shells and played in the sand. One of our biggest problems once we got there is that our van was baking in the heat while we were chilling on the beach, and our van now not only has the Chocolate World chocolates but the Crayola Factory crayons that could've been ruined were it not for my frequent trips back to the parking lot to run the A/C for a few minutes and blow out the hot air. We had such a good time that we started looking at the Atlas as we left to find the closest ocean beach (I think we were at it) for another trip next summer.

The Crayola Factory

Today we made a bit of a schedule change. It was cloudy, cool , and a bit rainy this morning with the rain scheduled to move toward the east and the beach we are planning on going to in New Jersey. We had planned to go to the beach today and then leave the beach to hit Easton, PA tonight. Since the weather didn't get the memo, we drove up to Easton today and spent the afternoon in the Crayola Factory. Just like Chocolate World, this wasn't a tour of the actual nearby factory but a hands-on interactive play center and museum with tons of crayons, chalk, markers, modeling clay and other activities to let the kids explore their creative side. One of the highlights was a mock-up of the factory floor with real working equipment where the workers actually made some red crayons and orange markers right in front of us and gave them away fresh. The markers were so fresh with ink that you could watch as it slowly seeped into the nib. Alex even got to apply a label to a crayon with their special non-toxic glue - cornstarch and water. They've been making crayons in this town for 103 years and they're still going strong. We ended with a trip through the huge Crayola Store and got a box of 120 crayons and quite a few Christmas/birthday presents.