Trip to Atlanta, GA

Tax Day Tea Party

Tyler participated in his 2nd protest. This time it was the Tax Day Tea Party that was held downtown on April 15th. Talk about an active lessons in civics. He was yelling "live free or die" and carrying his "America Sold Out Since 1913" poster. While he has just brushed the surface of this issue in our conversations he knows enough to want to be active to make a difference. It was awesome as he was hanging out with a few of his friends holding signs and feeling very active in making a positive difference for the country. This is the way leaders are created. Showing them things that can and should be done to make a change. To be an active participant in politics and the community. Awesome time. I have video, but need to learn how to upload and once I get that figured out I'll do that and I should be getting photos from another mom that was there and we'll post them as soon as we get them.

Yarn Basket Craft Project

We did a very fun craft project with yarn, glue and a balloon. Too much fun. A little messy, but it was all good. Check out the pics.

Our Trip to Atlanta Georgia

What an awesome time and trip. There was so much learning to be done and FUN! As learning should be. We filled in 4 days with many activities. Our first trip was to the Atlanta Zoo which is a wonderful zoo. So many natural habitats and neither of the kids can get enough of any zoo. Then we were off to Stone Mountain and we had NO IDEA what we were in for. I just didn't realize when people told me we should stop there what an amazing place that would be. From the picture carved into the side of the enormous mountain of exposed granite to the beautiful view from the top or the opportunity to watch a laser light show off the side of the mountain that evening. Would definitely go back there again to spend more time. That was just day one.

Day two we went to the Georgia Aquarium which was a sight to behold. So many fish and sea creatures. Both of the children were absolutely amazed with the whale sharks, saw fish, jelly fish, hammerheads and rays. Getting an opportunity to touch a small shark and a ray was as Kyleigh says "super cool". Tyler was just amazed and couldn't stop taking pictures. I can't even begin to upload all the pics that were taken on this trip. We also had an opportunity to experience our first 4D movie and that was pretty neat as well.

As an addition to the Aquarium we also were able to tour the Titanic exhibit that was there and that was an awesome experience. We were all given a card of a passenger and able to check at the end of the tour if the person we had was a survivor or not. The artifacts were amazing. Knowing we were looking at objects that had been at the bottom of the ocean after one of the greatest disasters at sea.

Day three we went to the World of Coca~Cola. Now we're basically a big Pepsi family here, but what an amazing museum. So much history to the company. Truly an interesting time. Having an opportunity to see the bottling process and to taste different products that Coke markets all across the world. The 4D theater was a treat for us all.

Day four the last day of official site-seeing. We stopped at the Museum of Natural History and Atlanta History Center. Natural History was packed full with the dinosaur exhibits, local habitat exhibits and a wonderful IMAX movie "Under the Sea".

At the Atlanta History Center there were Civil War displays, a Native American exhibit about the Indians that were in that region also the 1996 Olympics exhibit. This is a link to the Center http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/cms/Exhibitions/5.html

We also were able to see beautiful mountains on the drive to and from. It was gorgeous. I'll add a slide show with pictures from the trip later today.

Web Rangers Website

This is a wonderful website for the kids! Tyler started using it last week and is completely hooked. It's linked through the National Park Service. Kids get their own junior ranger card, they are able to complete activities to earn badges and certificates as they complete the various levels. Great mix of many types of activities. They can even view live webcams of the various National Parks, design their own ranger station and create their own ranger names. There is also a link there to Railroad Connections. A lot of great stuff for the kids to explore. Enjoy!

Ty's Wooden Puzzle Project

Tyler busted his butt doing this puzzle. It was a very difficult and took a LONG time... somewhere around 5 hours or more. There were no numbers on the pieces themselves and there was no picture of how anything went together just basically a picture with the pieces laid our and numbered and only the picture on the front showing a finished project, but he did good. A few left over pieces, but overall a great job. Here are some photos of his GREAT work! Also Kyleigh doing her own crafty work with the playdough. Good times.

Outdoor Fun in the Snow

Before the weather got out of control FREEZING the kids had some fun play time out in the snow. Good times... Kyleigh was making snow angels, snow princesses and snow white. Tyler was doing God only knows face down in the snow with Kyleigh jumping on his back. Little sisters are wonderful! They had a great time enjoying some outdoor play, exercise and fresh air.

Tyler's Lego Interest

Within the last year or so, but it has begun to pick up within the last 6 months. He first started out building Bionicles and it went to the Star Wars and Mars Mission collections this past summer. A bit of a pricier hobby of his, but talk about challenging him. He puts them together with no help. Reads all the directions and trial and error puts them all together. It is an awesome challenge and perhaps peeking an interest in architecture? Building? Who knows? But to see him so excited while he is completing a new project or has figured out what he was doing wrong is GREAT! He is now interested into starting projects that have motors and more moving parts. Here is a sampling of the work he has done. Majority of which was done since Christmas. Obviously the gift of choice this year!

Our Night of Decorating Homemade Ornaments

We spent an afternoon and evening making homemade ornaments this year. What a great time with the kids. Tyler help me make the dough and he did all the rolling out and cutting out of the cookies before we baked them. Then we all took time to colour and decorate them together. It was a great time. Here are some pics of our ornaments.

Our Pumpkin Farm Field Trip

I'm playing catch up on my blogging. We went to our local pumpkin farm back in late October. Kids had a blast sliding on the HUGE slides, a nice hayride and pumpkin tossing. Good times were had by all. Including Kyleigh and I attempting to bury Tyler in the popcorn box. Here are some pics from our fall blast!