Cheesie's fieldtrip

On Thursday Cheesie and I went on a fieldtrip with her class. She was very excited because it was the first time I was able to go with her.  After a couple hours on a bus (with a camera to entertain ourselves, as well as our knitting), Cheesie was ready for fun.

We boarded a boat with a touch tank, and LOTS of seats for all of the children, and took the 30 minute ride over to Capers Island, a barrier island off of SC. After the boat landed Cheesie learned about barrier islands, and some of the wildlife, and was able to search for shells. Children were taught about how important the shells were to the beach, and limited their search to their 3 favorite.

We hiked up the beach to the boneyard area (I REALLY love these places). Just like Hunting Island, and Bulls Island, the top of this island is being eroded by the long shore current and what used to be a maritime forest is now an interesting display of trees turning gray.

Here is Cheesie with the big whelk that she found. She kept this one and brought it home. She also found two scallop type shells that a boring sponge got to and left a hole in the top for a necklace.

A beautiful little marsh on the island.... we watched the fiddler crabs, and saw an egret.

On the way back we stopped and picked up a crab trap that had male and female blue crabs, as well as a whelk with it's animal still inside.

Above is the female blue crab. The bottom looks like the dome on the capitol building, a male would have a "washington monument" on the bottom. Below, we are looking at the whelk with the animal in it and learning how it uses its shell to eat clams and filter saltwater.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable trip (even with the VERY strong winds) and I highly recommend it. Cheesie and her classmates learned a lot and will always remember this one.

Brattonsville

Last weekend Brian and my mom took T-Rex and Blondie to a Civil War reenactment at Historic Brattonsville. Generally students from around the state head there for fieldtrips, but we thought it would be a great way for Blondie to "see" history and help her later this year, and it qualified as a cultural event for T-Rex. AND.... let's be real, it gave mom and Brian an excuse to take a whole lot of pictures.

T-Rex thought this guy was a hoot. He let her dress up as one of the soldiers, and handed her his gun. Then he figured she needed a cigar to complete the picture.

While Blondie thought the guns and cannons were pretty cool. She even decided to buy a rebel hat (I'll have to reflect on that one).

Blondie did find it rather hysterical that when the men were "shot" on the battlefield, many of them continued to drink their water and smoke their cigars. She told me that she figured they could act better than the pic below demonstrates and lie still. I had to remind her how hot it probably was for them out in that field with all those wool coats on.

By the end of the day Blondie was pooped, but came home quite happy, and ready to tell me all about it.

Camping at Hunting Island

I took the older girls and friends camping to Hunting Island (well, we camped nearby). We left Saturday (Oct. 15th) and returned the next day. The girls should have planned it more, but because we were having difficulties all being in the same place on the same day, it mostly fell to me and my friend Angela. We decided to go check out Hunting Island State Park, and spent most of the day there. We went down to the boneyard area (because HONTESTLY, it is the most beautiful place in the world) and the girls had a ball climbing around the "fallen warrior" trees.

Here, they all crossed a fallen tree to climb up and see the ocean.

Group picture

Then we headed over to the main beach. I talked to them about the erosion and efforts to slow it on this barrier island, caught a ghost crab, moved upwind from a dead horseshoe crab, and looked for shells and shark teeth.

After the beach we crossed the street (and drove about a mile) to the marsh access. We ate a quick, tailgating lunch, and walked the boardwalk out to the hammock. As always, the fiddler crabs were delightful (although not as many were out due to the tide).If you're able to watch the video, you can hear the sound they make scurrying along.

video to come

As always, the best way to view fiddler crabs is on your stomach.

We raced back to the campgound, paid, and then immediately left to meet up with Angela's sister Kristen. She and her husband offered to take the girls crabbing and shrimping. We drove out to a tidal creek in their neighborhood, and were soon catching crabs. It was essentially a giant safety pin on a string, with a chunk of chicken on the end. When you felt the crabs tugging you carefully pulled them up and scooped them up in the net.

I think everyone ended up catching at least one, because as a group, we caught around 21.

After crab fishing for a bit, the girls learned to throw a shrimp net. We would only catch one or two at a time because we weren't really in the right place, but the girls had a great time trying. I think they had the best time daring each other to pop off the heads and tails...... then wipe their hands on each other.

After catching crabs, you have to cook them (they were champs at dropping the blue crab into boiling water), and peel them. We were very thankful to have Tab show them which parts to eat and which to toss. They all jumped in, and quickly realized how much work it is for just a little bit of crabmeat.

Then back to the campground, set up your own tents, make fettucini to go with the crab and shrimp, and then jump into tents to chat for a bit (after smores and banana boats of course)

BUT beware the dreaded green caterpillar that stings two folks for sitting on them (note to self.... those anti-sting wipes made a world of difference between the welts of the two victims - one who used the wipe, and one who waited). Someday the caterpillar will be a beautiful IO moth, but on that night it was NOT well received.

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Oct. 16- State Fair

While I was in Hunting Island with the big girls, Brian took the younger girls to the State Fair.

Just by looking at the photos.....

Flying
Swinging

Bumping

Pig Racing

I think I missed a really great day, but I'm thrilled he got to spend it with them.

Interjection!

Each grade level at Cheesie's school does a performance. This year Cheesie's 3rd grade performed songs from School House Rock. She played a cheerleader in the Interjection song (one of my favorites from my childhood.

We got there a little late, so we were pretty far back, but Brian was able to get a little video of her part:



(I'm sure its just me, but the very last second of the video cracks me up - like she's bummed it is over)
She was VERY excited to have a speaking part.

Rick Riordan Book signing

T-Rex is a huge fan of the Rick Riordan Percy Jackson books, as well as the other two new series. Tonight his new book in the series was released, and he rode up to Books A Million near our house for a book signing.

Video will go here once youtube starts to cooperate.

Sunday we stood in line for an hour and a half to get our line numbers (we were 366 and 367, but apparently they went up to 1100). Each person could bring 2 books to be signed. Tonight he rode up in his black carriage pulled by black horses, and the kids were sooooooo excited. A TON of boys showed up (I love books that boys love to read). They started lining folks up, and we were finished fairly quickly (MUCH faster than waiting in line on Sunday). I don't know how he signs over 2000 books at a time, but I suppose if it were me I would be thinking, "Ka-ching, Ka-ching." He really took time to speak to the kids, and comment on the many costumes that were worn by the excited tweens and teens.

Almost there, just a couple more people.

ACK! She blinked.

She was very excited about tonight, and thrilled to see so many friends (and teachers) in line too.

Big Al's new activity

Balancing cheering and honors classes has been a full time job for Big Al lately. Practices have her coming home around dinner, and then finishing up a bunch of homework, and game nights have me driving to pick her up so she doesn't get home too late. Overall she is doing very well in her classes, and has really taken the weighting and ranking of high school pretty seriously. We're proud of everything she is doing, and pray ALL THE TIME for her bases to never let go!

Turning 8

Hello again.

Yes. I went most of my summer vacation without posting. I didn't mean to do that, and I hope I'm back on track. It was a great summer, full of family, a lake trip, trip to DC, and bored kids. This past Monday though marked the end of all that.

This past Monday was......................

THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

So here are the pics.

Big Al is 14.75 and headed off for her freshman year in high school. She is participating in cheerleading at her school, as well as tumbling - almost has her back handspring. She is looking forward to a year of football games, friends, and Honors classes. I am looking forward to holding grades over her driving permit.

T-Rex is looking forward to starting 7th grade and is 12.5 years old. She took a cake decorating course this summer and spent a lot of time with her friend S destroying my kitchen on a daily basis. She will still compete in fencing this year.... we think.

Blondie is 9.5 years old and headed for fourth grade. She continues to amaze us at with all of the things she can do. She is working on reading and loves learning about science and cooking.

Cheesie turns 8 tomorrow, and is starting 3rd grade. She LOVES math and science and building things. She is still very sassy, and loves to think she's in charge.

School means hectic schedules, and lots of driving. For some reason though, I find that much more conducive to blogging. So we'll give it a go again.