Too Much Fun

We had too much fun this week!  It seems like when we have one outing planned, we end up having a week-full!  I plan school around these outings so we do the same amount of work as a no-plan-week but I juggle things around.  I love my planning method this year--it's working really well!!

A zoo nearby has free admission during the week in the month of October so we decided it was worth a trip.  We hadn't been here before so we were all excited to visit a new place.  It was a small zoo but had a lot of great animals and a nice picnic/playground area for our packed lunch.  Here's the Discovery Zone with tarantulas and chameleons and other gross  neat stuff:

We found a T-Rex!

We went on an Australian walkabout and one wallaby did brave the cold to hop around for us.  :)

A train ride!  This was Nathan's wish come true!!

These 2 sat on every animal statue they could find.

Nathan is showing his Dora Halloween book to the pig.  That's how close he puts things to your face when he wants you to look.  :)  Shortly after this, he threw the book and sat on it, refusing to move.  2 year olds are exhausting!!

An attempt at a picture of all the kids.

The next day, Lily had her girls' book club so the boys and I were stuck wondering what to do.  She meets at a house 20-30 minutes away from us so going home isn't a good option!  Last time we hit a park but it was COLD, especially after a day at the zoo in the cold the day before.  We decided to visit the Science Station since we have a membership this year.  It was pretty empty and the boys had a great time.  Lily was bummed to have missed it but she had a tea party so I think all the kids had a good morning out!

We did have time at home, too!!  We were in Russia this week--it was a lot of fun.  For their souvenir  they made Russian stacking dolls (only they accordion fold instead).  This was a hit--Samuel wanted to participate!!  We enjoyed beef stroganoff for supper--yum.  

For science, we demonstrated how sedimentary rocks are formed by layers.  What better way to do this than make "rock snacks"?!  I haven't tried them but they look great and everyone seems to love them.  Yum.

Nothing else too exciting in school this week--we chugged along.  I wish I could make spelling a more enjoyable experience for Hunter because it's definitely the downer of our day.  Samuel is still loving his handwriting so that's awesome.  We got the scale out and measured counting bears in kindergarten math this week--all the kids gathered around for that.  :)  Lily is doing well in pretty much everything but she doesn't care for math right now.  She still does well with it, though.  Nathan had speech this week and pouted when they left.  They were impressed with his progress--he's starting to take off with talking!

I forgot to mention (I think) that Lily was in a cheer camp a couple weekends ago:

 Oh man, it was tough to leave her because she had cold feet at the last minute when she didn't know anyone.  But she was very brave and stuck it out all day long.  She did awesome performing at the pep rally--she's a great dancer!  She did tell me she has zero interest in participating this winter so that's it for cheerleading!!