September 2012: Houston Zoo

We love going to the zoo. Last night, we debated between three different zoos and finally decided to take a trip to the Houston Zoo. Last time we visited the place was when Saara had just turned 1. It was a long time ago and we all were very happy to be going there again. 

Andrew recognized a lot of animals we had looked at on the computer in his Kindergarten lessons. The names of the dinosaurs were a bit harder to recall (and, honestly, I had never heard of some of them before), but the dinosaur exhibit with its moving and roaring animals was the highlight of the whole tour. 

Saara's loved all the animals. I think her favorite part was the petting zoo where she kept brushing and brushing the goats. I suggested, we put some hair ribbons on them too. Saara laughed. 

It was a wonderfully spent (hot) day.

We love the zoo. There's always so much to see.

Riding the T-Rex. This one was just a statue. It did not move.

Being eaten by the T-Rex. I am glad it did not move.

The meerkat.

In the tunnel taking a closer look at some fish. Piranhas, I think.

The 'jellies'.

Beautiful!

Tourists at the coral reef.

"Look! Nemo!"

The elephants.

A 'White Christmas' crocodile. I had never seen an albino one before.

In the reptile house.

The diamond back rattlesnake.

:o)

Love the grin.

The python.

Doing his touristy stuff again (I detect Mom's influence).

'Dora' and 'Diego'.

The gibbon. It was really cool to watch them swing around.

My pet monkeys. :o)

Cattle from the Middle-East.

Inspecting an African hut.

Checking out the sound of some African drums.

The chimp.

The rhino.

The giraffes.

The bald eagle. Poor thing had only one wing.

At the petting zoo.

Saara doing the girly stuff. Making the goat look fabulous.

Finally, the dinosaurs!

This one rolled his eyes at me. Should I be worried?

The T-Rex - a royal encounter.

A cool treat on a hot day.

'12/13 Week 3 Day 4

A good school day. I do not think, I will ever say we had a bad one. There are challenges, of course, but they will never spoil the day.

Like this morning, Andrew was doing some curious digging outside and he was reluctant to come inside and do any school work. One of those days when it is hard to get it going, but once you are in it, you do not want to stop. By the end of our Science lesson, which was our last subject today, both children could not get enough of watching video clips about baby animals. The was a lot of "Aww!" and "That's SO cute!" and "He is funny!" Lots of laughter and giggles. 

It was a good way to end our week, because tomorrow we are going to see some of those animals in person, hopefully. A trip - our first field trip this year - is coming up. We have not been to the zoo since Saara was a baby. I think, I am as excited as the kids.

Saara is ready for her memory exercise.

Not quite Charlotte, but an impressive garden spider nevertheless.

'12/13 Week 3 Day 3

I can still barely believe how much using the stopwatch is helping Andrew with his spelling. Now, will it be also as helpful when he is cleaning up his room? I wonder ... 

In our creative writing portion of the Language Arts, Andrew and I talked a bit about what dialogue is. He understood the concept and enjoyed coming up with his own characters and their dialogue so much that he did not want to stop and was utterly disappointed when I ran out of lines to write on. I promised to him,  he can come up with another dialogue tomorrow which is part of his creative writing assignment again. I am glad to see Andrew grasping the basics of story telling. With his imagination, he might become a good storyteller. Who knows. First we have to get that pesky spelling mastered.

Our science lesson was fun. We read about how male birds attract females and stage fights to the right to become THE daddy. The videos we watched on the Youtube were awesome: the peacock with his magnificent fan of feathers, the bird of paradise with his awkward dance, and also, we looked at two male rattle snakes in a wrestling match. Oh, and, by the way, my 'stealth mode' is getting better - I managed to sneak close to the 'EEK' frog and snap a photo. Hopefully, this will help us identify it better. 

Now, the highlight of today was our kite flying. Saara's Berenstain Bears book had a funny kite flying story. So right after the school work, we trotted outside with our kites and tried to use the strong gusts of wind to fly them. It kind of worked. An hour later, we went outside again, and this time we had an expert (Daddy) with us who did an awesome job teaching both kids. Our whole family was outside having loads of fun. What a great afternoon! 

Meet one of our 'EEK' frogs.

It was  kite-flying kind of day.

 

Papa Bear teaching Small Bear how to fly a kite.

Papa Bear teaching Small Bear how to fly a kite.

'12/13 Week 3 Day 2

We had a major breakthrough today! I have been praying for wisdom how to help Andrew with his spelling tasks. He is slow and loses focus easily and the outcome is not encouraging. Yesterday, I pulled out my phone's stopwatch and gave Andrew a time limit for writing each word. It was something new and it did help a bit. This morning, Andrew ASKED me to use the stopwatch for his spelling lesson. I could not believe my eyes how fast and how focused the boy was racing against time! Besides, his words were spelled correctly, give or take a couple. At the end of the lesson, Andrew said, "Mom, thank you for helping me with my words." I teared up and sent some thanks heavenwards. Needless to say, Andrew asked me to use the stopwatch again for tomorrow's spelling lesson. It never stops - getting to know this boy God has blessed me with. Thankful, simply thankful.

I believe, the highlight of today was our trip to the library. Our week-long reading Olympics had a victorious finish - the children were rewarded with shiny medals. Both of them were beaming and, oh, so happy! So grateful for our local library and all they do for the kids and how they encourage children to read.

Back at home, we had to scare the 'EEK!' frogs back to the pond, of course. Andrew is determined to catch one. We also, stumbled over a big 'skeleton'-looking bug. A quick search on-line told us that it was a Southwestern Ironclad Beetle. Interesting. So far, we have not identified the 'EEK!' frogs yet. 

Let's see what adventures tomorrow brings.

My boy is grinning from ear to ear practicing his spelling!

It is not hard to guess the last movie Andrew and Saara watched: "Peter Pan". There was a lot of sword fighting with captain Hook (aka balloons) during recess.

The children looking at some magazines at the library.

Here they are! The medals for good reading!

Just look at their faces.

Our southwestern ironclad beetle.