Museum Trip

 We have been to this muesum many times. Each time there is something new that the kids see. Austyn still loves vultures. Ya... it may seem a bit strange, but he has always been fascinated by them and when we see them eating something on the side of the road, we stop to watch. He even has a vulture stuffed animal that he has had for years!

Here is a good vulture joke I heard once when we went to a raptor show. 

A vulture is going through security at the airport and he takes two dead animals with him to eat on the way. When he gets up to the security officer he is stopped and the officer says, "Sir, only one carrion per passenger!"

Much of their time gets spent in the store trying to figure out which rock or gift to purchase. On this trip Austyn purchased another meteorite and Zoe got a couple of small, realistic, stuffed animals. This is a giant lobster preserved in alcohol and water.

Visiting the Pet Store

Pet stores are one of those places that can be visited no matter where you live. When we lived in big cities we had an assortment of places to go and so we rarely ever entered a pet store. Living in a small town, there may be farms nearby, but there aren't many zoos or other places like that to visit. The pet store is great and can be very educational. 

This cute little guy was sleeping and our talking may have woke him up. I just had to get some pictures of him. 

This is a Skinny Pig! You never heard of it? Neither did we! It sure is cute in it's own strange way.

Although all of the other animals were interesting, including the python, frogs, and the chameleon, Austyn seemed to really like the bearded dragons. We have been researching them ever since we handled them at the store. I didn't get any pictures of the animals we handled. I guess I was too busy handling them.

Here is a quick reference video to decide if bearded dragons are a good fit or not, by monkeysee.com. 

Pumpkin Carving

Here is Zoe's jack-o-lantern. She did most of it herself. I helped with the cutting.

This is Austyn's jack-o-lantern. I did most of it. He made a good supervisor.

Construction

 My kids have been around construction so much in their lives. We keep moving to a new home. This time it's their grandparent's house and a new house is replacing the old. So it's a bit more interesting.

 The house that the kids have known for their whole lives was removed. They got to see it get moved. It was very interesting and educational. We also went to see where the house was being placed and have seen the constant changes happening on that lot.

 After it was moved the basement was left. It seemed so small with no house there.

The house started getting built fast. This is the basement. 

This is the start of the main floor framing. 

The kids got to see how the roof frames were delivered. The truck tipped and they slid off onto the ground. 

 Sometimes I think Zoe just wants to go and see the kitties. Many of them have been taken to a nearby farm. So there are less cats on the property now. 

 This was a month or two earlier. The kittens were a bit smaller. Even if they are what draws her, she is still witnessing things and learning from what she sees of the construction around her.

We Miss Racing!

We had a great season this year! It has been over for a few weeks now. We miss it.

We raced at three tracks this year. This one, as you can see, doesn't have the best maintained track around, but it's okay for testing.

Austyn really got into the roll of being a driver this year. He has improved so much!

Zoe doesn't get to race until next year, but she made many friends at the track and helped with Austyn's junior dragster.

Austyn and Daddy work as a team to choose their time and coordinate their own routine for each race.

At the end of the season our home track did a special race. They raced the golf carts. Austyn and his friend got to run the starting line instead of the track crew. They loved it!

We can't wait until next year!!!

Book of the Week - Aliens Are Coming!

Aliens Are Coming! by Meghan McCarthy is the true account of the 1938 Radio Broadcast of War of the Worlds. This book was well done. The kids found it hard to believe that it was based on a true story. We have read about this before, but they forgot about it or maybe they just didn't really think that it was true. 

We had a good chat about how people reacted and about why it seemed so real to them. Also, we discussed who should be to blame for it, or if there should have been any blame. After all, the announcer did mention that it wasn't real a few times. 

Good book!

Reading!

Both of these kids have been really into reading lately. I read to them in the daytime, and they read on their own fairly often. Bedtime is a favourite time for them to read their own books. I don't mind staying up a bit later for them to get through a chapter. Austyn has been reading pokemon books and the illustrated chapter books (Menga). He has been reading a bit of his D-Gray Man series again, as well.

 Zoe has been into the Babymouse series.