Pumpkin Patch 2009

Zola loved choosing her pumpkin this year.  Getting all three to smile with their pumpkins, however, was a chore.  At least they all liked decorating their orange globes when we got home.  We'll be carving the big pumpkin later this week with Daddy.

Halloween Preview

Not so tiny dinosaurs at play.  Watch out Stegosaurus!  The little T-Rex is ferocious.

More Dinosaurs

Last Saturday we went to the State Museum to check out their new animatronic dinosaur exhibit.  It featured a variety of dinosaurs with lifelike motion--lifelike, that is, if you overlook the fact that they are staying within their exhibits and not terrorizing the museum visitors.  Milo has taken to frequently carrying a small notebook around with him to write down or draw interesting things he comes across (not unlike Jack in the beloved Magic Treehouse books).  Here he decided to write down the names of all the dinosaurs he saw.

Meanwhile, Calder enjoyed putting on a dinosaur puppet show.  You can tell from his face that he is a "method" puppeter.

Stay tuned for more dinosaur-themed posts.

Grandparents and Soccer and Dinosaurs, Oh My!

It seems that lately most weekends are just jammed packed.  Recently we had an extra fun crazy busy weekend when Grammy and Oom-Poppa visited.  Their visit was preceded by several days of "are Grammy and Oom-Poppa coming today?"  Arriving late Friday night, there was no rest for the weary as they joined us for Milo and Calder's soccer games Saturday morning and then had a picnic on the soccer grounds.  In the afternoon the kids and Oom-Poppa headed over to nearby Five Points on bicycles (Zola on a tricyle pushed by me, and the rest joining on foot).  At the Five Points fountain, Milo showed off his new bike trick -- biking down stairs.  He loves it, and didn't fall once, but Yikes!  That evening, we went out to our favorite Chinese restaurant here and the kids chowed down and behaved themselves pretty well.  Was it the soccer, the biking, the presence of grandparents, the Year of the Ox?  Who knows, but I was glad that we were able to forgo the usual restaurant chaos.

On Sunday morning I captured a lizard outside our house (once again).  I handed it over to the boys, from whom it promptly escaped.  I then caught it again, but it wasn't long before that lizard had gotten loose and was back into the garden.

Later, Oom-Poppa went with Milo and Calder to watch Walking With Dinosaurs  (warning: that site has sound).  We were a little worried that Calder might freak out during the show, especially during the appearance of his favorite, T-Rex.  But he did fine, and afterwards said that he was glad he went.  Milo said the show was "awesome."  Yes, he now uses the word "awesome."  A lot.

All in all, a fun visit and a fun weekend.

Big Girl

She talks, she jumps, she scribble-scrabbles with the best of them, she can dance up a storm, and today Zola played with Play-doh for the first time.  She LOVED it.  Everyday is a new adventure for Zola.  If you ask her if she's a big girl or a baby, she'll say "big girl."  Yup.  Not much baby left. 

Swamp Fun

The past two weekends we have enjoyed programs at Congaree National Park.  First the boys and I attended a "Scatology" program, where we learned to identify different types of animal scat (i.e., poop); learned about the different animals living in the park and what they eat (and what that looks like in the scat); read the book "Everyone Poops"; watched a funny puppet show about animal scat, as performed by Ranger Becky; made our own animal scat, using modeling clay and other materials to mimic the stuff in real scat; and took a short hike with Ranger Becky to look for evidence of animal activity.  The boys LOVED this program, especially Milo.  Here's the refrain from the puppet show, in case you need something catchy to hum all day long:  "It starts with an S and ends with a T.  It comes out of you and it comes out of me.  I know what you're thinking, but we don't call it that.  Be scientific, call it SCAT!" 

Last Saturday the whole family visited Congaree National Park for its Congaree Campfire Chronicles, which involved a ranger guided tour through the swamp, at night, to see reenactors depict different time periods in the park's history (much of which pre-dated its establishment as a national park).  As we walked the boardwalk from site to site, Ranger Justin gave us the historical background of what we were going to observe.  The highlights were Native Americans from the Catawba tribe, runaway slaves, militia men camping out on a campaign during the Revolutionary War, moonshiners, loggers, and present-day rangers conducting research in the park.  At the end of our two hour hike, we enjoyed a campfire and roasted marshmallows compliments of the rangers.  It was a lovely evening.  At the time Milo showed a lot of interest in the reenactors and our ranger guide, as well as walking around the swamp in pitch dark!  Obviously Calder enjoyed it too.  On Sunday he dressed up as a ranger (note the hat and backpack) and led me on a hike around our backyard, pointing out the animals and plants.  What fun!