martinzoo

GB is now old enough that he understood that Aquagirl and Jabem both brought friends on the cruise. The whole time we were gone he kept making statements to the effect, “I feel so guilty, because MY friends would love this…..” It doesn’t matter to him that Gymbabe and J paid their own way. He just wanted his friends to come on this amazing adventure.

So when we got back it was imperative that GB get to have his friends spend the night at our house. My dh and I are very like-minded. We think that if you keep kids busy, they won’t argue and whine during parties and sleep-overs. So we told GB that he could invite his twin friends, OC and WC. But we were gonna keep those boys busy. Because GB and OC are such good friends, sometimes poor WC gets left out. I feel bad about that so we try to make our activities group-friendly.

In this photo, GB is waiting for his friends to arrive. This cube is driving him crazy!

The first thing we were going to do when they got here was take them out on the jet ski to go tubing. My dh handles all aspects of the jet ski. So off they went, only to return an hour later. It turns out that there is not enough water in the lake. The boat ramp is completely dry. So it was impossible to get the ski into the water. Poor disappointed boys. But my dh had the answer, as usual. He told them that he would take them out to a new putt-putt that opened up near our house. So that’s what they did while I went grocery shopping.

We fed them the very kid-friendly pizza upon returning and then headed out for Rubber Ducky night at our pool. This is the one night a week that the pool stays open until 9:00 and you can bring floats of any size. Ours is a huge pirate ship that came with a sword and a gun that squirts an unlimited supply of water because of the intake hose at the bottom of the ship. Everytime we come into the pool with the pirate ship, all eyes are on us. And the kids flock over. Since GB had brought friends this time, he basically wanted to keep the pirate ship for them. But usually all the kids share their floats, moving around the pool and trying them all out. I KNOW that it must drive the lifeguards crazy.

Once again my dh took the helm on this activity because I had a meeting with the other homeschool moms. I got back to the house around 9:30. And they boys had already moved into video game mode. But we had ONE more activity planned for them. We stoked up the chiminea and roasted marshmallows for s’mores. ………Yummy!

I thought the picture below was adorable. I kept asking OC if he wanted another chair, but he insisted he didn’t need one. GB says that OC is the best friend he’s ever had. Once again, I have to say it, I’m SO glad we homeschool. GB would have never met these boys if we hadn’t joined this homeschool group.

The night went fine, they were quiet in GB’s room, they woke up at a decent hour, and I brought them home after lunch. I deem the event a success!

Next vacation, we may be in trouble.

Today we deviated from the curriculum by doing a little mini-unit about St. Patrick. I found it at Learning Through History.

We watched a couple of videos, including this one:

We read about St. Patrick here and the History of St. Patrick’s Day here.

A quick little timeline for the History of St. Patrick’s Day can be read here.

We worked on this jigsaw puzzle. I got it in 6 minutes and GB took about 20 minutes. Just click the shamrock.

We also listened to a bit of Irish music featuring one of the most popular Irish groups, The Chieftains. This video has one of my all-time favorites, Alison Krausse, singing ‘Molly Ban.’

We also made some Irish Soda Bread for our dinner (without the raisins).

The Iditarod began yesterday. And GB and I have been more into the race this year than we even were last year. Probably because we know more about it than we used to.

This morning I needed some time to myself to get some household stuff done. I had to cut and wash the dog’s hair (HUGE chore) and do bunches of laundry and floor stuff. So I made today be a “Grab bag Monday.” GB always enjoys this concept. I just put a bunch of activities on pieces of paper and he pulls one out and does it. I had different colors to signify ‘before lunch’ and ‘after lunch.’

Before lunch, this is what he was able to do:

• Gather his laundry for me to wash
• Play Ghost Blasters for 20 minutes, working on multiples of 6
• Feed the skink, the toads, and the hamster, and make sure everybody has water
• Give the dog a hug and a biscuit
• Do one History lesson
• fill up the bird feeders
• Play spelling bee with this week’s words
• Nature ~ Go out in the yard and look for:
  1. new buds on tree branches
  2. evidence of new grass growth
  3. three different birds that you can identify yourself

After lunch he:

• Worked on Journey North worksheets (it’s time to start noticing the patterns of the mystery classes.
• Take quiz in History
• Do one Language Arts lesson
• For the Iditarod, play the Kid’s Polar Challenge
• Research Alaskan Malamutes
• Find out the weather at the next checkpoint (Rainy Pass) and post to Jeff King to warn him. (GB took this to heart and also researched the geography of the checkpoint, finding out that it is one of the most dangerous passages on the whole route. So he warned about that, too. )
• Check musher standings for everybody’s musher in our family. Mark the musher tracking sheet, and mark the map. So far, everybody’s musher is doing great except mine. I picked Anne Capistrant, because she’s a homeschooling mom. But if I was a homeschooling mom- Hey! I am a homeschooling mom! - I’d go at my own pace and just be happy to finish, and then glow in the accomplishment. But that’s me………
• Make a marshmallow igloo

And because he’s a little boy, and it was too irresistible, he had to get some teeny, tiny figures for the igloo………. And THEN they had to be eaten by the terrible T-Rex!

He thought this was TERRIBLY funny, and wanted to know, “Is it gonna be on the blog?”

Um, ……. of course!

Still working on our Colonial Unit.

I know it seems like we’ve been doing it forever………. But we like to go    s l o w …..

So we’ve been learning about some Colonial food lately. And GB and his dad decided that pease porridge just sounded TOO gross to try. So we decided that taffy would fit the bill quite nicely.

Colonists would get together for many different kinds of “Bees.” They’d have apple butter bees, threshing, husking, barn raising, house building, sewing, logging, AND taffy pulling bees. It was just as much a social gathering as it was for practical reasons. Lots of work got accomplished, and people got to visit with each other.

I remember pulling taffy in Sunday school when I was little. And it was so much fun. I also remember dropping it on the ground and eating it anyway…… but that’s another story….LOL!

SALT WATER TAFFY

1 cup of sugar

3/4 cup of light corn syrup

2/3 cup of water

1 tbs. of cornstarch

1 tsp. of salt

2 tbs. of butter

2 tsp. of vanilla

This recipe is extremely hot! Parental guidance is HIGHLY suggested! Grease a square 8×8x2 pan with butter. Mix together sugar, cornstarch, water, corn syrup, salt, and butter in a 2 quart saucepan. Stirring continuously, bring to boiling. Allow to cook without stirring. Using a candy thermometer, heat to 256 degrees. If you do not have a candy thermometer, a small amount of the mixture dropped into cold water should form a ball that holds until pressed. Remove from heat and add vanilla. With small children safely away from the area, CAREFULLY pour into a pan greased with butter. Once the taffy is cool enough to handle, pull with buttered fingertips until it is satiny, creamy colored and stiff. Roll the taffy into long strips and cut the strip into 1” pieces with scissors that have been greased with butter. Wrap the pieces individually in waxed paper or plastic wrap. Makes approximately one pound.

I’ll bet the colonists wished they had spiffy red pots like mine.

**note - We didn’t have any light corn syrup so we used the dark corn syrup, which is why the taffy is brown. But it still tasted good. And actually the colonists usually used molasses because it was cheaper, and easier to find, than sugar.

Here are some of our yummy finished pieces. Want some?

You know how hard it is to get A’s in college, right?

Well, this semester Aquagirl got ALL A’s! So we decided that that needed to be celebrated with the whole Martin clan! We left the dinner venue up to Aquagirl… and really, I was expecting her to choose something more upscale, or whatever…. But she ended up choosing this really cool place about 40 minutes from our home. It’s called the Riverside Diner. And honestly, every time I go there I expect to see Ritchie and Potsie coming out of the men’s bathrooms.

It’s exactly like stepping back into the 50’s. They have Formica tables and counters, swivel bar stools, jukeboxes on every table, and lots of 50’s memorabilia all over the place. They even have the 1950’s Chevy car driving out of the wall (I should have gotten a pic of that). The hostess spot is actually a car from the 50’s too. They have a huge, life-sized Elvis and Marilyn Monroe mannequin to greet you at the door. And the food is delicious! It’s all very cheap, too. Not as cheap as back then, unfortunately, but in between a McDonald’s tab and an Applebee’s tab.

One of the reasons that Aquagirl loves this place is that it’s the only place we know of that serves a ‘chocolate coke.’ Everybody else thought it sounded gross, but she insists that it is awesome!

We were able to bring a bunch of tables together to fit our whole clan. I wish this picture showed more of the atmosphere.

Uncle G is fixated with the tabletop jukeboxes. He kept playing Elvis songs, and ‘Diana.’ My kids go more for the Beach Boys and the Monkeys. The music in the jukeboxes ranged from Frankie Valley all the way to Madonna….LOL!

Anyway, it was a fun night, which we capped off with a trip to the movie theater to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. This was an extremely funny movie, btw, with lots of cute music.

So, congratulations Aquagirl! Keep up the good work.

This is our gingerbread house for this year.

…….but Jabem got a wild idea to cook dinner tonight. And really, who am I to argue? Do I even care if it’s edible?…. Not really, no. I’m thrilled that someone stepped up to the plate and asked!

If you ask me, and you didn’t, but I’ll tell you anyway, I thought he looked quite adorable cooking. At one point he said, “Geez, Mom, if you’re gonna take pictures, can’t you wait till I’m working on the meat? It’s a bit more manly.”

Doesn’t he look like a natural? It’s not like he’s a total novice, but he doesn’t cook much. He likes to make Mexican foods, like quesadillas and burritos. Tonight he decided to cook from a different part of the world; Japanese food. He loves when we go to Japanese Steak houses. And this is his favorite entree, steak and shrimp.

This is his finished product. Looks pretty tasty, doesn’t it? Betcha wish you’d eaten here tonight.

See what Jabem surprised us with today? YUMMM!!!

Ok, yeah, we’ve been into it a bit, but how can you resist?
Be prepared, I will, over the next little while, be putting on weight. Dunkin’ Donuts has moved into our town….. It will be a sacrifice on my part, but we must patronize local businesses, right?