A Hair Raising Experience

Yesterday Claire had a day off school and her top request was a trip to the Science Museum. We had a great time.

Claire was finally brave enough to try the electric experiments and have her hair stand on end. She couldn't stop talking about it!

We spent lots of time in the gadgets room today. Learning about pulley's, gears and robots.
We saw a really cool chemistry show with explosions and fireballs! It was awesome, we can't wait to take Dad to that show.

More from the gadgets room.

Robots at work.

Finally, what could be cooler than a game of rat basketball! The rats dunk baskets to get a cheerio fed to them. Both girls thought it was great and even fed the rats (germ killer - stat!). Glad they liked it - mom didn't.

It is fun to have a day off school once in a while!

Fall Fun

This weekend we did lots of fun stuff. We had nice weather so we decided to get out and enjoy it. First up we met our friends at the apple orchard to pick some apples. With our help the bucket was filled in no time - 26lbs of apples!

Everybody say Apple!

Best to sample 2 or 3 while in the field.

Good thing we brought the wagon to lug them all back since the best apples were at the back of the orchard!

We also visited the Fall Festival at the zoo this weekend. They had lots of fun crafts, critters and learning activities for us. We made paper flowers, picture frames and saw lots of animals. Claire even got to participate in a magic trick which was really cute - she loved it!

Now to relax and bake some apple crisp!

Entomology Class With Dad

On Sunday, mom got to go get caught up on her scrap-booking. So we got to play with dad. He's not much into coloring though. He says he's been that way ever since his teacher scrawled "MESSY" over top of his interpretive rendering of prehistoric dinosaurs.

So, we got to play science class again. You may recall previously we studied a bumble bee. Today's subject in entomology class was a spider. I had wanted dad to just kill it, but when he suggested we could look at it under a microscope, I couldn't resist.

First task was to capture it. Here I have it safely secured in our tupperware coffin. Sorry little guy. After a quick freeze we were able to mount him under the microscope.



Check out his eyes. I counted eight, but dad wasn't sure if they were all eyes or not.



I really wanted to see his butt.. This is where he spins the webs from.



Dad wanted to check out his fangs. Unfortunately the pointy bits are hidden in his mouth. I'm glad I'm not a fly, and on the receiving end of those.



After Sarah woke up, she got to have her turn as well. Some of her pictures turned out better.





Actually I'm glad that Dad's teacher wrote messy all over his school work. If she hadn't I probably wouldn't have got to do cool stuff like this.

First Day of School!!

Well the big day finally arrived - the first day of kindergarten! I was pretty excited. Up and dressed quite early. We had some time to take a few pictures and play on our way to the bus stop.

Of course I had my outfit all planned. Pink and purple stripes with pink sparkle shoes.

My sister is going to miss me when I am at school.

I rode the bus on my first day and did great. Mom and Sarah met me at school to make sure everything was going smoothly.

Waiting with my teacher, Ms. Davis and fellow classmates to go into our classroom.

My classroom!

Time to get straight to the business of learning. Stories! Of course I am sitting right at the front of the class.

Before I knew it school was over for the day and I took the bus back home again. I am happy to report that I had a great day at school. I guess I will go back tomorrow.

And to finish a great day mom took us out for a celebratory lunch - at noodles and company of course!

Kindergarten Orientation

Next week is a big milestone in my life. It is my first day of kindergarten! I am very excited and a little nervous to start school. We got to attend orientation last week to check out the school and meet my teacher.

I will be riding the bus to school this year. We got to practice for the big day.

I got to check out my classroom. They have lots of toys, computers, books, desks and most importantly (legos) right in my classroom.

After we had a school tour they had cookies and lemonade for us. School is going to be fun if the cookies are always the size of my head.

Time for recess!

Two more sleeps until school starts. I am super excited and a little scared. I will report back soon about the first day.

Teddy Bear Safari

This weekend Mom took us to the zoo for the annual Teddy Bear Safari. We took our favorite bears Coconut and Rainbow for the outing.

At the Safari we got our faces painted, ate ice cream and best of all we got a whole bag of goodies!

There were several stations set up designed to teach the kids about health and safety. Each was demonstrated by their bears. It was supposed to take the fear out of going to the hospital, doctor or dentist.

Sarah loved throwing balls at the various poisons.

Coconut got a CT Scan.

There were lots of real doctors and nurses on hand from the Children's Hospital to demonstrate. Turns out Rainbow needed tubes in his ears.

And Coconut had to had his tonsils taken out. Luckily they recovered quickly and were went out in the heat to see some animals.

A trip to the zoo isn't complete without a trip to see Sarah's favorite - baby Beco.

Once home we put all our medical knowledge to work testing Mom and Dad and every animal we could find.

Summer Swim Fun

Claire has made great strides with her comfort in the water this summer. Last year we couldn't get her to go underwater, now we can't keep her above the water. She loves swimming. After watching her sister Sarah decided it was time to get in on the action and is now loving being underwater as well.

They love to drop items and then dive to search for them. Looks like we need a bigger pool.

What better after a swim than a makeover! Claire couldn't wait to spend her tooth fairy money and bought this lovely make-up kit. The girls do their makeup at least twice a day!