The caterpillars are growing fast! We should have measured them when they arrived a few days ago, but we didn't, so this Day 3 measurement will have to do!

These caterpillars seem much more active than the last bunch we had (they seemed nocturnal, as they always got active after the kids went to bed...coincidence?!).

 

Ah, Rachel fell asleep after dinner (she has her hands up because they're covered with taco grease!).

NOT! (getting out the camera is a sure-fire way to wake her up!)

 

Mike & Elijah took their bridge to the bridge-buildng co-op class--it was a competition to see which bridges could support the most weight.

Here are all the bridges that the other families in the class made. There were so many different designs. It is interesting how 100 craft sticks can be modeled into so many different designs.

Each bridge had to span at least 12 inches. The bridge was set on two saw horses and then a bucket was wired through the bridge. Weights were added to the bucket. We had 84 pounds in free weights we could add. The kids added the weight to the bucket for their own bridge.







84 pounds and no failure. Elijah's bridge moved to the second phase of testing. The intention of the class was to build a bridge and add weight until it breaks. Well, we didn't have enough weight to break some of the bridges, so those bridges get to move to the next round to be held sometime in the future. (can you see that the weight was enough to break the BUCKET?!)

 

We will be having some photos soon of the bridge testing. This photo is two nights before the test. Don't you love the glue?

 

 

We had so much fun growing caterpillars into butterflies a couple of years ago that we decided to do it again this year. The caterpillars arrived today! Here is a link to our 2006 butterfly project.

They're little, but they grow fast. Check back often to see their progress!

 

Now since we are using dasBlog to manage this website, you can choose how this website looks to you. You can set a theme that you like and meets your needs.

Besides looking different, each theme will have a few different features. For example, "BlogXP" (and others) show you an archives list. Another example, "DirectionalRedux" displays tag clouds telling you how many posts exist for each category.

To change the theme, look for a selector called something like "Pick a theme" and change it. You might have to restart your browser for the change to take full effect.

Pictures of available default themes
http://dasblog.info/ThemeScreenShots.aspx

Archive List


Tag Cloud


 

Head over to MADCookie.net for Mike's latest project with these helpers.

 

Kids burrowed in for playtime--acting like they were sleeping.




Not Rachel -- you can't slow her down with that kind of play



 

 

Elijah had a class on bridges. Mike and Elijah are working together to build their own bridge for the class as part of a competition. The goal is to build the strongest bridge with 100 craft sticks and standard school glue.

All good engineering projects begin with lots of planning. Mike sketched a diagram to represent the 12" the bridge must span. Then they worked together to draw the design.

Here Elijah is using clips to temporary hold together the bridge frame as they master their design.



The biggest struggle was to design the cross beams. Each side is strong, but the sides needed to be joined together to keep the bridge from wobbling and help it from collapsing.


The glueing has begun.



 

 

This might be our first product review posting. We bought cookies that include a white sugar surface on which you can color using their special flavored "markers". Sounds fun. It was fun to color the cookies, but the eating part wasn't as fun: the cookie was dry and tasteless.

Before starting

 

During

Note: there are no pictures of Joanna because she was sleeping during this little activity!

 

Elijah, Rebekah and Mike went fishing at Lake Jennings as part of our church's family fishing derby. They didn't catch anything, but they did have a great time. This is probably Elijah's 3rd fishing trip, but it is Rebekah's very first official one. We bought her her own fishing pool and tackle. Rebekah really enjoyed casting and reeling back in. Both Elijah and Rebekah were doing very good. Mike was still a little nervous with the kids swinging around the hook at the end of the line, but thankfully no one got hurt.






 

After our projects around the house were finished, we headed outside to take advantage of the gorgeous day. We went to Mission Trails, and of course headed for the water first!

Watch out!!





This was BEFORE Rachel fell in the water. Our children have a magnetism to the water--our adventures wouldn't be complete without at least one of them getting wet in some manner!



We had a fun time, and are so grateful to live where we can have year-round adventures!

 

After our Saturday morning computer time, we all did some house chores.

---

Rebekah is really great at organizing the books. She is a little overwhelmed here, though.

Before / during

After

Elijah's job is shredding documents


Joanna's job is cleaning up the living room.


Not pictured: Mike cleaning the kitchen. You don't want to see that. There is already a picture of Mike working and that should have scared you enough to never want to see it again.



 

Mike working at the computer -- scary looking huh?!



 

Our homeschool group had a field trip to the San Diego Airport today, and Leslie took Elijah & Rebekah to check it out (Joanna & Rachel stayed with friends). What a great field trip!

Here we are on the tram that took us all over the airfield.

We got to wear headphones to block some of the noise from the planes' engines, and to hear the tour guide better.

We were pretty close to the taxi-ing (how do you spell that, anyway?!) planes. I'm not sure if you can see, but the co-pilot was waving to us!

I snuck up on Elijah & got a picture of him in his new glasses. I wanted to do a whole blogpost about him & his new eyes, but he vetoed that, and being the loving mother that I am (teehee), I acquiesced...and decided to be sneaky about it! :)

Rebekah holds on for dear life as we bump along!

We got over to the other side of the airport and got to tour the fire station, with its 3 "rigs".

TALL wheels, eh?!

The kids all got to climb into the rigs & sit in the driver's seat.




We had a great time! The tour guide said that our group was the most well-behaved she'd ever had, too. :) They were very generous, and gave each of the kids a little water bottle, a t-shirt, and a lunch box with little souvenirs in it--the kids were pretty excited about that!

 

Normally, we don't post pictures before the most recent post. Well, guess what? There are two posts inthe past not to missed.

Scroll down to check out "Scavanger Hunt" and "Evening Reading"

Also notice the links under "Categories". It will take some time for Mike to update the old posts, but eventually you'll be able to fully use those category links for old posts. Going forward, we'll categorize the new ones.

 

Change is good right? Well, as you can see this blog has gone through a major change.

What do you think of it?

I converted all the posts from our Blogger site to a new type of blog called dasBlog. With a conversion like this there might be some problems with images and how text appears. Let me know if there is anything stopping you or annoying you on this site. Please drop your comments on this post.

Hopefully, comments will work without a hitch. :)

Mike

 

Sir Rachel


 

We went to the science center with Leslie's cousin Zack today. We didn't have a lot of time, but the center is free and worth the adventure even if it is for 2 hours.

Elijah had the camera. It was a little finicky at first. This picture is from the other camera (the S2) that Mike held down inside a display on how fog works.


Bridge building at its best! Zack is a fine helper




Rachel realizes the importance of good communication. This tube stretches around and carries your voice to the other end.




A little video of our scientist, Leslie

 

 

Ouch, that has got to hurt! Clever Rebekah drew the ends of an arrow on her hands with body crayon!

Elijah loves mashed potatoes.