On January 9, 1913 our 37th President was born in California. And so, today we're celebrating his 102nd birthday! The kids are at least somewhat familiar with him. Less so due to covering Watergate during decades week, and more-so because Nixon is featured in Futurama.
Now, if I had chosen the first two president's to celebrate, I wouldn't have picked the guy who accidentally became president, and then did just an awful job; and the "I am not a crook" President who resigned instead of being kicked out of office. But, these are the first two birthdays of the year, and so we celebrate!
Besides sharing the historical stories of the presidents we're covering, I also like to share some fun facts. In honor of Nixon trying to strike it rich with frozen OJ (not from concentrate mind you, just frozen OJ which never really took off), we made some Orange Julius for the boys to sip on while I presented the toy timeline.
Now, I know you all aren't idiots, and probably know the general story of Richard Nixon. So, I don't think I would be telling you much you didn't know if I rambled on. But, did you know he was a Quaker? He was born in California, pretty poor, in a house his dad had built. Went to school, became a lawyer, and married his wife Thelma (who everyone called Pat since she was born the day before Saint Patricks Day).
Eventually he was Eisnhower's VP (for two terms), before he lost to JFK. He went back to California, ran for governor- and lost. You'd think this would be the end of Richard Nixon. I mean, the guy even gave a press conference to say that it was. Not surprisingly, he wasn't being entirely truthful.
He ran again in 1968, and this time he won. He did some good things. Brought the guys home from overseas (even if later we learn he may have let the war go on just so he could become president and be the one to pull out), visited communist China and the Soviet Union (teaching the boys about communism was interesting), helped continued the plight for civil rights by desegregating schools in the south, created the Environmental Protection Agency, and saw the first man on the moon.
But, his legacy will always be defined by the Watergate scandal and ensuing cover-up (Fun story, the same day of the Watergate break-in- June 17th, 1972- my parents got married!) We talked about Sprio Agnew stepping down to avoid being prosecuted for his crimes, and how Gerald Ford rises to the VP spot.
Hayden raised his hand in the middle of all of this, and said "Mom, can you please you leave the sign up and save the secrets for me to play with later." Love that.
We talked about the cover up, the tapes, and how Nixon refused to apologize and only stepped down when he was going to get kicked out. And how Gerald Ford got to be president Frank Underwood style (Of course, not that my kids watch House of Cards!)
Which resulted in this for his twitter update. (You can't fire me, I quit #SorryNotSorry)
For our activity today, we made some moon sand (You know, because Nixon was president when we landed on the moon) It's just some flour and baby oil mixed together in a cake pan- and ta da! you have the moon!
Then we dropped some rocks on it to make some craters. And had a little mini Science lesson.
Nixon could also play 5 different instruments. We made some straw flutes. I had found the measurements online to be able to play do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do. Asa gave them a quick lesson about how all of that works.
Then, we made Nixon some birthday cards- something I had been totally excited about the boys doing for each president (and something fun to put in their portfolios). I don't know how I forgot to do it on Wednesday for Millard Fillmore's birthday, but we're going to go back and make him some.
We hung up our Nixon board, and decided to add some of the 'puppets' I had made, the Quaker outfit, some chocolate chip cookies (Nixon's favorite), the EPA, a ballot (since Nixon actually won re-election by one of the largest margins in history), orange juice, and his tombstone which reads a line from his inaugural address "The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peaemaker"
For dinner, Asa made meatloaf. Pat Nixon's meatloaf recipe was one of Richard's favorite, and the white house actually released her recipe of it. We also had cottage cheese with fruit. It was one of Nixon's favorite, and actually his very last meal in the white house was a plate of pineapple with a scoop of cottage cheese on top, served with a glass of milk all on a silver platter.
Nixon's favorite desserts included Chocolate Chip cookies, and ice cream. We put them together! Happy Birthday, Richard Nixon!
Besides celebrating Nixon's birthday, Peyton and Hayden had a class at the aquarium yesterday. Asa took them, and told me I had to stay at home - and not do ANYTHING productive. Which was actually really hard. But, Calib an I sat on the couch, under covers and watched a bunch of Rachel Ray episodes, and some Sports Center. It was freezing tomorrow yesterday. I think it barely got above 50. Blah.
We also had a lessons by dad. The feature was the solar system. So, we all sat on the couch and watched a fun crash course history video.
Then we went outside to show exactly how far each planet is from one another.
One step for Calib represented 36,000,000 miles. (Fun story, we went over to ask our neighbor if we could draw on their sidewalk too, since it wouldn't all fit on ours- and Jan replied with "of course!" and then jokingly said "just don't draw anything obscene". Asa responded with "well, I guess we have to skip Uranus then". Asa's got jokes! And our neighbor has a good sense of humor, she thought it was hilarious)
Thats the boys way down toward the end of the block drawing Neptune.
I also had to move some things around, so we could take a mid-week break next week from Harry Potter week to fit in Disney, which pushed everything around. Plus, Asa wanted a three day block for Lessons by Dad. Sometimes I wonder how I fit it all in.
And for your Waterstraut pet update- Maybel and Dipper have never been the best of buddies. They'll sit next to each other if the backdoor is open and they both want to look out the screen, but that's about it. They never ever sleep or lay together. But, Hayden had his blanket hanging down from the top bunk- and tricked Maybel and Dipper into taking a nap together!
Oh, and another fun note- I got some more of my presidential pez in the mail today.
I'm so excited. And so close to having them all! It's awesome to do the presidential pop quiz and reward the boys a pez from the correct president for the right answer! (Please excuse Red and Wembly's feet that made it into the picture) I am hoping to get a whole self just for the presidents, but until then, they'll have to be crammed in together.
Up Next: The Much Much MUCH anticipated Harry Potter Week. I'll try and update you each day with our events. It's going to be SO. MUCH. FUN. (Here's a Sneak Peek of the House Cup our friend, Rachel, made us for Harry Potter week. We got it in the mail today along with my Pez Dispensers--Best Mail Day Ever--- We LOVE it!)
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