The Waterstraut Waterspout: Meerkats, Zip Lines, and Nicaragua

Yesterday was no bueno in the Waterstraut household. I probably bit off more than I could chew planning a full home school day in with someone visiting, and Asa working from home. It was too much choas and things out of order, it made me very uneasy. Then, the dryer (which was on it's last legs anyway) died. Apparently, it's our responsibility to deal with it, not the landlord. Boo (We bought a new one figuring if we're moving anytime soon, it was prudent to get our own anyway- but I wasn't thrilled about spending nearly $500 on something I had previously already had, but what can you do.) Microsoft also decided to charge our debit card a ludicrous amount of money, that then charged a bank fee. Which, whatever they fixed it, and paid us the fee-- or so they said. They actually just charged us AGAIN resulting in ANOTHER fee. It eventually got fixed, but that was also not so cool. Some other crappy things happened,and I was so over yesterday. I was a Miss Cranky Pants for sure. But today, today was MUCH MUCH better.

We got up early today and had a big brunch of french toast, hashbrowns, eggs, and sausage. I was hoping to fill the boys up so we could skip lunch, and get out of the house early in case it rained in the afternoon (there was a 60 percent chance!)

It's Swaptember, so our Mosi (and my individual aquarium pass) gets us into all kinds of things free. Last week we got rained out of the zoo, and when I posted on Facebook about it, James said he would like to go, so we waited until today. We had really nice weather, too. Warm, but breezy and cloudy.

We fed the lorikeets.

Checked out the Penguins (I LOVE our penguin exhibit)

This guy was chasing a fly on the other side of the glass.

The meerkats were out and about and pretty active.

We even had a baby elephant sighting.

The rhinos were right up against the edge of their habitat too.

And Hayden fed the giraffes.

We headed over to the kids part of the zoo, and pet and brushed the goats.

And did the wallabe walkabout.

We walked along the boardwalk and saw the manatees.

And pet the sting rays.

Asa was really getting all the sting rays excited. He held his hand out and they were all flapping their wings, trying to get Asa to pet them.

We missed the poison dart frogs at the aquarium, so Peyton was happy to see his favorite reptile.

We left the zoo around 2 o'clock, and still had some sun. (I never realize I'm making the boys take pictures right into the sun-- opps)

Then we headed over to MOSI to do the ropes course.

The boys all went on the zipline, too. Hayden included (for the very first time! he was so brave)

When we got home, we had Nicaragua Day. Since Survivor premieres tonight (this season was filmed in Nicaragua), I thought we could use that to learn a little bit about Central America's largest country.

We made some pirate ships, since Lake Nicaragua (also the largest lake in Central America) was once a sort of safe haven for pirates. Some even think there is still pirate treasure in the lake!

I found these online- a free printable from Crayola, a straw, some hot glue and a little tape- and we had pirate ships!

Nicaragua is called the land of lakes and volcanoes. It's also home to the only 'duel volcano' with two different sources of magma. We 'straw painted' these volcano explosions.

This was the best activity for Hayden. You had to be a little chaotic and a little crazy to get such a cool painting. He nailed it.

The boys also made some sharks out of envelopes. (A super easy project that's totally cute) Lake Nicaragua actually had fresh water sharks!

They're currently hanging on the home school cabinet.

Then the boys made a poster board to show everything we talked about and everything they learned. The cut out letters from magazines to write 'Nicaragua', and colored the flag and the map.

They worked really well together. I was impressed!

Meanwhile, Asa made dinner- a Nicaraguan recipe he had found online.

It was delicious (especially the chimichurri like sauce he made to drizzle over the meat. James suggested it over the peas as well, and it was delicious!