Water Bottles, Tailgates, and Rum. Lots of Rum.

The thing about Asa working Saturdays is that he's always missing free events around the Tampa Bay Area. Last week it was MarineQuest, and this week it was the Zephyrhills Water open house. When I heard about this totally free event (all you had to do was sign up for tickets), I thought it'd be a fun 'field trip' for the boys. Once a year the water bottling plant in Zephyrhills opens up and give out free tours.  They had a ton of other activities too, which was pretty awesome. When we came in we even got a 'welcome bag' which was a backpack with some coupons, pens, and educational information in it. 

We decided to tour the factory first. I wasn't allowed to take any pictures once we got into the factory (which was a shame the boys looked too cute in their glasses and hard hats), but I did snap one in the lobby after we got our safety vests and before we got into the actual factory. 

It was a pretty cool tour. We saw how the bottles are made (and got to take home one before it's 'blown' out), we got to see them get filled (the water comes from crystal springs- about three miles away) and capped, before seeing them either wrapped or boxed. We had one of the workers show us around and explain what all the different machines did, and answered any questions. 

I thought the factory tour was it, but there was a whole festival atmosphere going on within the plants gates. We got free snow cones- that the boys even got to put the syrup on themselves. 

Hayden was the only one who wanted to take a picture with the giant Zephyrhills water bottle mascot. 

There were lots of educational displays for us to check out- giving me some questions for Jeopardy next time around! 

The even had a pumpkin patch for all the kids to take home free pumpkins! 

Oh, and of course we all got free water to take home. 

I forgot to snap a picture of the water bottle samples the boys got in the factory until we got home- here's Hayden with his. 

The boys asked to get up earlier this morning so we'd be at Al Lopez for a little longer before we headed to the stadium, so we set the alarm for 9:30. (That's the kind of life we live, we have to set alarms for 9:30 am, I know- it's rough. To be fair, Asa only gets to sleep in 3 days a week, though) 

Since the weather is getting nicer (much cooler and really very comfortable in the shade), we decided to cook out instead of picking something up on the way. 

Tailgating- Always a high light of our Sundays during home games. 

We also finally got around to getting Calib his new jersey. He's the only one with one of the 'new' uniforms. 

And we got there in time to see the very exciting end of the Lions Falcons game in London. 

The Bucs were playing the Vikings today, and I was actually mad at myself for not realizing it was prime time to wear my Favre Vikings Jersey- I saw a whole bunch of them! But, I was rooting for the Bucs. 

It was hot, only because there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We applied sunscreen before we left the park and the end of  every quarter, and some of us still got sunburnt. 

But, it wasn't unbearably hot like it had been the last few games. 

There also wasn't a whole lot of people there- this is the third quarter. A few more came back from halftime, but not a ton. I know we're losing, but it's still sad to see so few people at the games. 

We did take the lead with two minutes to go! 

So we were pretty happy. 

But then the Vikings scored too, and it went into OT. 

How did it go? Well, the next picture is Asa drinking rum and coke out of the Bucs cup from the game. I think you can figure it out from there. (Poor Asa, there is not enough Rum in the world for this season) 

The good news is, Saint Louis lost too, so we're hoping it drives ticket prices down. And, I mean it could be worse- we could be the Raiders. But, seriously, that's the only team that is statistically worse than us. I really would just like to see the Bucs win at home at least once this season. *sigh* Next week, we're away at the Browns. I don't have high hopes, and I REALLY don't want to hear it from all my Browns fans friends (so you know, be warned) 

Next Up: It's an office week for Asa, so we've got a normal week full of home school with a fun mid-term election lesson and some Halloween activities. Hoping to make it to MOSI for our weekend, but we'll see. 

Volcanoes at the Beach

It's back to just the five of us here in Florida, it was a nice visit with mom but after visitors and a theme week that lasted something like ten days, it's time for us to get back to normal and into a routine. Before mom left she wanted to hit the beach so it was a beach day for us on Tuesday. 

I took that opportunity to take Science to the beach, after all it was still Science Week. We had a lesson on volcanoes (not that Calib needed it since he did his project on them). But, we used toothpaste and a cup of sand to simulate magma. (It comes up and breaks through the sand, a pretty good visual for kids) 

Then we talked about a couple different kids of volcanoes and built models of them on the beach. Peyton had fissure volcanoes (which is more like a crack in the ground). We used a sand toy for the volcano model. 

Hayden had a sheild volcano, they are broad and low. I brought a soup can for the middle of his. 

Calib had a Cinder Cone Volcano, which is the classic steep volcano. We used a water bottle for his. 

We talked about how each volcano would erupt. (I was hoping my choices for containers would help them to erupt true to their kinds). We filled the containers up with baking soda, and then I let the boys each pour in some vinegar. 

It actually worked out really well. Calib's cinder cone volcano spewed the lava higher than the others. 

While Peyton's bubbled up from the ground just like a fissure volcano. 

Haydens tipped over the top and the lava spread out far and wide, just as a shield volcano would. 

After our lessons, there was rock throwing. 

And castle building. 

Even sting ray spotting! (Don't worry, we did the stingray shuffle) 

Peyton, Calib and I decided to walk down to the rocks to see if we could find any crabs. 

No crabs, but we did spot ANOTHER sting ray (in 8 years living in FL, I've never seen a wild sting ray until this week and we saw two!) 

We also sat and watched four dolphins playing out in the gulf. I couldn't really get a picture, but you could see them so well, they were jumping high out of the water and blowing out their blow holes! 

Then Peyton found all kinds of schools of fish in the rocks. 

When we walked back, mom had made quite the rock wall. 

Meanwhile, Hayden found an action figure and decided he was a pirate and we needed to make him a ship. 

It was a fun day at the beach, and we stole some sand to bring home for Calib's science project volcano. 

He filled it up with baking soda ahead of Science Project presentations. 

We finished up our first chart of Disney wait times too. We're working on another one for a little more data. 

Hayden had family night out at the library, so we went out to do various Thanksgiving and Halloween crafts. 

Then we finally had the boys give their presentations. 

Hayden went first, and discussed his Gummy Bear Experiment. 

Then Peyton shared his geodes project. 

And Calib exploded his volcano. 

Awards were given out. Calib got second. 

Hayden got third. 

And Peyton got first. He knew the most about his project. 

There were some good rewards to be had. 

We had a low country boil dinner, per moms request. 

And we played some games before mom headed home on Wednesday morning. 

By Wednesday, I was pretty over doing stuff- and wanted to just relax. Even the pets got on board with that. (This is Sophie licking Dipper who's laying with Deleno) 

It's not all been lazy either, we got around to holding our Super Saturday for the month a few days late. 

We dropped our Plinko chips and played some Jeopardy. 

I added the new category of 'Things I never get right"

And Asa was the host this time! 

We've also had some LOVELY weather-- like leave open the back door lovely. Dipper and Maybel are fans for sure. I'm hoping it sticks around for our next home game. 

Asa also took me out for date night. 

And today I hit Costco, Target, and Publix. Target was my best trip though- $22 for all of this! 

Asa made awesome pork tacos for dinner tonight, and then for dessert we had 'dutch babies', some very yummy desert in the cast iron skillet. 

That's it for our week. It's been a low key Friday evening, with Peyton off at the Halloween Party at the library and the rest of us catching up on Survivor (not a bad season so far!) We might have some things going on tomorrow, but I also have tons of stuff to get done at home, and I have the sniffles- so we'll see. 

Next Up: Let's hope for the Bucs first home game win of the season! Either way, tailgating will be fun!