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! 

After dinner we headed over to the pool. It's not so warm anymore, but it was nice and refreshing. 

Yesterday wasn't all bad- though the laundry drying in my bathroom was not so much fun. 

But, I had some rock band entertainment. 

We got Disney Infinity Two! We had pre-ordered it with trade-in credit. 

Then we had our very first lessons by dad- He's handling world history this year, and we started with the big bang. 

Simulated by a ziplock bag explosion! 

Now, I'm off-- everyone's waiting on me to finish so we can start Survivor, and then watch the finale of Big Brother. 

Up Next: THE FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL!!!

Nachos, Sharks, and a Michigander!

I know I haven't written in a week, but last week was sort of boring- until Friday. It was lots of book work, getting back into the swing of things- and a deep clean on the house (for real, I'm talking cleaning under the fridge, and vacuuming under the couch clean!) 

There really wasn't even too many pictures from the week- but to be fair I forget my camera on a couple of trips- including a date night to Burger 21 with Asa to get our free burger for National Cheeseburger Day! (So forgetful lately!) But, I do have a few things to share. Hayden has been writing a book series-- The Adventures of Sillan, and reading us a book every couple of nights. 

We also put up our bookopoly board. On Hayden's first roll he landed on the one non-reading related item, and got to write his autobiography. 

It was one of my favorite writing assignments forever. My favorite was his 'Once I fell on a pile of shoes. I'm surprised I survived.' 

Calib's book came in the mail for his home school review. It's not due for another month, but I had a coupon code to get the book for free, so I did it a little early, and it's one less thing on my plate. 

Late Friday night, Asa went out to pick James up from the airport. For those of you who don't know, James and Asa went to college together. And James is one of my favorite visitors, for sure. (I'm writing my blog tonight to the rock band of Asa/James- it's kind of awesome. I'm totally waiting for the IKEA song to come up!) 

Saturday while Asa worked, I took Hayden out to the library for the kids crafts. The theme was bears. He made a beehive out of bubble wrap. 

And a fuzzy bear out of yarn and googlie eyes. 

And a super cute bear mask. 

The boys do school work on most Saturdays- but once a month we're going to have 'Super Saturdays', where we get to do some fun things- Plinko, Journals, Brainquest cards, some games- and as a review we're going to do Jeopardy once a month. (We had fun new categories like Theme Weeks, and a WHOLE category of 'things you should know, but probably don't) 

And everytime we play Jeopardy this happens. Dipper is the only living thing that sleeps harder than Calib. 

Speaking of Calib, he finally got his final Jeopardy question right, doubling his money!

Late Saturday night (like at 11 pm), we wanted to play the Bean Game, but we needed another person to make it worth while, so we called Justin. He came in to join in on the fun. 

Sunday we had our first football party of the season. I figured a nacho bar was in order, but I did forget to take a picture until we had all raided it. 

Since the Bucs maybe sort of kind of played Thursday night (don't ask), we figured a Sunday without the Bucs playing was the best time to have everyone over. You know, because Asa wouldn't get mad at football if the Bucs weren't playing. 

The kids had a good time playing together, and stayed out of the way while we all yelled at the TV a lot. 

(Katie, I should have had you turn baby Kevin's head so he could have gotten in on the picture!) 

We watched Redzone, and then flipped over to the superbowl rematch of the Bronco's/Seahawks. While it wasn't as ugly as the super bowl, the Broncos still lost-- poor Peyton. 

Our furry family members had lots of fun at the party too. Dipper was convinced Tracy's ponytail was a toy. 

And Maybel and Justin found a nice spot to relax. 

While Soph's and Grace begged for tacos. They know where the food comes from. Calib's been their main source of people food since he was three. 

We forgot the obligatory picture before JD and Tracy went home, but Katie reminded me. 

We finished up the night with a round of Incan Gold. 

Today I decided to take Peyton and Hayden (Calib opted to stay home and do bookwork instead) to the aquarium. Since it was Swaptember- we got in for free. I was pretty sure I could get James in too, but he opted to hang out with Asa. 

I love the weekdays at the aquarium, you get so much personalized attention. That aquarium employee talked to the boys for ten minutes all about horseshoe crabs. 

(Notice the lack of people around!) 

We got a good view of the underside of one of the giant sting rays! 

And we were there for the otter feeding. 

The Lemurs were pretty active in the new Madagascar exhibit too! 

Peyton even manged to pet some sharks. 

And Hayden pet the star fish. 

When we got home my first book from scholastic had come in the mail! Apparently if you enter enough codes from Kelloggs codes from marked boxes not only do you get the points for good coupons, but you also get a free scholastic book! (no shipping or anything- you just order it-- and the promotion is going on until mid-2015!) 

Oh, and we had a causality of my ceramic apples in the kitchen, as one lid broke. Hayden said he'd draw me a picture of it to make me feel better. I don't know if you can see, but it says 'fun fact: it's all dad's fault it's gone)

Asa only has one more day to work (and it's work from home), before it's his weekend- and we have some fun things planned since James is here for a few more days. Hopefully the weather cooperates. 

Next Up: The zoo, Mosi, Nicaragua Day, and the FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL. Color me excited!