My mom’s mom passed away today. She was 84 years old. She had had a rough couple of years and my mom said that my grandma sounded like she was ready to go when they last spoke. I am sad for my mom and her sisters. It is so hard to lose a parent, but it’s also hard being old and in pain. Rest in peace, Grandma.
It’s science fair time again. This will be the first time that both of the boys are doing science fair. It was optional for Colm’s grade, but he said he wanted to do it, so I guess we are doing two projects this year. Colm is doing an experiment that involves the melting point of ice cream and Liam is doing an experiment that involves salt and how much of it it takes to get things to float…think the Dead Sea.
Colm played his recorder tonight in a little mini-concert at school. The third graders played their recorders while the fifth graders accompanied them on their ukuleles.
I love this tree. I think it’s a weeping willow and if it’s not don’t tell me…just let me believe it is. Weeping willows always remind me of our neighbor’s house when I was in kindergarten. They had a weeping willow and I loved them then and I still love them.
You know you’re a grown up when you get excited because your new toaster oven arrived in the mail.
First day back to school after spring break and we hit the ground running with an art lit lesson on J.M.W. Turner in Colm’s class. The kids did a great job and they turned out beautifully.
I am SO thankful that this kid who keeps getting older and older on me still likes to hunt for eggs.
We started our day in Tacoma at the Museum of Glass. It was a gorgeous sunny day and I am pretty sure that made the glass both inside and outside the museum look even better.
They happened to be having a workshop today where you could make a fused glass project. It was so great. I loved watching the boys go through the process of designing and executing their projects. Colm had just gotten done telling me how much he doesn’t like art, but he sure was concentrating and awfully proud of his work when he was done. 🙂 Their projects went in the kiln today and will be mailed to us when they are ready.
This is the sketch Colm did of his idea before he made it into glass.
The boys didn’t use this which I was a little disappointed with since I would have exclusively used it had I designed a project. It’s glass glitter!
(Project 365-3/30/2013)
In the kiln and ready to go! I love how Colm made a sunset and Liam’s is abstract. They are both great and we can’t wait to see them when they’re done.
Then when we were done touring the museum we got in the car and headed to Olympia to the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. We had gone to another wildlife refuge that is closer to our house last year for Father’s Day. I think the one we went to today might have been a little bit bigger (i.e. more walking).
It was a beautiful day and this place was busy! There were a LOT of very serious birdwatchers.
Can you see Mt. Rainier peeking out above the trees?
The boys knew that we were going on a trip, but they just thought we were going to Tacoma. We never really gave them any of the details. Our first stop was to Fort Nisqually. It was used by the Hudson Bay Company. We have also been to Fort Vancouver which they also owned. Both of the forts look very similar.
Learning about the role of the fort’s store in the life of the fort…the things they bought, sold and traded. We also learned that the person who ran the store also had the job of keeping a sort of journal of the fort and the people who lived there. The quality of the journal varied greatly from year to year depending on who was running the store.
Lookout tower…things didn’t go so well between the British and the natives
They had a bunch of games for kids to play that would have been typical for children of that time period. Colm and I played graces which involves each person holding two sticks and then you use those two sticks to catch and throw a decorated ring back and forth to each other. They both gave the hoop and stick a try and Colm tried jumping rope…not something he normally does. We also put on a Punch and Judy play, played badmitton with wooden paddles and a birdie that had real feathers and practiced writing on a slate board using a primer.
(Project 365-3/29/2013)
After we were done with that we headed to our hotel which was GORGEOUS! Each floor featured a different artist that blows glass. The lobby was stunning and the view was beautiful. We also went to a great Japanese restaurant where the boys each tried several new foods (oysters and sushi included) and Colm tried this fun Japanese soda that has a marble in it.
Sean and I decided several weeks ago that we were going to surprise the boys over spring break and take them to the Great Wolf Lodge. We’ve never been and one of the boys told me several years ago that EVERYONE in their class had been but them. 😉 We decided to go for one night since we figured it’s the kind of kid haven that parents want to get out of as soon as possible.
We had a GREAT time! I almost wish we could have stayed a little longer. Liam had a great time in the wave pool and going down the water slides upteen times and Colm became a Magiquest expert. Don’t know what Magiquest is? It involves buying a ridiculously expensive plastic wand that the kids use to solve riddles all over the hotel. It’s actually very cool, but holy cow we ran up and down those stairs about 7,000 times.
The room we stayed in was super cool too. The boys had their own little room within the room that had bunk beds and was supposed to look like a cabin.
The Magiquest wands
Frozen yogurt tastes better when a robot makes it.
(Project 365-3/28/2013)