Cherishing Christmas Memories with Family

We made our annual trip to Baton Rouge for Christmas to spend time with both families.  It is a blessing that Stuart and I have families in the same town so we only have to travel to one place and not trade off which year we go to which family.  It makes it easier for the kids to see both sets of grandparents a couple of times a year.  It's a long drive though that takes a full day on the road.  We are always delighted to cross the Mississippi River bridge though because that is the landmark that lets us know that we have finally arrived.  I'm pretty sure I take a picture from the bridge every time we go to Baton Rouge.

It was nice to spend a lot of one-on-one time with mom.  

And of course Uncle Steve!

Before we left Texas, we bought a tiny little Christmas tree and a few ornaments so we could have a tree set up in the hotel room for Christmas morning.  Even though we are away from home, we still like to have Christmas morning just for our family.  Stuart and I usually have a gift to exchange with each other and we give the children their gifts from us.  And Santa always leaves a few unwrapped gifts under the tree as well.  Yes, he even finds us in the hotel.

Then we head over to my brother's house for Christmas lunch and a gift exchange.  Steve and Nicholas played guitar together while we waited for my parents to arrive.  I love watching these two on guitar!

You can just see Stuart shaking his head as Rachel opened a slime making kit!  

But she did get some new figure skates as well.  She still loves hockey and figure skating.  I hope that she will soon choose a favorite to pursue 100% because buying gear for both sports gets expensive!

Nicholas was excited about several upgrades he got for his drone.  I was most excited for the laptop he got because he will use that a lot for school.

I don't get pictures of my family nearly enough so I'm excited to have this picture of us all together on Christmas day.

After lunch we eventually waddle our full bellies out the door and head over the Stuart's family where the kids get to spend time with their cousin Jessica.  Jessica pulled out her ukulele for Rachel and taught her a few tips.

Then there were more presents to open!  Lots of excitement!

After dinner, we all gathered in the living room to play the Saran Wrap Ball party game.  It's easy to prepare and surprisingly fun.  I bought trinket toys, playing cards, candy, lottery scratch off tickets, etc plus a roll of Saran Wrap.  I started wrapping each thing up in the Saran Wrap, one at a time.  You start with just one thing then wrap Saran Wrap all around it.  Then you add one more item to the ball and wrap it all up while making sure it is all stuck together in the Saran Wrap.   Just keep going and watch the ball grow!

To play the game:  The youngest player goes first and starts unwrapping the ball.  They get to keep anything that falls out.  In the mean time, the person to the left of them starts rolling a pair of dice as quickly as they can.  As soon as they roll doubles, the ball gets passed to them and they can start unwrapping.  To make an easy version, wrap everything without ever tearing the Saran Wrap so it is one long strip.  This makes it easier for the players to just shake it and unroll it all.  To make it more challenging and make the game take longer (which I did), tear the Saran Wrap every now and then and start a new strip.  Players now have to spend a little extra time finding the beginning of the Saran Wrap.  It seems like a silly idea but you watch the video below and see how much fun we had.  

The kids had fun on their day trip to New Orleans to go to the Insectarium!  They found a giant earthworm!

This is a picture of Rachel sticking her hand into a blind box to see what she feels inside.  I love how Nicholas looks like he is going to jump up and protect her if she gets scared but look at the excitement on her face!

A tour of the Insectarium can leave a kid hungry so they stopped by for a bite at the Bug Buffet!  Salsa with mealworms, anyone?

How about a Chocolate Chirp cookie made with crickets?  Yes, both of my kids ate bugs!

And they posed as beetles as they learned about their hard exoskeletons.

The Insectarium has a wonderful room where the butterflies will just fly over and land on you.  There are beautiful exhibits of moths and butterflies but also plenty of creepy crawly exhibits that aren't so beautiful.  There are also some non-insect exhibits like this tarantula!

The kids also spent some time together at the roller rink.  It is one of the usual activities we do when we come to town.

Look at this picture.  I love these three!

More good food and fun times with family....

This cute couple is tying the knot in a matter of months.  I'm so excited that I'm going to have a sister!

Of course, the trip wouldn't be complete without a few games of One Night Ultimate Werewolf.  It is a bit hard to explain but essentially you have to try to guess who at the table has the werewolf card and lying is encouraged.  It is a sneaky fun game and some people have figured out how to hide their "tells" by simply covering their entire face!

We had a wonderful visit in Baton Rouge and made some sweet memories with our families whom we love and miss so much.

2018 Sandy Lake Homeschool Day

Today we spent a fun day with friends at the Sandy Lake Amusement Park Homeschool Day.  It cost only $10 to get in and that includes unlimited park rides, paddle boats, and pony rides.  It is a great deal!

Sandy Lake is a nostalgic type of amusement park.  It has been around since 1971 and it reminds me of the old Fun Fair Park in Baton Rouge that my parents took me to.

They even have the spyder!  I used to love this ride.

And the Paratrooper or "umbrellas" as I called it was another favorite of mine at Fun Fair Park.  It is so neat that my kids get to ride these same rides many (many) years later.

Of course, since it is Homeschool Day all of our homeschool friends were there too.  The middle school boys and girls were all hanging out together.  Yes, apparently the boys now realize that they can hang out with girls and not get cooties.

The younger girls all stuck together and rode the rides together.  It was the first time I let Rachel go around the park without me.  But she always had a buddy and she has been coming here for years so she knows her way around the park better than most of the other kids.

I couldn't help but pull up some old pictures of Rachel's first visit to Sandy Lake Amusement Park.  That was 7 years ago.  I love this one taken on the same carousel ride.  She is so little and so happy.

We all came back together for a picnic lunch under the shade trees.  I love these kids and their families!  We are all good friends just rolling through this crazy life together.

Choose Nature

Rachel had a friend over to play for a while.  I thought they would probably play outside some, play with dolls, make a mess with craft materials.  I had been feeling a little down so I was looking forward to just enjoying some time to myself while they played.  I made plans to sort through that ever-growing pile of random papers and books that have been neglected in the corner of the school room.  It would be to finally have some time to just get that pile cleared out and I thought that might help to lift my spirits.

After about 10 minutes I was getting settled into my project when the girls came bounding up to me begging for me to walk with them down the street to the playground.  I groaned quietly in my head.  I didn't really want to leave the house.  I didn't feel like being social with other moms at the park.  I was so looking forward to just getting some things done around here.  Walking the whole two blocks to the playground in the heat of the day just sounded like too much for me at that moment.  But these girls had such sweet pleading eyes and I felt guilty for not being more excited about my mantra that kids should spend more time playing and exploring outside.  Of course, I eventually gave in.  I knew they would have more fun at the playground than at the house plus they would get some exercise climbing around the play equipment.  Besides we could all benefit from some fresh air and sunshine.

So I filled a backpack with bottles of water and snacks and we headed to the playground.  I found a bench in the shade and settled down to watch the girls play and just let my mind rest, hoping that maybe just sitting and relaxing outside might cheer me up.  But alas, that wasn't meant to be either.  We didn't stay long at the playground.  Almost immediately upon arriving, Rachel told her friend about the dry creek bed in the woods next to the playground and sure enough they chose to go exploring in nature instead of playing at the playground.  Again, I really didn't want to go.  I had resigned that I would just sit on the bench and not have to do anything.

But I do love the woods and exploring a creek... In the end, the call of nature was too strong and I chose to follow its call.  I'm so glad I did.

The girls quickly got to the bridge and went down to the creek bed to explore.

Before they got too involved in exploring I stopped them to have my usual safety in nature talk.  Part of this includes reviewing how to recognize poison ivy.  The most common identifier is leaves of three.  Often the outer two leaves look like they are mittens with a thumb sticking out.  There is often red on the stem.  Poison ivy can be found as a vine, on the ground, or as a bush so you have just keep your eye out for it where ever you go.  It is abundant in the parks in our area.

I showed them Virginia Creeper and explained that many people mistake it for poison ivy but it has five leaves and it is perfectly safe to touch.

They soon found some little bugs swimming around in the creek.

We found these furry little balls hanging from a tree.  I'm not positive but I think these could be young osage oranges.  I will have to go back and look for thorns on the branches to be sure of that though.

We watched some bees scurrying around on a rock.  I wonder if someone had spilled a soft drink there and the bees were enjoying a new kind of "nectar".

Here is a picture of part of the creek bed.  Rocks, shade, beautiful trees, and birds singing overhead.  I was feeling happy just being out here.  Nature has a way of doing that and there are scientific studies to prove it.  Just being in nature can reduce stress and improve mood for many people.  It is certainly a "happy place" for me.

We found several little damselflies.  I think this one might be a familiar bluet damselfly.  It's hard to say for sure without being able to inspect his markings and wings more closely. He didn't seem interested in that and he quickly flew away when I tried to get closer.

The girls were constantly finding a new area of the creek to check out.  They found frogs here.

I found some insect galls on this cedar elm tree.  Cedar elm is interesting.  The top of the leaves are rough like a fine sandpaper and the undersides of the leaves are smooth.

This tree caught our attention. It has these bright seed pods hanging down close to the branches.  I sent a picture of it to a nature group that I'm in and learned that the tree is a green ash.  The girls looked closely at the seed pods and realized that their concave shape would help it float better in the wind which would help spread the seeds farther.

Those sneaky girls were trying to hurry up and hide from me under the bridge.  We were all giggling and being silly.

By the time I crossed the bridge they were already on the other side, feet submerged in the creek and big grins on their faces.  I was so happy that they were having fun.  And to be honest, I was having a lot of fun too!

A little more inspection of the water.

They found a damselfly larva swimming around in there!

Then they found this other one who is a little younger.  It was swimming around too but the girls put it on a leaf just to contain it while they kept searching for more.

I noticed this piece of possible fossil sticking out from a chipped piece of a rock.  Oh if only I had brought my rock hammer with us....

I found this black flying insect munching away on a cedar elm leaf.  I haven't figured out what kind of bug he is but he seems to have a long stinger on him.

The girls found this interesting thing which looks like seeds.  It looks spiky but it was actually very soft and pliable, not spiky at all.  I don't have a clue as to what type of plant it came from.  

My favorite part of the day was when Rachel cried out, "Lobster!  We found a lobster!"  I smiled and without even seeing it I told her it probably more likely a crawfish.  Yep, they found two crawfish.  They thought they wanted to try to catch them but I had to remind them that crawfish had pinchers and we probably didn't want to try to catch them with our bare hands.  They were ok with that and decided to just watch them walk around under water for a while.

We were only out in the woods for an hour or two but we had a great time!  The girls got exercise, built some confidence through exploring, and learned some new things about trees, plants, and critters.  When we got home, I was surprised to realize just how much that fog had lifted from me and I felt happy again, almost excited about what we had found.  Being out in nature is an amazing experience.  No matter what I might be worrying about or feeling down about, being out among the trees always helps me see things in a better light.  I'm so glad we didn't just stay at the house or play at the playground.  I'm so glad we chose nature to explore nature instead.  

Imagine if we all just stepped away from our cell phones and video games and spent even just an hour out in nature once a week.  Do you think we as a society might be a little less stressed, a little more focused, and a lot more happy?

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