Field Trip: Doseum and Headed Home

    Last full day in San Antonio: lunch at Green. Here's my last little tribute to them.

     I found a new museum by searching for things to do. It's the Doseum located at 2800 Broadway in San Antonio. It's 5.5 acres of pure fun. There was, indeed, LEARNing, EXPLOREing, and CREATEing taking place.

Sis took a special computer/coding class.

playing around with the green screen

     This was one of our favorite exhibits. You color a house, building, or form of transportation and then scan it. It shows up on the huge, active screen.

     It was fun to spot your art as it moved around.

stop-motion drawing

      Tornado was in his element creating a comic.

building a creation that could withstand being dropped

 

talking about meals astronauts could eat in space and creating meals with clay/combining colors to create new colors

Dash, dreaming about the future

     Tornado loved the exhibit with recycled objects. I think he would love for his bedroom walls to look like this.

More scenes from Doseum:

 

      I really think this was the BEST children's museum we have ever visited. There is indoor and outdoor space. We will definitely go again.

 

      We met Wimpy and Liz at La Fiesta Patio Cafe in Universal City. This is one of our traditions - they have taken us there since I was young. It is a healthier version (with vegan/vegetarian options) of authentic Mexican food. We had to say goodbye to them here after we ate. That's always a sad thing to do!

 

      I really love these two so much.

      Our one fun thing we definitely do on our drive from Texas to Florida - if the timing is right - is stop at the restaurant Seed. We always pose with this cow and sign, too. We have roamed around New Orleans on other trips, but it was too late to do anything during this drive.

     Aaaaand, our favorite thing about Seed are the vegan beignets. It's something we have never been able to get anywhere else. The kids always comment that beignets remind them of The Princess and the Frog.

Sissy's 2nd Grade Year: Post #3

Just a few things Sis had going on at the end of last semester:

 

Co-op

On Pilgrims and Indians Day, she wore the costume I had worn in the 3rd grade. My mom had someone make this costume for me.

 sponge paint artwork in Five in a Row class

She, her little brother, and I showed up for work day at the church where co-op takes place. We pulled weeds and shoveled and spread out mulch.

a Cranberry Thanksgiving craft

for Five in a Row

 

 

 In American History/Symbols and Traditions class, they talked about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
 

And they made these cute floats out of shoeboxes tied to a balloon.

Field Trip

before going in to sing

Christmas carols at the nursing home
 

 We had a little time before picking up biggest brother from school, so we headed to the mall to Christmas shop. And drink tea.
 

Thanksgiving

We made a BINGO game from DLTK

 and played it after dinner.



 BINGO got pretty intense and competitive. Here are a couple of the winners' prizes.

 We also made a Thankful Tree for the table and after dinner, we listed our gratitudes on the leaves. Sissy wrote: dogs, family, food, bikes, home, God, Googie, Papaw, and outside. Ryan wrote: family, Illini, sons, daughter, time, Jesus, stories, summer, naps, health, beach, sleep, Nikola, job, and Jenny. We helped Baby Brother think of: someone to play with, nee nee milk, upstairs' toy room, Papaw, Ms. Brenda, his family, outdoors. Tornado wrote: our house, my stuffed animals, the 2 dogs, and Googie. (If he didn't include you, don't let it hurt your feelings - he didn't mention me, either, haha.) I wrote: my kids, Ryan, humor, Roni & Ghetti, kisses, vegan food, freedom, Gone Bananas, cardigans, our homeschool co-op, good health, road trips, massages, my family, my friends, flowers, my fave tv shows, internet, and God.

pilgrim hats: Peanot Cups, frosting, and

one side of Newman's Own O's cookies



Choir

 Dash and Sissy auditioned for a University of South Florida kids' choir at the beginning of last summer. They have had practice one night a week. Their first concert was in December at Busch Gardens. They did a wonderful job performing at the Marrakesh Theater. They were able to enjoy the park for a few hours before their 8:00 show. Unfortunately, it rained almost the entire time before the performance, but they managed to have fun, regardless.

after the show

 

 

Their Christmas concert was held later in December at a large church in Tampa. They did a beautiful job, once again. I'm proud of them for participating in the choir together. They are learning a lot about music and singing.

The Teacher

 Sissy gets to spend a lot of time with her little brother. She is one of the best big siblings in the world, I think. She is so patient and so mature with him. She loves playing teacher on her own, and she loves being a real teacher to him. Here they were working on a cut and paste workbook for preschoolers. She was showing him how to use scissors, telling him they were like alligators chomping their teeth.

Christmas themed pattern block mats

Out and About

 I had it in my mind to visit Heritage Village in Largo (which is part of Tampa) since we moved here. It is an open air living history village. We really enjoyed our day here. Sissy especially loved the one room school house. I think she would have spent all day here, teaching her pretend class.

or her real class

practicing morse code

in another building

another room they especially had fun in was the kitchen
 

 I mentioned in the last post that we attended Tampa Bay's Veg Fest, but I didn't include a photo. Here she was, making a veggie stamp painting.

 We wanted to use our Busch Gardens passes one more time toward the end of December. (Sis and I are the only ones who had passes, and Little Brother is free.) We tried to visit new areas and do things we had never done before.

We took the long train ride all around the park. We, however, did go to Sesame Street Place, though, because it's probably C's favorite place in the world. 



First eye appointment. He recommended glasses, although her prescription is pretty small.

running around downtown,

Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park



Dance

 She has been taking dance and acting classes 4 days a week this school year. (This semester we are down to 3 days a week.) It started with a weeklong camp at the end of the summer. This picture was taken on that Friday when they performed the dances they had learned.

 In November she was excited to participate in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade at Wiregrass Mall in Wesley Chapel. She attended several special practice sessions to prepare for this.

 

 

The kids danced their number to Shake it Off several times during the parade, with a special performance in front of Macy's.



 lyrical and musical theater night

 During her recital week in December, visitors were invited to come watch the classes perform during the last 15 minutes of class. Since she was taking 6 classes (lyrical, musical theater, jazz, tricks & turns, cheer dance, and hip-hop), we were busy this week. It was fun to watch her, and performing is her favorite thing to do. Each night, families could gather for a little Christmas party after the recital.

jazz and tricks & turns night

hip-hop

American Girl Club

The girls in American Girl book club read all Samantha books this semester. In December, they had their Christmas party. Each girl brought an inexpensive ornament to exchange. We bought this photo ornament at Michael's, added a ribbon, and put a picture (printed off the computer) of Samantha with scrapbook paper background. I thought it was so cute I wanted to keep it. I think I'll make her one, too.

Beyond the ornament exchange, they enjoyed a tea party and decorating cookies.

Christmas

counting down the days
a daily activity behind each card
 

This was one day.

 

 

This was another.

 

 

 

"REAL" snow in Florida at the Symphony of Lights at Wiregrass Mall

 

Christmas Travel

 Christmas also meant traveling to St. Louis to celebrate with my family, where she enjoyed all kinds of girl time (not to mention time with boy cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, as well).

At Ryan's family's Christmas in Illinois, she had more fun cousin time, including with a NEW cousin.

 

 Grandma set out a table full of craft supplies and "trash" objects like boxes and cans. They created bird houses, wallets, ornaments - all kinds of things.

 

This was the sum total of our New Year's Eve celebration as we were enduring the last part of our very, very long car trip when the clock struck 12. Why does the trip home always feel so long and exhausting?

 

 "Home" School

the states Sissy has visited

 

 

 My states...although, after now that I'm looking, I forgot I have been in Michigan...and maybe Nebraska? I can't remember. I need a trip to Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire and the central north.

 

This was one of our favorite books we read this semester! It's very clever.