auntie zoo day

We had so much fun playing hooky and going to the zoo on the nicest day ever... both Aunts were present...what a joyful day!

This one just cracks me up.....

Damsel took most of the photos that she wasn't in and I think she did a fabulous job!

chemistry is fun!

A local college holds an annual chemistry open house for young children to come and watch and interact with all kinds of fun experiments and explosions! We fell upon it by accident many years ago and it has been awhile since we last went, so we were thrilled to take the family there again. I am sure damsel was too little to remember when last we went. This is only a small example of the very many cool experiments going on. The free candy near the entrance was a plus too. :)

Notice the Milky Ways on the right there next to the oozing bucket of liquid nitrogen? They became Milky Chunks...

Liquid nitrogen ice cream!

A balloon twist on baking soda and vinegar.

You know that goo that comes in those games for kids? Did you know it was an accident and my kids got to make some?? Eeeeeee.......
Isn't it cool that God is a God of even chemistry and He has orchestrated all it's interactions and purposes and it thrills me to see, interact in and show my kids His awesome creations.

zoo trip

Braveheart was invited to a very special behind the scenes tour of our nearby zoo back in Feb. Thanks to Brad of Trudy's Tribe. That is an organization that provides events for kids with cancer in this area. The director of the zoo was there and we got to watch them feed the elephants and look, he even got touch the elephant!! Isn't that cool??


We went into the giraffe house and were able to feed them as well. They are so huge, it is hard to fathom until you are there and they are still growing!

We walked through the bird house and saw the area where they prepare the food for the animals.

Yes, they pulled out a bag with frozen rats in it! Ugh.
It was a fun morning, just short enough not to wear us out.

skiing adventures

Even though we live near a place that offers skiing, we have never bothered to go, especially since I knew if we loved it, there was a good chance that it would become an expensive favorite. I just had to post these photos from a couple weeks ago of T and D going skiing with our good friend Craig. We were so thankful that he was available to take them (it was a weekday) and teach them how to ski, while I stayed home with Damsel and Braveheart. The boys are officially hooked. They loved it so much that they called to say they would be home later than planned. Thanks Craig.

flashback friday

I wanted to use these Fridays to get in some blogging blasts from the past. As I am deep in organinzing the home, I must keep this blog organized as well.

Late last year, Dance Marathon hosted a trip to a museum nearby and we were able to go for a short while. Braveheart (I've decided this is a good blog name for him) tired easily but was in need of a change of scenery. It was a nice family outing. GG (great grandma) and Gramma D came along as well.

Braveheart loves this kind of stuff but is still tired from a hospital stay, but thankfully his counts are up presently and we get to sit most of the short time we're here.

Dad is the resident biologist and assists with the learning.

Yikes, a shark!!

Everyone gets hands on.

And some show off a little......

pumpkin patch

Recently we spent the day together at Bloomsbury Farm in Iowa. There is a charity organization at the children's hosptal called Dance Marathon that many of the medical students belong to and every year they have a 24 hour dance marathon, hence the name, where they dance for 24 hours and raise money to help out the cancer kids there. Well, they use the money for many good works including financial donations, medicine assistance and material needs in the hospital like tv's and DVD players etc. One of the fun things they do is volunteer to play with the kids in the activity rooms and they invited and paid for any families that were interested go to this farm and provided lunch there as well. It was really fun to just get away and spend the day together as a family! Bryce was between phases of chemo and was looking and feeling pretty good. We were very thankful for this special day/memories.

They even had a 40 acre maze to navigate that required some maps and finding hints. It was really fun. Dylan went through it all by himself ahead of us and it took him awhile. Dad is the team leader here, directing his squad for the corn maze mission!

mini field trip to farm

Recently we went on a small scale field trip to a farm in Iowa. It was nice to get out of the house, into the country and get all that fresh air.

We saw chickens.

Abby helped squish real apples for apple cider we all enjoyed drinking it at the end. What a beautiful day!