Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
A trip to Athens
Well, Athens, Tx. The kids and I went to Athens to visit one of the state fish hatcheries today. It was a HUGE hit. I had debated all week (especially with the stormy weather we have been having) whether the two hour drive each way would be worth it for us and it TOTALLY was.
We had the entire place to ourselves because yesterday they hosted a big Halloween festival and had 3000 visitors. We were seriously the only non-staff there today.
We were greeted by a volunteer who gave us a personal tour and told us what we should see, then we explored on our own for a while. The kids really enjoyed the stock pond and wanted to fish forever...even though they didn't catch anything. ;) They actually asked if they could go back tomorrow, but I talked them out of it since tomorrow IS Halloween and all. ;)
We made this little trip because Joseph and Caroline have started an Oceanography unit in Moving Beyond the Page that started out with fresh water creatures as an introduction.
Check out these Killer Catfish. They were kind of scary. And large.
Joseph is throwing them some feed. Notice how far he is standing away from the tank. ;)
They really like that fish food.
I swear that one of them could have swallowed Libby whole.
The girls watching the catfish.
These "little" guys aren't nearly as scary.
Yay! One of all three of them!
Here are some of the kids fishing. This was really cool. As part of the entry fee (which was nominal....$5 for adults and %3.50 for kids) you get to go fishing in the catch and release stock pond. They provide rods, reels and bait.
Don't let them fool you. They LOOK bored, but they were just very relaxed. They had no desire to leave the stock pond. The weather was gorgeous...sunny and 60*. We don't get them like that often in North Texas!
We had the entire place to ourselves because yesterday they hosted a big Halloween festival and had 3000 visitors. We were seriously the only non-staff there today.
We were greeted by a volunteer who gave us a personal tour and told us what we should see, then we explored on our own for a while. The kids really enjoyed the stock pond and wanted to fish forever...even though they didn't catch anything. ;) They actually asked if they could go back tomorrow, but I talked them out of it since tomorrow IS Halloween and all. ;)
We made this little trip because Joseph and Caroline have started an Oceanography unit in Moving Beyond the Page that started out with fresh water creatures as an introduction.
Check out these Killer Catfish. They were kind of scary. And large.
Joseph is throwing them some feed. Notice how far he is standing away from the tank. ;)
They really like that fish food.
I swear that one of them could have swallowed Libby whole.
The girls watching the catfish.
These "little" guys aren't nearly as scary.
Yay! One of all three of them!
Here are some of the kids fishing. This was really cool. As part of the entry fee (which was nominal....$5 for adults and %3.50 for kids) you get to go fishing in the catch and release stock pond. They provide rods, reels and bait.
Don't let them fool you. They LOOK bored, but they were just very relaxed. They had no desire to leave the stock pond. The weather was gorgeous...sunny and 60*. We don't get them like that often in North Texas!
Update on the Astronaut Q&A? We got an email from a real live American Hero!
(Sorry about the last post. Blogger glitched and decided to enter my post after I typed the title. :p)
Remember the failed attempt to ask an Astronaut about what it was like to be in zero gravity?
I posted about this on Facebook and a friend of mine from high school (that I haven't seen in 25 years!) sent me a message telling me that he has a friend who is a minister in Clear Lake. He often does the lift-off prayer service down there and he knew a bunch of astronauts. He offered to contact his friend and ask him to ask an astronaut to email Joseph.
What an awesome thing to offer! I didn't tell Joseph though because it was such a longshot and so many connections to make.
Today, we got an email!!
Joseph,
I heard that you missed out on an opportunity to talk to a friend of mine recently. Jeff Williams is on the International Space Station now but before he left, we worked together as shuttle astronauts although I never had the chance to fly a mission with him. I recently completed a visit to the Hubble Space Telescope as the mission commander. My crew did five spacewalks to repair and upgrade the telescope. It is in great shape now and is taking some phenomenal imagery of this amazing universe we live in. if you send me your address, I will send you some photos of my crew along with a mission patch. When Jeff gets home next March, I will ask him to send you a photo and patch as well.>>
Thanks for your interest in space. It really is a great place to work and I hope that you continue your studies so that you can part of the effort that takes us back to the moon and on to Mars in the future!>>
God bless,
Scott Altman
CDR, STS 125
How cool is this?!?!
I looked up Scott Altman and found this article.
Remember the failed attempt to ask an Astronaut about what it was like to be in zero gravity?
I posted about this on Facebook and a friend of mine from high school (that I haven't seen in 25 years!) sent me a message telling me that he has a friend who is a minister in Clear Lake. He often does the lift-off prayer service down there and he knew a bunch of astronauts. He offered to contact his friend and ask him to ask an astronaut to email Joseph.
What an awesome thing to offer! I didn't tell Joseph though because it was such a longshot and so many connections to make.
Today, we got an email!!
Joseph,
I heard that you missed out on an opportunity to talk to a friend of mine recently. Jeff Williams is on the International Space Station now but before he left, we worked together as shuttle astronauts although I never had the chance to fly a mission with him. I recently completed a visit to the Hubble Space Telescope as the mission commander. My crew did five spacewalks to repair and upgrade the telescope. It is in great shape now and is taking some phenomenal imagery of this amazing universe we live in. if you send me your address, I will send you some photos of my crew along with a mission patch. When Jeff gets home next March, I will ask him to send you a photo and patch as well.>>
Thanks for your interest in space. It really is a great place to work and I hope that you continue your studies so that you can part of the effort that takes us back to the moon and on to Mars in the future!>>
God bless,
Scott Altman
CDR, STS 125
How cool is this?!?!
I looked up Scott Altman and found this article.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Ocean Pie
This week Joseph and Caroline are starting their oceanography unit in Moving Beyond the Page. To help introduce the subject, we made an Ocean Pie. The strawberries represent "land" and the blueberries are the earth's "water". ;)
Joseph had to figure out how much of the pie would be 3/10 and Caroline handled the mixer.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Here come the Bitty Twins
Libby is carrying the little boy doll and Caroline is carrying the little girl.
The American Girl Fashion Show
, originally uploaded by chpabell.
Here is a video of the girls in the fashion show today. They had so much fun (again)!
Libby is just totally in her element on the runway. ;)
Saturday, October 24, 2009
The Things
The girls dressed up in their costumes today for the Craig Ranch Halloween Festival.
All three of us were really surprised by the amount of attention that Thing 1 and Thing 2 got today! EVERYONE stopped us to rave about it and several people wanted to take pictures with them.
They really did look cute. ;)
The girls WON Best All Around Costume. :D
Then, Thing 2 won the Monster Mash Dance Contest!
And here are some of the Things doing the things that Things do.
All three of us were really surprised by the amount of attention that Thing 1 and Thing 2 got today! EVERYONE stopped us to rave about it and several people wanted to take pictures with them.
They really did look cute. ;)
The girls WON Best All Around Costume. :D
Then, Thing 2 won the Monster Mash Dance Contest!
And here are some of the Things doing the things that Things do.
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