I felt it important to have the kids watch the inauguration today. It shows a new president taking office, and one that made history in their lifetime. And it is educational. Cross off government studies on our to do list!
Anyway... if you were watching you saw Aretha Franklin sing My Country Tis of Thee. Being kids, they didn't know who she was. So Rara, J-Bird, and I have this conversation...
J-Bird- Who's she?
Me- Aretha Franklin. A famous singer.
J-Bird- How'd she get famous?
Me- She's a singer.
Rara- She got famous because she sings.
J-Bird- Oh, I get it! I think she made it big on American Idol!
Rara- No! I think she was on America's Got Talent.
Imagine a time when people got famous without having to worry about getting voted off the show!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Brrrr!
As I sit here, and it has warmed up to a balmy -15 degrees I've made a decision...
Next chance I get, I'm going to vote for global warming.
This is ridiculous!
Next chance I get, I'm going to vote for global warming.
This is ridiculous!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Back to Life... Back to Reality
We are now back into the routine of life... well, if you can consider our controlled chaos routine anyway. I have to admit that it does feel great!
Most of the Christmas gifts are now out of the boxes. We have used the quasedilla maker a couple times, I have cleaned the juicer nearly every day, and today I loaded pictures into the digital frame.
I even tried out the Wii Fit (stupid video game called me overweight, just cause I was standing on it! HUMPH!!!)
We had a great Christmas with the families. It's always nice to spend time with those we love but don't get much time with. I do wish we could see them more, but already my calendar is filling up. I even have something written in Feb already. I guess there is no rest for the weary!
If you are looking for me, I am basking in the fact that we are back to school and work.
Ahhh, routine.
Most of the Christmas gifts are now out of the boxes. We have used the quasedilla maker a couple times, I have cleaned the juicer nearly every day, and today I loaded pictures into the digital frame.
I even tried out the Wii Fit (stupid video game called me overweight, just cause I was standing on it! HUMPH!!!)
We had a great Christmas with the families. It's always nice to spend time with those we love but don't get much time with. I do wish we could see them more, but already my calendar is filling up. I even have something written in Feb already. I guess there is no rest for the weary!
If you are looking for me, I am basking in the fact that we are back to school and work.
Ahhh, routine.
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Vacation... Episode 3
From the Creation Museum we headed to Chicago to see Shedd Aquarium. It was great with lots of different habitats and wildlife, both in and out of the water.The kids each had their favorites. Sharks, Sawfish, Guitar Fish, Stingrays, and the huge sea turtle.
The aquarium was horribly busy the day we were there and we were fighting huge crowds. Since we got a membership, we hope to go back when hopefully it won't be so busy.
Then from there we headed to our last stop of our vacation. The Chula Vista water park in Wisconsin Dells. The kids spent the time burning off all the energy they stored up from all the driving. They had a good time running the lazy river, going down the water slides, and playing on the play area. The water was a little cold for Knight and I so we spent most of the time sitting in the chairs watching everyone play.We then made our way back home. It is nice to be back home and finding our way back to our normal routine. The first major vacation with the kids went very well, with very little fighting, lots of fun and laughter. We hope to be able to take another one someday. Someday, not anytime soon!
Friday, January 02, 2009
Vacation... Episode 2... The Creation Museum
The Creation Museum opened only a year and a half ago. This was built as a state of the art museum built to talk about science from a biblical perspective. It did just that.
They also have a walk through history. This was one of the neatest parts. They have different scenes from the Bible along with scientific facts about those scenes from the Bible. There are dinosaurs, Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, Methusala, Moses, etc. They also showed how taking God out of most of society has changed it. Very interesting. It took a lot of time to go through it all.
Anyone who knows Rara knows her sense of humor. She is such a funny kid. Because the focus was on creation verses evolution, she asked me to take her picture next to "grampa" for the evolutionists! Funny!
They had a beautiful gardens that you could walk. On the day we were there it was around 70 degrees, sunny, and grassy. What a treat! It had a petting zoo, bridges (including some rope bridges the kids loved!) and dinosaurs. In the summer time, I am sure it has beautiful flowers for all to see, but still it was great to see some foliage and be able to enjoy the outdoors.
In the evening they also had a walk from "Jeruselem" to "Bethlehem". We had to pay our taxes to the Romans (a coin they provided) in Jeruselem, and then some townsfolk pointed us on our way to Bethlehem. Along the way there were fellow travelers either wishing us well, or telling us about a couple that came by hoping to find a room for the night. Then some shephards stopped us and told us that angels visited them about a baby, the Messiah, born to us. He told us where we could find the babe. When we got there, the couple was there, holding the babe next to a manger. (A live nativity)
The last thing I'll talk about was the show. Every day they offer a show or a lecture of some sort. The day we were there happened to be Buddy Davis. The kids had heard of him from some videos they'd seen, but I didn't know I had heard of him too. (For those of us who worked with the kids at church, he's the one who wrote Billions of Dead Things along with some other great songs). He put on a great show and the kids are enjoying a lot of his music.
We checked out the planitarium, where they bring you far into space to look at other stars in the universe. We learned about blue stars, yellow stars, nebulas, and the order they have found in the universe. Watching that, you really feel how little our planet is, and how amazing it is that God cares for each of us, and knows us.
They also have a walk through history. This was one of the neatest parts. They have different scenes from the Bible along with scientific facts about those scenes from the Bible. There are dinosaurs, Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, Methusala, Moses, etc. They also showed how taking God out of most of society has changed it. Very interesting. It took a lot of time to go through it all.
Anyone who knows Rara knows her sense of humor. She is such a funny kid. Because the focus was on creation verses evolution, she asked me to take her picture next to "grampa" for the evolutionists! Funny!
They had a beautiful gardens that you could walk. On the day we were there it was around 70 degrees, sunny, and grassy. What a treat! It had a petting zoo, bridges (including some rope bridges the kids loved!) and dinosaurs. In the summer time, I am sure it has beautiful flowers for all to see, but still it was great to see some foliage and be able to enjoy the outdoors.
In the evening they also had a walk from "Jeruselem" to "Bethlehem". We had to pay our taxes to the Romans (a coin they provided) in Jeruselem, and then some townsfolk pointed us on our way to Bethlehem. Along the way there were fellow travelers either wishing us well, or telling us about a couple that came by hoping to find a room for the night. Then some shephards stopped us and told us that angels visited them about a baby, the Messiah, born to us. He told us where we could find the babe. When we got there, the couple was there, holding the babe next to a manger. (A live nativity)
The last thing I'll talk about was the show. Every day they offer a show or a lecture of some sort. The day we were there happened to be Buddy Davis. The kids had heard of him from some videos they'd seen, but I didn't know I had heard of him too. (For those of us who worked with the kids at church, he's the one who wrote Billions of Dead Things along with some other great songs). He put on a great show and the kids are enjoying a lot of his music.It was a great time, and a blessed day. I have lots more pictures, but I haven't finished talking about the vacation yet.
Stay tuned!
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Vacation... Episode 1... getting there
We are hoping you are all having a great start to 2009. As for us we are recouping from our vacation.
There is so much to say about our vacation, that I figured I would have to break it down into smaller episodes.
We have been planning to do this vacation for a long time. In fact we tried to go over a year ago, but things happen and we went to Duluth for a couple days instead. Planning this vacation was fun, and the kids were SO excited.
We picked up the rental van on Christmas eve. We wanted to be comfortable on our drive and not worry about our high mileage vehicles breaking down. We decided to leave straight from my dad's on Christmas day so we tried to drop the dog off at the dog sitters.
Yes, I said tried.
We brought her over to the house and then she proceeded to wiggle out of the collar and run away.
When it was 5 degrees.
Anyhoo, we ended up getting her situated, and headed down to my dad's house. We had a great time visiting with my family and then we headed out. The weather held out for a couple hours and we made it to Wisconsin Dells for the night.
In the morning we got on the road first thing. We made decent time getting to Chicago around 11am. We figured we would make it through the city and stop for lunch around 12:30 just on the other side of Gary, Indiana. And we would have too, if it wasn't for the traffic jam.
We hit the traffic jam with only 10 miles to go before we were out of the city. Before that J-Bird was wanting to move to the city. 10 miles and 2 hours later he decided we needed to stay away from anywhere that could have that type of a traffic jam.
We definitely prefer the traffic jams in our neck of the woods. You know..."You know you're from Wisconsin when your idea of a traffic jam is 10 cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway."
We made it to Indianapolis only a couple house late, with only 1 kid holding a sick bucket, and only one trip to the Indianapolis Airport because of a wrong turn. Still, the hotel was great and when we woke up in the morning it was 59 degrees with grass around us.
From there we headed off to Cincinnati. The trip was beautiful, with the sun shining, no traces of snow anywhere to be seen. We didn't hit any wrong turns and wound up getting to the museum around 10.
Which leads me to tomorrows post... Episode 2... the Creation Museum
There is so much to say about our vacation, that I figured I would have to break it down into smaller episodes.
We have been planning to do this vacation for a long time. In fact we tried to go over a year ago, but things happen and we went to Duluth for a couple days instead. Planning this vacation was fun, and the kids were SO excited.
We picked up the rental van on Christmas eve. We wanted to be comfortable on our drive and not worry about our high mileage vehicles breaking down. We decided to leave straight from my dad's on Christmas day so we tried to drop the dog off at the dog sitters.
Yes, I said tried.
We brought her over to the house and then she proceeded to wiggle out of the collar and run away.
When it was 5 degrees.
Anyhoo, we ended up getting her situated, and headed down to my dad's house. We had a great time visiting with my family and then we headed out. The weather held out for a couple hours and we made it to Wisconsin Dells for the night.
In the morning we got on the road first thing. We made decent time getting to Chicago around 11am. We figured we would make it through the city and stop for lunch around 12:30 just on the other side of Gary, Indiana. And we would have too, if it wasn't for the traffic jam.
We hit the traffic jam with only 10 miles to go before we were out of the city. Before that J-Bird was wanting to move to the city. 10 miles and 2 hours later he decided we needed to stay away from anywhere that could have that type of a traffic jam.
We definitely prefer the traffic jams in our neck of the woods. You know..."You know you're from Wisconsin when your idea of a traffic jam is 10 cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway."
We made it to Indianapolis only a couple house late, with only 1 kid holding a sick bucket, and only one trip to the Indianapolis Airport because of a wrong turn. Still, the hotel was great and when we woke up in the morning it was 59 degrees with grass around us.
From there we headed off to Cincinnati. The trip was beautiful, with the sun shining, no traces of snow anywhere to be seen. We didn't hit any wrong turns and wound up getting to the museum around 10.
Which leads me to tomorrows post... Episode 2... the Creation Museum
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
