November 10, 2009
Science Olympiad

Many of you, may have heard of Science Olympiad before. Our school doesn't participate in the formal Science Olympiad competition that others do - but they do run there own program resembling it once a year. They have several practices where they can experiment with the challenges - finding out what does and doesn't work, gather data and make notes. Then they come together for a "competition night" where several teams compete to see who can perform the tasks at hand the most successfully and/or the fastest. It was quite interesting to see.

The first event actually takes place in a dark room, but I took a picture when they brought the lights back up so you could actually see what it involves. A flashlight is placed on the ground - as well as a picture of a something. Then - in various places in the room are these pieces of paper, which they call islands. Each island holds 2 mirrors connected together. The lights are turned off and they need to move the mirrors in such a way so that the light from the flashlight reflects off from the mirrors until it hits the picture. The light has to touch every mirror before it reaches the picture and the time the team to see how quickly they can accomplish this.

The next event is patterning. 2 teammates sit opposite each other behind a screen. One of them has a piece of paper showing a pattern. The other teammate has a bucket full of tile pieces of various shapes, sizes and colors. The player with the paper has to describe to their teammate how to reproduce the pattern with the tiles, using nothing but words. Again, they are timed to see how quickly they could correctly reproduce the given pattern.

In the next event - they are given 100 mini marshmallows and toothpicks. They have to build a structure as high as they can - that can stay for at least 10 seconds before tipping and see how high they can build it.

In the final event, they are given 2 pieces of tin foil. With this foil - they need to build 2 "boats". The boats are then placed in a tub of water and they start putting pennies on the boat one at a time. The goal is to see how many pennies their boat will hold before it sinks.

At the end of the night - they have a small awards ceremony. Nicholas' team got 3rd place out of 3 teams for their age group this year but that's OK - they learned a lot and are learning how to work with others to accomplish a task.

A picture of all of the kids who participated in Science Olympiad this year.

November 6-8, 2009
Ludington State Park
Maiden Voyage with the new Trailer

Happy Birthday Gabrielle!

A new Barbie Scooter for her birthday

It was a beautiful weekend - actually got up near 70 on Saturday

Sam finds out that bikes don't ride real well through a pile of leaves.

Playing on the hill behind our trailer

Playing in a pile of leaves the made.
We don't have leaves at home, so this was a special treat.

Perfect Picture Posing tree stump for 4 kids.

We knew that my 2nd cousin Kevin and his wife would be at Ludington for this weekend. However, it wasn't looking like we could join them as Paul had a commitment on Friday night. Fortunately for us, the commitment was cancelled and we surprised them by showing up when they didn't expect it.

Gabrielle and Jillian having a little girl talk

Snack time - I think we were sharing some of Gabrielle's Birthday cake.

Nicholas found the perfect friends in Micah and Tyler -
3 boys who love Star Wars, what more could a boy want.

7 kid pile-up
(that's 7 kids - 7 and under)

October 31, 2009
A New Trailer

Anyone who has been talking to us, or following this blog, knows that camping is a big - or should I say - HUGE part of our life. From the time the ground thaws in the spring until it freezes in the fall, we can be found most weekends somewhere enjoying nature. In 2007, we spent 34 nights in our pop-up. In 2008, we spent 37 nights in our Jayco Hybrid, and as of this date in 2009 we spent 50 nights in our Hybrid. Realizing how much we use our trailer, and how many weekends we are packing and unpacking, setting up and taking down - Paul and I began toying with the idea of stepping things up a notch for next season. We have found that we enjoy spring and fall camping as much as camping in the summer, sometimes even more. However, cold weather camping in a hybrid tends to involve colder nights and lots of condensation. Moving up to a regular travel trailer would help with the set-up issues, as well as a warmer, less damp environment. In addition, the kids are getting bigger so quickly - and are already feeling the effects of sharing a bed with a sibling. A quad bunk trailer would really be wonderful to give them all their own space.

So - towards the end of the summer and into early fall, we start exploring options and doing a little shopping here and there. In a way, we figured we would go to the RV shows this winter and maybe see if we could get something new by spring. Little did we know that we would find a great deal and get into something new yet this fall. We have said good-bye to our good and faithful Jayco in which we have created many memories and are excited to begin some new adventures in our new
Coachmen Freedom Express

Nice storage area by the door and the dinette.

The entertainment center and a glimpse at the bedroom

Couch and the kitchen

Bathroom

The kids bunk area - complete with lots of windows.

Let the adventures begin!!!

Halloween 2009

October 29, 2009
Allison's Class Party

What a cute craft - they took all of the kids pictures while
we they were on the field trip in anticipation of this craft.

October 30, 2009
Nicholas' Class Picture

October 30, 2009
Gabrielle's Class Picture

October 30, 2009
Carving Pumpkins

An alien pumpkin, 2 cats, and a Thomas the Tank Engine

Trick-or-Treat

October 25, 2009
A new set of wheels

Even before Paul and I were married, I purchased a 4 door Saturn Sedan as my vehicle. It was a dependable little car (5 speed) and we have been driving it ever since. It got wonderful gas mileage for our commutes to and from work. However, it now had over 160,000 miles on it and we were beginning to wonder how much longer the good old reliable Saturn would continue to be reliable. The other issue we were facing was that this vehicle would not hold our entire family.

We began researching and looking for a new car - no hurry, because there was nothing wrong with the Saturn. We decided that we really like the Ford Freestyle. It is a 6 passenger car, and still gives us the gas mileage we need for commuting. All of the rear seats fold flat - for those occasions when Paul has a greater than normal quantity of wheels to take to work with him. The fact that it would hold all of us would allow us to put fewer miles on our Yukon and hopefully, it will last longer for us as well.

Once we made our decision of what to buy, we made our wish list of options, mileage and price and just waited. We knew we had time to wait for the right one to come around and after several months it finally did.

Our new-to-us 2005 Ford Freestyle

October 16-18, 2009
Yankee Springs Recreational Area
Gun Lake

Nothing like the colors of fall and a beautiful sunny evening.

Long Lake Trail

This is a mischievous grin if I've ever seen one

One of my favorite pictures of the whole summer.
It wasn't about the poses, it wasn't about the smiles - it was just about a moment.
The kids pulled up their chairs and just sat and watched the ducks.

Leave it to Sam to fall in the lake. He was supposed to be inside getting new clothes on, but decided he needed to peek outside.

The next day - Sam decided to throw his golf clubs in the lake too.
Unfortunately - the golf clubs were the only we caught while fishing.The kids enjoyed trying out the frisbee golf course.

October 16, 2009
Gabrielle's Kindergarten Field Trip
Post Family Farms

Gabrielle and her friend Luke

The pumpkin train

Gabrielle and her pumpkin

Class Photo

She loved the zip line

October 14, 2009
Allison's First Field Trip
Nelson's Farm Market

I was really surprised that she was willing to feed the goats

Class Picture