101 Places to See Before You're 12 - A Migration Path

A Migration Path

 

As we get closer to the end of our 101 Places adventures, I shared with the boys and David that there are some we just probably won't see - like A Migration Path.

 

The book shares lots of examples like Stinkpot Turtles migrating at the Shawnee National Forest in Illinois in the fall, Mexican Free-Tailed Bats migrating in Texas in the spring, Manatees in Florida for several months in the winter, and Garter Snacks in Manitoba in the fall and spring. 

 

Then David reminded me that we were right in the middle of a migration here in Indiana - Canadian Geese.  Oh, right.  How could I not have put two and two together.  The Canadian Geese are everywhere!

 

The boys and I were talking about this in the car one day as two geese slowly made their way across a main thoroughfare in our city.  Headed to a little pond behind a bank.

 

And they had their babies with them!

 

The geese are sort of a joke in our area because they don't appear to be the brightest of animals, and have no fear of humans whatsoever.

 

Our friends that live on lakes in town remark that they used to make a pit stop in our community on their way to more northern points this time of year, but there's something about all the lakes and rivers in our area.  They now nest here, and apparently make big messes out at the lakes.

 

 

All I know is that this time of year, they are serious driving hazards, but it's really fun when we can get up close and see them.

 

 

A few years ago I thought it would be fun to take old bread to the geese and have the boys feed them.  David just shook his head since these are not domesticated animals in any way.  They looked at me like I was crazy and completely ignored the bread we threw to them.

 

Here is a map that one of the science teachers at Brennan's school sent me. 

Apparently much of  the U.S. is on a Canadian Geese migration path!

 

 

From the Book:

#4 - A Migration Path

It's kind of like an invisible superhighway for animals.  No one knows how they know when to start and where to go, but millions of animals return all together to these paths at the same time every year as they journey from their winter to summer homes and back again.  If you're in the right place at the right time, in one day you can see more birds, butterflies, bats, frogs, and even snakes than you've ever seen in your whole life!  The animals load up on food, conduct elaborate mating rituals, make big piles of guano, then go on their way.  Being outnumbered by animals 10,000 to one is an awesome experience!

 

Newest Member of the Band

6th grade band tryouts were last night at our school.

Brennan, who enjoyed a great 5th grade year in choir, is ready to join the 6th grade band.

 

We saw most of his classmates at testing.

6th graders at our school have the option of band, guitar, or music in the 6th grade.

Most choose band, and they are fired up!

 

The kids experimented with the instruments all last week in prep for testing.

They're encouraged to come in with two instruments they think would be their favorites.

Ha - Brennan wanted to try them ALL.

 

 

Not enthused about the baritone/euphonium - was looking already to see what was next.

 

He was leaning towards percussion, trumpet, and French horn.

 

 

 

In the end, French horn won out and he is so excited!  Because of his great pitch and ability to read music, the middle school and high school band directors were excited to hear him do really well on the horn.

 

The instrument is rented and will be waiting for him on his first day of Summer Band Camp!

 

Here's Thomas two years ago trying out for his instrument! 

Oh, so little!

(It's as if I dressed them in matching clothes for tryouts!)

 



April Catch Up!

 

We're in the last month of school, woo hoo!

I'm ready for summer break.

 

Here are a few photos from our April!

 

We got Thomas a Guam shirt because he's the creator of this Guam friends group on facebook which is really funny.  It's just a random thing his friends all came up with at lunch in the 7th grade.  Brennan (in Thomas's old Poland shirt) jumped in the photo.

 

Thomas created a familia tree for his Spanish class with lots of descriptions in Spanish about us.  You may recognize yourself here.

 

 

Ah, Spring.  I love it!  This was the first day when the house painters arrived, and David was working from home.  My view from the desk.

 

 

The drive down our street.  I love spring!!

 

 

 

The Boatwrights made the paper - front page! 

Continued in two other spots.  I think if you double click you can read it better.

 

 And speaking of running, the boys have been doing a little bit after school.

Here's Thomas on his last treadmill run before his first 5K. 

He's a great runner!

 

And here are he and David sprinting their last few hundred yards of Thomas's first 5K.

They did great!  (David's an old pro - look at his feet, not even touching the ground!).

 

Thomas's 7th-12th grade youth group has been preparing for our annual Youth Sunday for weeks.

They write the entire service.  Thomas was in the skits, sang, and even played the piano for one of the songs.  They did a really great job this year!

 

Here is the 4th-6th grade youth group (who served as ushers for the Youth Sunday service) practicing ringing the bell on the practice Saturday.  Brennan's waiting for his turn at the top of the stairs.

 

 

"Feed My Lambs" - Thomas on piano, Laura on flute and many of the youth singing.

 

 

We went out to dinner at a brew pup with part of our wine club one Sunday evening.

Nice to get out and catch up with friends!

(iPhone photos and light streaming through windows don't mix)

 

 

David was surprised in his boss's staff meeting with his 20 year pin, a wonderful speech, and cake!

It's so hard to believe we're old enough for him to have worked for 20 years!

Brennan enjoyed trying on his pin.

 

 

 

The Service League new member class collected items for children in the legal advocacy program in our community.  They may not live with their parents because of legal issues, and their Advocate meets with them and helps them cope through the difficult time, and help them through the legal processes.  We made hundreds of bags with age-appropriate items for the Advocates to give to the kids when they meet with them.  It was a great project to be a part of.

And here you can see that our house painting began in earnest in April.  If you look at the right half of the house you see the new, darker color and the original, lighter color.  We're really happy with the color choice that we went with.  I'll have more to share as the house gets finished up.  So exciting!

 

 

And now we're into the first weekend of May with Brennan's choir concert, a play at Thomas's school, a friend's wedding, and lots of other fun stuff going on.

 

And it's warm and the flowers and trees couldn't be prettier!

 

 

Finishing Up the Basement

Oh, it's been a fun project to work on three main areas of the basement.

I'm happy to report I think we're done. 

 

We might move some art work around, but it's functional and no longer a place to "store random stuff".  We got rid of what we didn't love or weren't using, and we have turned this area into real usable space.

 

 

This direction shows you what the east side of the back half (got that?) of the basement looked like.

Random pot, keyboard, scattered art, and an outdoor bar that stayed inside a lot.  Waste of space.

 

And now here is that same room. 

We added cabinets and a counter top, plus travel photos that I've taken.

The new chair (recognize it, Nancy?) makes for a great reading spot.

That chair and a half with ottoman is soooo comfortable. 

Little glass table to hold drinks for now - might go with something else there eventually.

And lots of air purifying potted plants.

 

The west side of the back half of the basement.

It looked great from a distance but the chairs and loveseat had a ton of wear.

I'll spare you the up close photos again.

 

And here we are now.

The boys have taken over the pub table for their laptop, but that's easily moved if we want to use it for another purpose.

 

I really love this area now.

And this is the front half of the living area in the basement.

When we moved in the previous owners left a large desk and office set up.



 

These changes we made last September and haven't changed anything since.

I just really like it - family photos, great storage, and way more inviting than the office furniture set up.

You can see all the previous posts on the basement here.

 

Oh, and I wanted to show you this piece I had made for us for Christmas.  I found it on Etsy.

It sits in a frame on the new cabinets.

 

I love it!

 

Now, on to the exterior of this house.  Phew.  A ton of ongoing projects right now!

Scarf Holder

 

 

I saw this solution for Scarf Storage in Real Simple or Good Housekeeping magazine a few years ago.  At that time I didn't have that many scarves, but have received quite a few as gifts recently.

 

All you need is a hanger and a package of shower curtain rings.

One scarf per ring.

Then, hang in your closet with your clothes.

 

 

I have several heavy pashminas from Riyadh that my mom gave to me - lighter scarves won't weigh down the hanger.  Mine's been hanging like this all winter and hasn't caused a problem though.

 

And there's my newest scarf from my friend Jeanne.  I need another package of curtain rings!

 

101 Places to See Before You're 12 - An Amazing Science Site

An Amazing Science Site

 

This is one of those examples of a place that didn't quite work out the way I had planned, but my 3 men insist we count it anyway.

In DC I really wanted to take the boys to the National Academy of Sciences which apparently has a little museum inside and you can see scientists at work (one description made it sound like a zoo - "scientists in their native habitat".)  And, the Einstein monument was listed as a "hidden gem" not to be missed.

We decided to walk to it from the Smithsonian buildings, not looking that far on the GPS on my phone.  David rather politely questioned by sanity because it was drizzling raining and he was cold.

Seriously, I really did feel like it was more of a fine mist when we set out.

Good sport

While wet, the walk was beautiful!

 

 We're still across the street but the sign lets us know we've finally made it to the National Academy of Sciences.

 

It's a beautiful stone building.  See the man at the front door?  He's LOCKING up!  We just missed being able to step inside.

We tried to decipher some of the Greek right at the top of the beautiful building.

 

Thomas flipped for this door.

 

And while we didn't get to step inside, I'm so glad we hiked in the pouring rain fine mist, because I love this photo of 4 geniuses!

While we didn't get to tour THIS Amazing Science Site, the boys pointed out these other locations that we have visited and felt they more than counted - Science and Technology Museum in Chicago, the Air & Space Museum in DC, countless Wind Farms in Indiana, Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah, the Insectarium in New Orleans, the Ice Age Trail in Wisconsin, the Rocket Center in Huntsville, and the Medical Museum in Indy.  OK, fine.  Let's put a sticker on this page and call it done.

 

From the Book:

#94 - An Amazing Science Site
If science were sports, the scientists who work in these labs would be the major league players.  We would follow their every move as they researched subatomic particles, and go nuts when they knocked one out of the park with a really great advancement in physics.  In reality, these science superstars achieve great feats without much cheering and not a single endorsement from an athletic shoe company.  But that doesn't make what they do, such as develop new sources of energy, map the human genome, and basically unlock the secrets of the universe, any less amazing.  Because what scientists do is so sensitive (and in some cases top secret), you can't just walk in and ask to look around.  But you can prearrange a tour (often with a school group) or attend an open house - it's like getting a ticket to the world series of science.