Red, the Color of the Week

With school starting last Wednesday, I made new lesson plans that would be more adequate to 18 month olds, but would still be fun for Ares when he was able to join us. I decided to start doing colors of the week. For our science project of the week I chose to do baking soda and vinegar. All three kids enjoyed this immensely! I used red food coloring to color the baking soda, but for some reason it looks orange in the pictures.

I thought it would be fun to have taste testing on my lesson plans so I picked up various red foods. I bought strawberries...

...apples...

....red pepper....

....tomatoes....

The art project of the week was finger painting! I wrote a message out in masking tape, and then had the girls and Ares finger paint over it. It turned out very well. :)

For our place of exploration I chose a fire station.

The fireman who gave us the tour was very nice, and answered all of Ares' questions. We got to see where the firefighters rode in the fire truck.

Then Ares' got to "drive" the truck.

 We got to find out what all the buttons and knobs were for.

 Ares was also able to try on one of the oxygen masks that they wear when entering a building that is on fire.

We got to see so much more than just all of this! We saw all the tools, and Ares' learned about what the axes were for as well as the jaws of life. The kids all so much fun, we will definitely need to go back! Maybe next time we'll bring the firefighters some goodies :)

 

 

Since Kyle has taken 3 years of Chinese, I thought it would be a good idea for the kids to start recognizing some Chinese words while they are young. This is "Red" in Chinese.

 

I'm so glad we had so much fun with our red activities this week!



Camping in the Great Outdoors

A couple weeks ago my friend Tuyet and I had decided that we should have a camp out at one of the lakes. We invited Kyle Ann too, and made our camping destination for El Dorado Lake. We got very lucky that when we planned this because the weather cleared up, and the temperature stayed in the 70's.
This was our plan of action (that the men didn't appreciate lol): We picked Ares up from his dad at 5:30, then we went to Kyle Ann and Kyle M's house where we met up with them as well as Kyle L. and Tuyet. We then headed out to El Dorado Lake. However, I had no clue what campsite we were going to go to so we ended up having Kyle Ann and Kyle M. take the lead. We picked a beautiful campsite that was next to a bridge over the river. When you looked up, it appeared that the trees made a perfect circle that left a superb view of the evening sky. After we set up camp, Kyle M. made hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill that Kyle L. and Tuyet had brought. Nothing beats food cooked in the great outdoors, veggies, chips, and watermelon!

Then it was time for s'mores!!! This was my kids' favorite part by far! Of course the adults had to get in on the s'more action too. ;)

After this it was time for sleep! It took the girls a little bit to get used to sleeping in their pack in play, but they finally fell asleep. Ares I read to him part of Prince Caspian, and then he laid down to read a book himself, but he wasn't able to finish the book without falling asleep. Kyle soon followed.

Kyle Ann, Tuyet, and myself did not fall asleep right away. We stayed up chatting, and watching the embers die away in the fire pit. It was much needed girl time. :)

The morning came far to soon, and we were all up by 7am. We fed the kids, got our things packed up, and tore down the tents. The children played while we got everything put away. Ares even found a worm! Kyle L. walked their dogs, Mae Mae and Hanna (I would like to say how well behaved these dogs were too).

Kyle Ann played with the camera, and took these pictures, and I edited them when we got home. How beautiful they turned out! I added to Jude's picture part of a saying that I have often heard before.

It was then time for fishing! Ares had asked me previously if Kyle M. could take him fishing so Kyle M. had brought his tackle box, and helped Ares fish. Ares then tried it a little bit on his own.

Look at this beautiful spider web! Luckily there were no spiders to be seen during the day, but their webs covered the bridge. I do not like spiders, but you have to admit how beautiful their homes are.

Then it was time we all headed back home. We all had so much fun, and I was personally sad we couldn't have stayed longer. Next summer we will have to go camp more often, and hopefully the weather will be just as pleasing.