Skip to main content

October: Field Trips, Pumpkins, and California

October was busy, busy, busy!  We did lots of field trips, had a lot of fun with pumpkins, went to California, and I even turned the big 3-0.  Here is a snapshot of our crazy month.  (California will have to be a separate post!)

The first Thursday of every month, many Seattle museums have a free day.  We took advantage of our Native American history learning and headed over to the Burke Museum on the University of Washington's campus.  They have a great collection of totem poles and other Native American artwork.  We brought the boys' journals for them to draw some different pieces.  They thought it was quite fun.

IMG_1043 

IMG_1039 

We continued to go on some nature walks.  We love Hamlin since it is so close to our home.  This time the boys made a "fort".

IMG_1068 

Of course, it isn't October for us if we don't go to the Pumpkin Patch.  It seems like every year we visit a new one.  This year, we went to Bailey's Vegetables since we got a LivingSocial deal.

IMG_1186 

It was really nice.  There was a fun USA themed corn maze, a huge pumpkin patch, and a play barn.  It wasn't the biggest farm we've been to, but it had just enough to keep it simple and us occupied for the greater part of the day.  It was also only about 30 minutes away!

IMG_1117 

IMG_1169 

IMG_1173 

IMG_1170 

Another field trip we had was to the Zoo.  We have a membership here, but they were also having a special homeschool day.  The theme was Africa and the boys learned a lot about different African animals and did some fun games and crafts.

IMG_1221 

IMG_1210 

IMG_1228 

IMG_1235 

We also did some fun family outings like this one in Fremont.

IMG_1240 

IMG_1250 

Our biggest trip was our time in California.  We went to Legoland, hung out with family and friends, and I celebrated my birthday.  So much happened that it deserves its own post.

When we got back, fall had arrived!  Our yard was sprinkled with autumn leaves.  The boys were thrilled!

IMG_1531 

IMG_1537 

We also finally got to carving our pumpkins that we had gotten at the beginning of the month.  The boys thought they were "super scary", and would pretend for hours to run away from them.

IMG_1553 

IMG_1557 

The day after we got home from CA, we went to another pumpkin patch.  This time, we went with Z's preschool at The Farm at Swan's Trail.  The boys loved seeing the animals, playing in their hay barn, picking out even more pumpkins, and watching a pig race.

IMG_1569 

IMG_1574 

On the last day of October, two ninjas came to visit.  One ninja was supposed to be Thomas the Tank Engine, but opted to copy his big brother.  We went to Westgate Chapel's harvest party.

IMG_1593
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Little Disciples

As I've been learning more about Charlotte Mason and her methods, I've been thinking especially about what she means by "Education is a Discipline."  As I was reading her thoughts on discipline from her Homeschooling series, I was particularly struck by the following quotation. Discipline is not Punishment ––What is discipline? Look at the word; there is no hint of punishment in it. A disciple is a follower, and discipline is the state of the follower; the learner, imitator. Mothers and fathers do not well to forget that their children are, by the very order of Nature, their disciples... How Disciples are Lured ––He who would draw disciples does not trust to force; but to these three things–– to the attraction of his doctrine, to the persuasion of his presentation, to the enthusiasm of his disciples ; so the parent has teachings of the perfect life which he knows how to present continually with winning force until the children are quickened with such zeal for virtue...
7 comments
Read more

Styrofoam Tray Shrink Art

Making styrofoam shrink art was one of those fun childhood memories I have from being a kid.  My mom would clean off the meat or veggie trays from the grocery store, give it to us kids to draw on, then we would watch in awe as our creations shrunk before our very eyes in the oven. I really wanted to do the same thing with my kids so I (silly-me) tried to find a tutorial of the sort on the Internet.  I did this mostly because I didn't know the temperature the oven needed to be or how long it should be in there.  Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't find one!  The closest thing I found was this website , but there were no pictures or anything.  I decided to wing it - it couldn't be that hard, right? And, yes, this craft is super easy.  First, I gave the boys a clean tray and a bunch of markers for them to draw with. I had to convince them to color a lot  since they were only making small markings. We put their creations on an aluminum-covered bak...
4 comments
Read more

A Brand New House

Another major thing we did while my parents were here last week was a major room change in our house.  It feels like a brand new home!  We have a play room, the boys are now sharing a room, and Phil and I have moved into Button's old room (which was really the library/office/nursery/catch-all room).  I am so excited!!!   I finally feel settled into this home since there is finally a place (or at least a room) for everything.  The boys seem to really love sharing a room, and they are actually going to sleep better than they were when they were separate.  It's fantastic. By far, I'm most excited about our play room.  This room comes right off the kitchen, and it used to be our master bedroom.  Now, we have our books and toys in it which keeps our living room so. much. cleaner.  This room will eventually become our homeschool room with some minor improvements in a couple of years.  In the meantime, we are enjoying the extra space to play ...
3 comments
Read more