Thursday, July 31, 2014

Fun Free & Fantastic Field Trip!


There are so many reasons I love Waco and today I discovered another.  I knew it was there and had been there before, but spending some time with my kids on the walkway along the river was a really fun reminder of how great Waco is.  Someday, likely in the near future, the other side of the river will be all developed with all kinds of restaurants and things, but today we totally enjoyed it for what it is.

 
Note the "Jewel of the Brazos" (aka Baylor's new football stadium) in the background- kickoff is one month from today!

This week we've been learning about birds (specifically ducks) and I thought it would be a fun free field trip to go feed the ducks.  (Yes, we are in school right now.  We opted for a "year round" schedule that lets us take longer breaks throughout the year instead of being off for the entire summer when we would have to come up with things to do anyway and it's super hot outside.) 


Anyway, back to the ducks.  LadyBear and LittleBear both are really into Make Way for Ducklings right now and really enjoyed seeing actual mallard ducks up close and personal.  This was a huge reminder to me of how I don't have to make our homeschool super fancy and complicated...the kids were thrilled with something as simple as feeding the ducks and we even got to bring Daddy along on his lunch break!

In the van on our way home, LittleBear was telling me all he knew about ducks and now wants to learn more about how they swim.  And the learning continues...

It was a win-win all the way around.  Thank you ducks of Wacotown!






Thursday, July 17, 2014

Racing Cars


I have another longer post with tons of pictures in the works and explanation of what life has been like recently, but I wanted to get something up quick for the family, so here it is :)


LittleBear lined them up just so on the windowsill

One pastime the kids have enjoyed recently is racing cars.  We have these wonderful wood floors in our front room that make a super surface for car racing and we spent a good amount of this morning seeing which cars went faster.

LadyBear loved seeing the cars zoom down the ramp and go flying across the room

LittleBear was trying to teach her how to say "dune buggy" and she's just about got it now.  Here they are in action!!





Friday, July 4, 2014

Scott Drew Basketball Biddie Ball Camp at Baylor 2014


LittleBear has had a busy couple of weeks lately with VBS (his request), swim lessons (my idea of fun, for sure not his) and now something new!  I'll admit, this momma is ready for a few quieter weeks that will come toward the end of the summer!  This week he got to go to Scott Drew's Basketball Biddie Ball camp for ages 4-7.  Baylor Men's basketball coaches and former/current players helped teach the kids skills like dribbling, shooting, passing, defending as well as the kids got to tour the locker rooms and play on the Ferrell Center court!   LittleBear loved it!   Really, it seemed like everyone was having a good time :)

Each morning, all the kids met together as a big group for a pep talk with Coach Drew (they also have a day camp that goes longer for the older kids)...

Then the younger ones exited and got high fives from the current and former players...

 

Then they went off to learn skills.  Here he is making his first basket...


He learned the basics of dribbling...



Ball handling...



And even did pretty well at a game I am calling "musical baselines..."



He got a t-shirt and his very own real Baylor basketball, which I foresee getting a lot of love in the future around here.


You might wonder what LadyBear did while all this was going on.  Well, after I convinced her that she wasn't old enough to play (sad times), she sat with me and played with some "busy bag" type activities I brought along with me.  Her favorite is this wipes case of different fabric squares that I cut up for her.  There are lots of different colors and textures and she loved pulling them all out and then laying them flat on the back of the basketball goal or my lap.  She'd tell me what she saw on each one and then start over when she ran out of squares...Cheerios were also a great  diversion :)



LittleBear's words about basketball camp yesterday?  "Mom that was way more fun than swim lessons, can I do it again next year?"  

 







Tuesday, July 1, 2014

LittleBear's Birthday Bash: Five Years Old!


My LittleBear is five years old!!  I can hardly believe it. 

He deliberated a good long while about what kind of party he wanted.  It very nearly was another fire station party, but in the end, he decided he wanted a train party.  As it would happen, one of Waco's most beloved areas is a place called Kiddieland at our local Lion's Park.  It's a fun place where families can enjoy mini golf, go kart racing, ride some small carnival style rides and even take a ride on a small train around the park.  A two-hour party there was a wee bit more than what we would normally spend, but we felt this was a milestone birthday and so we went for having our train party there...air-conditioned caboose and all!


We had a train cake comprised of two chocolate zucchini cake cars with cream cheese frosting and one applesauce spice cake car with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting.  I think for LadyBear's birthday, I'll skip the chocolate entirely and just make the applesauce spice cake because that one went fast! 

We all met in the caboose, and had lunch, sang happy birthday, had some cake and then opened gifts.  

Then we went and took a group train ride around the park!!!

Waiting patiently for the train...

Train full of party goers!!

Once the train ride was over, the kids could ride whatever rides they wanted until our two-hour time window was up.  It was a blast!  I had a great time watching all the kids from 18 months up through 8 years old enjoying the rides and each other. 

They rode the carousel several times...





Drove a boat or two...

 Took a trip in some flying saucers...

And took a turn driving some horse carts...

 We had a wonderful time celebrating LittleBear with our friends and family and hope they did too!  Happy birthday, LittleBear!!