Nature Walk with Roo

Each week someone in our family gets a date (or rather 2 someones). This week it was Roo and My turn to go. A few weeks ago after Bug's science fair, we went to a small park/zoo and Roo was fascincated with the Owl there. So for his date he wanted to "drive by the zoo at night and hear the owl 'hooing' in the night" Well, since I wasn't sure how driving by at night would work, I suggested an alternative- The Ogden Nature Center -- For Christmas my parents gave us a Dinosaur Park Family pass- and it also gets us into the Nature center- so we decided to give it a try. We were impressed. We will definately go again, take the whole family with us, and bring our Nature Journals. :D

Roo and I had a great time hiking around the trails, exploring the nature around us. The trails were perfectly marked, the observation tower and treehouse were tons of fun- and of course- we got to see 3 different types of owls, a couple of hawks, golden eagles, a bald eagle, a pelican (all injured, so they were in cages -but still cool!) and lots more in the wild.

A whole herd of deer that crossed our pathWild Turkeys that almost chased us- and Roo's favorite- the Saw Whet Owl

Roo's first Tooth fairy visit

Roo has had a loose tooth for a long time- yesterday it was finally loose enough that Ben pulled it out for him as he was checking to see how loose it was. He seems so young- but I guess he is almost 5- and Bug started losing his first teeth at 4 1/2 as well.

Here's Roo with his tooth
The gappy grin

This morning when he found the money the tooth fairy left.

Recent Nature Journal entries

We have been enjoying the "springish" weather lately- (is Springish a word?) And with Spring the Nature journals have been pulled out a bit more often lately. They do get pulled out in the winter- but not nearly as often. I try and put the Nature Journals in the workboxes at least once a week- though Roo often wants to draw in his more often, and if he draws in his- I have to draw in mine ;)

Here are a few of Doodle's recent entries- Doodle is silly with his entries- he doesn't always draw something he's recently seen- but rather something in nature that interests him- An entry of a Bear, or him skiing.

From left to right- a Bear, a mountain

our bird Bolt,

A Tree in the yard, a yellow flower

A few of MY entries- a Seagull, a coyote,

a Pheasant (who taunts Bug many mornings as he wanders across the yard in the mornings), Balanced Rock from our Arches trip

a Turkey, (who strangely enough brought the whole flock of turkeys with him to our house last week) and a Deer (the deer visited the field across the street quite often in the wintertime)

Here's some of Roo's entries-

From left to right- Owl, Seashells,

"a dinosaur eating Doodle's tooth" What??! That's what he drew- and told me to write that at the top of the page, Northern Flicker woodpecker (who unfortunately has developed a liking to our LOG home ;)),

a Lady Bug, and a seagull

I am really enjoying the Nature Jourals. Here are a few things we find helpful with our entries-

Birds of Utah book- It's organized by color which is perfect for beginning bird-watchers like us. This is always the first book we look in- because the pictures are huge, colorful, and all the birds live around here, as opposed to thinking "oh I think it's this bird..." then find out that bird only lives on the East coast.

Keeping a Nature Journal- great for the how-to's of Nature Journaling

Kids Nature Book- I keep meaning to use this one more- there are nature ideas for every day of the year.- Some as simple as "April 13- Create a rainbow with a garden hose", to more complex ones like "March 27- Construct a blind" (a place to hide yourself so you can observe wildlife up close)

We also have some various field guides I've found at the thrift store which are helpful- one on Mammals, and one on Trees- both seem to get pulled out quite frequently.

Disney Surprise!

We surprised our boys with a trip to Disney land! It was SO much fun. A few months ago- Ben's aunt Pam started talking about how much fun it would be to go on a family trip before his little brother graduates and goes into the Army. As she started planning it- we thought how fun it would be if our boys didn't know anything about it- and were surprised. So they knew NOTHING! :D We told them we were going to visit with Nana and Bompa (Ben's mom and dad who live in Arizona) And we did visit them- just not at their house in Arizona!


The WHOLE family came except for Ben's one aunt and uncle who couldn't get off work. There were over 30 of us on vacation.


Here's a bunch of us on Thursday AM- Look at the cool shirts my SIL Amber made for everyone! We all had matching shirts for the trip.

Bug-Another bunch of us in front of The MatterhornThe cousins had fun together

Doodle is always tricky to get good pics of ;) Here's Ben and Doodle getting ready for a train ride.Me, Bug and Roo on the little train.

Roo LOVED the Carousel -- he did NOT love Splash Mountain "I HATE that ride!" he bawled.
We spent Fri morning at Disneyland- then Friday afternoon we headed for the beach-

Bug and his cousin K playing in the Ocean waves. Doodle and I built a cool sand castle

Doodle running on the beach

Doodle and his cousin C playing

Saturday we spent one last day enjoying our favorites and checking out California Adventure Park.

Riding the Teacups- Roo also loved this ride.

The boys with Donald DuckBug, Roo and the bears from Brother BearStitch and 3 boys who act like him sometimes ;)We had dinner at the Thunder Mountain BBQ- it was delicious!

Just a few pictures from our trip. We had such a wonderful time being with the family, and spending time together. Thanks SO much Pam for a wonderful time!

Way to go BUG!!

Bug participated in a home school Science Fair today, and won 1st place in the 11 years and up division. He was SO thrilled. He has been working hard on this project for a few weeks now- THANKS SO MUCH Pam for all your help! He hypothesized (is that a word?) that tap water is more pure than bottled water- after reading about how often city water sources have to test for certain things, and how bottled water facilities don't have to test that often. After doing his testing he concluded that there is no real difference between bottled water and tap water based on ph, Ca hardness and alkalinity. He has some great ideas on how to expand this for next year.

Explaining his project to one of the judges.

Talking with another judge, and Doodle and a friend watch and listen.
Bug- SO shocked as he went up to get his first place ribbon.

Congrats Bug! You did awesome! We are so proud of you and your hard work and all the knowledge you gained through this project. Thanks to the HS group from over the mountain for letting us join in on the fun. We are definately IN again next year.

Fishing

AAAH! With Spring in the air it was time to get out the fishing gear. We all got new fishing poles for Christmas this year. Ben and the boys all got collapsible rods, and I got a bright PINK one. I've never really been a girly girl, and lover of all things pink; But I have decided in a house full of boys a little bit of PINK is a good thing. One bonus- my boys won't use a PINK fishing pole, or PINK earbuds- so I don't have to share. ;) Fishing on the Weber River

Roo fishing by Mom
Doodle getting his pole ready

After getting "skunked" in the river- we stopped at a small pond on our way home- it's a "children's fishing hole" and only those under 15 can fish there.

Bug is an avid fisherman- he really takes after Ben.
Doodle is a "fair-weather" fisherman like me ;) If the fishin's good we're interested!Roo was the winner! He was the only one who caught a fish. He was glad to catch his dinner.