Field Trip: Hanging with the eagles

This fall has me all kinds of distracted.  I took a bit of time off, but hopefully will organize my time a bit more to include regular blogging again. In August we took a much needed family trip which included Effigy Mounds in Iowa and the Apostle Islands in Wisconsin.  We ended our trip with a neat pause at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha.  I had never heard of it before and we might not have stopped because we were travel weary, but we had some time and it had come highly recommended by a cousin and so we worked it in.

The kids hanging out with a statue of Wabasha in front of the National Eagle Center

We were not disappointed.  During the day they have a special talk by one of the keepers which allows a limited audience to see an eagle being fed.  We were a shade late to attend, and Bubby our "want to learn it and see it all kid" was pretty disappointed.  There was so much else to do though, that the disappointment was soon forgotten.

We were able to get up close and personal with these guys anyway in the viewing arena.  They were pretty talkative at times too because of a recent addition to the bunch.  All the eagles living at the center are rescue animals. 

The center was great for learning by all ages.  Everywhere you looked were interactive and colorful displays.  Our favorites were the eagle nest...

This is a life-sized model and Shorty pretended to be the "egg".
We also enjoyed matching the animals on this board that had pelts, antlers and feathers of local wildlife.

As a parent, one of my favorite experiences was not part of the center at all.  The kids and I were approached by a gentleman who used to be a former teacher and just wanted to show the kids how to make words into cartoons.  He was a little cautious about being a stranger interacting out of the blue, but we were blessed that he did!

This little side trip really was a nice end to what was one of our favorite trips  - but don't make me say which ones are my favorite, because really most are in their own way ;)

Field Trip: Pocket Parks

  Topeka just re-vamped its downtown area in an attempt to make it more inviting.  I've been seeing all the pictures of its new "pocket parks" and I've been dying to go!! Each park has to do with Kansas or Topeka.  We started at the south end and made the loop...

Icabod Washburn

some Kansas wheat (this is a Christmas pic I think ;) )

We HAD to stop at our favorite chocolate place - Hazel Hill. They informed us that we can check out checkers for them and monster chess pieces from the business next door for use on the boards on the sidewalk adjacent - yeah, we're going back for that and taking some buddies! After some truffles, chocolate dipped Nutter Butters and a peanut butter cup, we continued!

This picture reflects the kiddos pretty well ;)

These medallions were pretty great.  They highlighted all the state symbols.  My favorite were the box turtle (shown) and the honeybees.  My only complaint... near the medallion for the state grass (bluestem) there was some grasses....plain ornamental grass.  And near the medallion for the state tree (cottonwood) there was one of the few trees planted downtown... a ginko.  What in the world??? Yes, maybe the state symbols wouldn't thrive there, but it did seem a little confusing ;)

Bubby's favorite

 My favorite was the railroading park. The statue of Cyrus K. Holiday is utterly fantastic with a 3D map under his feet and the associated statuary of the train, signal and train wheel benches are just so cool! 

 A fun time was had by all and Topeka definitely made us want to come back downtown again really soon!

Field Trip: The Wild West

  We don't often get out to western Kansas.  We love it though.  There's something about the remote locations, land where you can see forever and the slower pace that we really enjoy.  Some of our buddies who live far away and are near and dear to our hearts were coming as close as Phillipsburg and while that is not close to us, it is close enough, and we jumped at the chance to see them. 
  We don't do anything normal, so we drove some back roads on the trip out, giving Bubby some opportunity to try out his photography skills..

When we arrived, our buddies had a field trip planned that if we had made the trip ourselves, we would have missed.  It was this excellent model train and museum in the Phillipsburg community center, open only by appointment.  Shorty was so thrilled that he couldn't stand still.  He chased the trains as they rounded the track.  I gave up trying to lift him to see the trains when they were too high for him - he was too fast!

Part of the community center's museum was a great display of the history of photography and the life's work of a local photographer (who also donated the train set). 

The time with our buddies was amazing. We came away with cherished wonderful memories and anticipation of those come :) 
  On the way home we made a stop at the Garden of Eden.  Before we got there though, we found Waldo! ;)

 I was about Mookie and Bubby's age when I last was at the Garden of Eden.  It's a quirky, cement, folk art creation of a former Civil War veteran.  One of the 8 wonders of Kansas apparently.  Now we need to research what those are, so we can add more things to our list!

Bubby ended up taping a video tour of the site.  He is going to be our videographer in trips to come ;)

There is an opportunity to "meet" the artist himself at the end of the tour.  Old Mr. Dinsmore, the creator of all of this, designed his own mausoleum and casket with glass so he could be viewed after his death.  Bubby was totally intrigued and therefore Shorty and then Mookie.  We all paid our respects and declared him not quite as bad looking as we expected, even if he was a little moldy ;)

A bit of a whirlwind trip, but full of wonderful memories <3 br="">

Field Trip: A Visit with George

  A family trip took us to the Ozarks of Missouri.  We had a little time on the way home and made a side trip to take in a field trip destination: The George Washington Carver National Monument just outside of Diamond, Missouri.  I had always thought that GWC was a pretty neat guy, but I came away from this museum thinking he was pretty fantastic!
  The National Monument is a Junior Ranger site so the kids were really excited.  While we were there we picked up booklets for the Historic Preservation badge and the Bicentennial badge.  Those we can turn in at a local NPS site later.
  The site is a no cost site, which is always nice.  The galleries were very well done.  The kids loved learning more about George.  Mom had made them read a couple of books on him before this trip and so they were filling us in on some back story along the way.

The lab area was a neat place for on-site demonstrations.  We missed one just by a couple of hours - darn! No worries though, we were totally content to wander on our own.
   For this Junior Ranger badge, you needed to do a total of 6 activities.  We had completed all of them, but couldn't pass up the chance to walk the trail too! So off we went.  It's 3/4 mile for the main part with about an extra 1/4 mile if you walk around the pond as well.

When we visited the statue of George as a child, the kids spotted a little orange lizard which thrilled them to no end.  The little guy was a bit shy and refused to make an encore appearance ;) The walk was totally lovely: a beautiful spring, bridges, the Moses Carver house tucked into the woods...  Hubby had a great time playing "what tree is this?" with Bubby (who actually didn't do too bad).

And we kept Shorty busy on the trail with a game of Red Light, Green Light.  That idea will be kept for future reference for sure! 
The cemetery of the Carver family was a peaceful addition to the walk...

The last stop on the walk was a bust of George where he would "tell" you (via recording) his favorite poem "Equipment" by Edgar Guest.  I loved it! This is only a part...

"You are the handicap you must face,
You are the one who must choose your place,
You must say where you want to go,
How much you will study the truth to know.
God has equipped you for life, but He
Lets you decide what you want to be."

 And then the swearing in.  This part never gets old.  It brings a thrill each time to all of us.  Mookie dubbed this park her new favorite (as has been each successive one ;) ).  Over all, this was an excellent site.  Hands on, colorful and intriguing displays, a walking trail - this site ranks among the best we've been to.  We have our sights set on learning more about this fascinating man and are eyeing up new possibilities for Ranger badges in the upcoming year.  Oh boy!

Field Trip: Rochester, Minnesota

  We were done with field trips for the year, or were we?  I have learned to never count anything out.  We made a took a trip just before Christmas to visit a family member at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN and gave it a little zip of learning.
  While visiting at Mayo, we stretched the kids' legs a bit and wandered the halls.  We were on the St. Mary's hospital campus and there was a small (the size of a walk in closet) museum in one of the buildings.  It had some cool artifacts from the early days of the hospital.

One of the items was a spoon, the size of a serving spoon, that was used to remove gall stones - yuck!

See the operating table with the slats and trough underneath?  I won't explain that one, you can figure it out ;)

 This was one of my favorites from artifacts scattered on display in the halls.  It is a bronze cast of the Madonna's face from Michelangelo's Pieta.
 And then a lovely 3/4 size nativity...
 

This didn't even scratch the surface of all the lovely and interesting sights we could see within Mayo, but we needed to get out and about a little more so we took our show on the road.  And went to the History Center of Olmstead County.  I'll tell you, the Children's Museum at Rochester almost won out, but we had a limited time in town and we've been to general childrens' museums before.  We needed some local exhibits!
  While it was fairly small, the History Center did a great job presenting the highlights of the county.
We found a solar compass, which apparently Shorty has "been always wanting for my birthday!".

And a place to have our pictures taken with Dr. Charlie and Dr. Will Mayo...

I debated posting this picture, but someone's serious pic was too serious ;)
There were lovely outfits from the mid 19th century that made it on to Mookie's wish list...

And a Lego model of one of the Mayo buildings that Bubby was thrilled with.  He took pictures of every angle.  Including this one ;)

It would have been nice to be there under more relaxed circumstances and explore more, but we got to hang out with family made it fun and learned a little along the way.  That's what it's all about :)  We even got our fill of a White Christmas going home on Christmas Day (ok, a little more than we wanted by going through a snow storm, but Hubby got us home safe and sound).

On the way home before the storm

Update: When I wrote this blog I forgot the best story!  We went out in a snowstorm on Christmas Eve Eve to go get some of Rochester's homemade ice cream at Flapdoodles.  The guy at our hotel (Econolodge - which was the best hotel experience we'd had in a long time!) said it was phenomenal.  So, out we go in the driving and accumulating snow (crazy Kansans ;) ) to get said ice cream.  When we get there we're piling out of the car and Shorty grabs some of the parking lot snow and eats it!  Parking lot snow!  We are about to have frozen deliciousness (and it was) and he eats parking lot snow.  *sigh*

Field Trip: Museum of the Great Plains

  We reached our primary destination near the Wichita Mountains.  Hubby and I were going to be deeply entrenched in research so we had a variety of trips for the family to go and visit.  It turns out we only needed one ;)   The Museum of the Great Plains was not open when we had visited this area a couple of months ago, and it had actually just re-opened after renovations just a couple of weeks prior to this trip, so we were among the first to experience all that it had to offer. 
  All I can say is wow!  Now, that's me speaking as one who did not set foot in the museum galleries.  The kids spent approximately 8 hours over two days in the museum and really only stopped when they had to eat something.  They went on and on in the evenings about all the activities they did, what they saw, and what they wanted to do again.
   From the printing press...

printing press

where they could make signs for the mock town that was set up for them.  The town featured actual historical figures from the area and told their stories.

The kids with one of their store signs

Each area had a docent which was on hand to assist the kiddos and give them more details.

Shorty getting some help with a wind tunnel from one of the docents

One of the areas they went back to several times was the buffalo that you could dissect.  Shorty dubbed him "Buffy" and gave him a hug before they left :)

The kids removing Buffy's organs

They even had fun things like a huge LiteBrite...

I could go on and on about the animatronic dinosaurs to the tornado shelter that made you feel like you were going through a tornadic storm.  I. am. jealous.  I have resolved to go into the museum the next time we're down south.
  I asked the kids which they liked better, this museum or the Illinois State Museum which we visited earlier this year and is the closest in comparison for hands on learning.  They refused to choose, but they did say that this one was way more hands on. 
  Just as a comparison, our local history museum (the Kansas State Historical Museum) charges $6 per child, and the Museum of the Great Plains charges $8, the Illinois State Museum was free.  All do fantastic jobs of telling the story of their state and areas.  All have a majority of permanent exhibits.  The Illinois State Museum and the Kansas Historical Museum have some age to their exhibits, the Kansas one being the older.  The big difference between these museums and why the Kansas Museum doesn't even come close is the interaction.  The other two make you an active participant in history all through your museum experience.  Want to make what most consider to be the most boring subject in school come alive to a child?  Have them feel it! Draw them in to the story, don't just tell them it.  My most favorite teacher in school was my junior high history teacher, and I give him a huge credit for my love of history.  He would "preach" history to us and give us a "hallelujah" when we gave him the right answer.  He would take one of the students, lay him on a table and reenact Meso-American Indian sacrifices (this happened one time when a group of Kindergarteners was walking by our classroom door - you should have seen their eyes get big! But I digress...).   I am so thankful for museums like the Museum of the Great Plains.  We'll end up there again, and it might be hard for the kids to branch out to the other sights in the area now ;)    

Field Trip: University of Oklahoma Art Museum

    Hubby and I had another round of research in Oklahoma this week, so we loaded up the family along with Ducky and Grandma and took off.  I have to say I was a little jealous.  Hubby, Mookie and I did this...

Hubby was sneaking pics

at the University of Oklahoma Western History Collections.  And the rest of the gang went to OU's art museum where they had an exhibition called Immortales: The Hall of Emperors of the Capitoline Museums, Rome.  There were about 20 busts from early to late Rome.  This fit perfectly for our history studies which have been focusing on ancient history.

Bubby was in heaven.  Went through and took a picture of each bust with his camera and regaled us with details when we met up later in the evening.  To be honest, I was a little worried about Shorty on this one.  He's a busy guy, and while he has excellent behavior long trips contribute to unpredictable outcomes for little ones.  He did wonderfully though.  Grandma had him keeping his hands to himself...

following Bubby's example.  And there were hands on things to do too like blowing into a pipe and making digital art move.

Day one ended with success and then the real fun began the next day...

>to be continued< 

Field Trip: Are you prepared?

Bubby a few years ago

   The Royals won the World Series this week.  It's been 30 years since that goal has been attained.  Our family has thoroughly enjoyed attending a few Royals' games over the years.  Hubby suggested that we see if Union Station was open on the day of the parade and then hang out until the parade ended there for the rally.  Sounded like a good idea, and Union Station (which houses Science City, a children's museum) was discounted on account of being closed when the parade started, so we made it a date with Ducky and Grandma.
  We headed out bright and early this morning so we could arrive at Union Station at 9.  The exhibits opened at 8 but we figured we had a nice balance by leaving the house at 7:30.  Well, traffic was really awful when we hit downtown Kansas City and Hubby and Ducky dumped us out about 4 blocks from our destination and went to find a parking space at about 10:30. People were already parking on any green space that was available and even in the medians, so we knew finding that place would be hard!

People were bailing out of their cars on the highway to go in advance and hold places for family

Hoofin' it

We had no plan other than the Station to meet - this turned out to be a problem!  The kids, Grandma and I got to the area in front of the Station and I texted Hubby a general text that we had gotten there and were by the music.  We had a bathroom emergency so went in search of a bathroom.  The porta-potty lines were horrendous so we went into the station (I'd rather wait in a huge line for an inside bathroom anyway).  All thoughts of actually going to the exhibits were out of mind now.  The crowd was growing by the second.  I went to send a text to Hubby and my other message was still sending - cell service was overwhelmed!  So I shot him another note and we waited in line.  By the time we exited the building, Hubby had told me they were at the station, so we still had no clue where each other was.  Out into the sea of humanity we went.

Looking for the guys

We found a place and stayed with it.  Calling was out of the question, so I sent another text with our specific location.  When that one failed, we set out in a search for the boys.  Amazingly we found them!  Hubby had sent numerous texts as well that had failed.  I am seriously amazed we actually found each other.
  We didn't last the whole time, but we made the most of our time and made some memories.  Here is what I learned from our experiences:
  1) Make a specific plan if you are going to be separated from your group.  Normally our general plan would have worked, but this day proved to be unprecedented on so many levels that a specific plan would have saved a bunch of time! We needed to pretend that we were living in 1985 (the last time the Royals won the Series) and not rely on those silly cell phones so heavily!
  2) In a crowd situation - take a backpack instead of a purse.  I had and boy was I so glad I did!  I stuffed our jackets in it and other supplies too!  Much easier to carry!
  3) Identifying clothing.  You're saying, "yeah, yeah" but today most everyone was wearing royal blue with something Royals on it.  After I thought about it for a while I was scared Shorty would take off on me without his jacket on and I wouldn't be able to see his blue Superman shirt for the sea of Royals shirts.  I wish I'd dressed the kids in florescents no matter how much they would have protested.
  4) Carry food and water.  I had the water, but neglected to switch the granola bars over from my purse to the backpack and we could have used them.
  5) Carry change.  When we attempted to buy some extra snacks, the snack machines was only accepting coins.  My extra quarters came in real handy!
  6) Don't get stressed!  We went into this day to expect the unexpected and I'm so glad we did!  It greatly decreased the stress level for all of us.  There were a lot of things that we could have reacted strongly to when they weren't going right, but it helped that we were going with the flow.  The kids benefited too because when we get stressed they pick up on that too.  

Letting the 500,000 other people have their fun

Today was definitely a day we will never forget :) I am so grateful for the time we were able to spend together and the lessons we learned along the way :)

Field Trip: Cahokia

  It has been years since we've visited the Cahokia mounds.  In fact, I think it was 2008 when Bubby was 5 and Mookie 4.  At that time we didn't take the time to go inside the Visitor's Center either, so really this trip was all new :)

  The Visitor Center has a suggested donation of $15 per family which was well worth the cost.  They had life size figures depicting every day life of the Mississippian culture.  Shorty loved walking through the village, which he and I did several times!

  They had some interactive displays like this one in which you could move some hands back and forth and mimic how to start fire.

  The museum was an excellent place to start but nothing quite beats walking amongst the earthworks on a beautiful day!  Shorty was sad he had to stick to the path, claiming he wanted to "climb the lumpy, bumpy hills".  Mookie managed to distract him from that goal by following the letter markers that guided our path.

Monk's Mound (background)

  Bubby was terribly sad that we weren't able to visit every. single. mound on the property.  We did get to as many as we could and find a good compromise for all of us.
  So you don't get to climb on all the rest of the lumpy bumpy hills, but you do get to climb the biggest one - Monk's Mound.

You can see forever at the top.  It was a little hazy because the rain and drizzle was moving out of the area, but in that last picture you can just make out the Gateway Arch!

As uninteresting as this view from the top may seem I have to include it.  You see Shorty?  He's asking, for about the umpteenth time, if he can go down that side of Monk's Mound.  If we had taken our eyes off of him he may have tried it too! And going down Monk's Mound looks like this...

so it's nothing to turn up your nose at.  Silly child ;)
  At the bottom we found a butterfly friend...

  Then we headed back to our hotel, but not before stopping at the Twistee Treat in Livingston - yum!

(photo taken by Bubby)