Saturday, August 28, 2010

Marine Science Day!!


Today we went to 2 different Marine Science centers which were super cool & educational for the boys. Evan got in both places for free & the cost for us to get in was only 1 dollar!  Anyways, the 1st place we went to is a few feet away from a beautiful, sandy beach. I really loved this location because it has a long sidewalk along the water where there have been many dolphins & manatees seen swimming around. There is also a fun playground for the little ones to enjoy. When we first entered, there was a tank with small animals such as hermit crabs, snails, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, & starfish that the kids could actually touch & hold. We were at that tank for a loooong time. lol I had to pry Evan away from there because he was so fascinated with all of the little sea creatures. There were several fish tanks with beautiful salt water fish, crabs, & starfish, and then the path led to an educational room which has some interactive things for the little ones such as a magnetic board for them to match debris with the length of time it takes it to decompose if thrown into the ocean (I thought that was a great way to teach the kids to keep the oceans clean). There were also little cubbies with the names & a little toy as a example of certain sea creatures such as a seahorse or a humpback whale & there were little laminated squares with velcro on the back for the kids to place on the corresponding pictures. They also had little stations with sea puzzles & coloring sheets of mangroves for the little kids & Evan's favorite.....a tank with all of the real fish that resemble the one's on Finding Nemo! My 2 oldest enjoyed the microscopes they had with live samples for them to examine and a small flat screen TV next to the miscroscopes that displayed what they were looking at in a larger size. The gift shop was pretty neat too. I got these shirts for Evan & Gio which are all white with sea creature designs (Evan got sharks & Gio got sea turtles) and when u go in the sun.....colors magically appear on the shirt! Coolest thing I've ever seen =) Koko got a shark's tooth necklace....I was surprised that the prices were so reasonable. Next, we went to the Manatte Center which was my favorite! It was so perfect for Evan being that we did a unit on Manatees not too long ago. I was shocked to see that he remembered a lot of facts about the Manatees. They had lots of stuff for the kids to explore....Evan's favorite was a sand table full of shells. The coolest thing was seeing how a fisherman outside got a seahorse caught in his net & they put in into one of the saltwater tanks in the center. Evan couldn't stop admiring it =) Here are some pictures....







Friday, August 27, 2010

Back to School Chaos

We survived the boys first week back to school!!! Glad we've finally got our morning routine down packed. The first day was definitely chaotic as I had to dart from one bus stop to another because my boys attend 3 different schools. Once they were on the buses, I worried about them getting there safely & finding their classes without any problems and thennnnn, I worried about how there day would go & whether or not they  would like their teachers. Anyways, everyone was happy with their teachers and I'm hoping it stays that way. Although I start missing them as soon as they leave, I'm not gonna lie....I've enjoyed the peace & quiet at home (no whining, no messess, & no noise for 8 straight hours)!!!  I could definitely get used to this =)
Here are some pics (Couldn't post Gio's pic cause I took it with my phone)

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Monday, August 16, 2010

Fun Day Learning!


Had an awseome day learning with Evan today.  We put Gio's Spell Time by Cadaco (which I bought several years ago when Gio was smaller) to good use!! Evan had tons of fun using it. It's only missing 1 or 2 letters but all 15 of the cards are in great condition. He had to match the color to the letter then put the letter in it's correct spot. It was fun....we could've done that all day =)


We did some workbook pages. Evan did a super job! We are trying to work with him on how to hold a pencil. It's kind of tough cause he is ambidextrous like his mama & he's always switching the pencil from one hand to another.

Evan also enjoyed this book of mazes we bought him at Target for just a dollar. He would've done the whole book in one sitting if I would've let him. I liked that it brings stickers....I let him pick the one he wanted =)



We also did some fun art with seashells, playdoh, & paint. I had just as much fun as he did with this =)


Sunday, August 15, 2010

Botanical Gardens

I decided to take the boys to our local Botanical Garden because I've been wanting to go see it and the admission was free for a day. The scenery was peaceful & beautiful & the boys loved it (to my surprise). Here are some of the pictures we took.