The Oldest Wooden School House

Well as Sam kept saying "since we are homeschooled we have to check out a school house on vacation"  My boy thinks that he is so funny.  In reality I would love an area like this to school the boys in.  With some more modern features though.  :0)

 This was the yard that classes happened in sometimes.  The view is from our staircase in the hotel.  We were right next door.

 This was actually taken from our window in the hotel.  We were so close to it and the funny thing was that when we first got there we tried finding it on the map.  We could not find it, some miss readings were happening.  LOL.  The building in the picture is actually the kitchen/teachers lounge for the school.

 This was actually taken to the front of the school house.  If you see there is a chain wrapped around the house.  It is attached to the anchor right behind Sam.  That was ment to keep the house safe during hurricanes.

 This was the list of the last students to attend the school.  They were the class of 1864. The years written next to their names were actually the year that they died.

 The yard had several statues of like this.  They were of different people that had effect on our education system.  I do not remember his name for the life of me.  The flag though tell me he was from Honduras.  Each of the statues had the country flags next to them.

 My guys just relaxing in the back yard.  I would love to do schooling in the yard.

 There was beautiful plants all over the yard.  The kids even loved the little animals such as the lizard Sam found in the plant below. 

The yard had so many statues like this all around.  It was Gabes favorite part.  He must have taken 25 to 30 pictures of all the different ones. 

Sam's favorite part was that when you finished the tour they gave you a diploma.  He thought that was so cool that he got to graduate.  See I said he was a funny boy.  Still got a couple more years before he actually graduates. (Thankfully)

Fort Castillo De San Marcos

Well after a partically rough tax season we finally got away for a much needed break, even if it was just for two days.  We went to St. Augustine.  It was absolutly wonderful time.  I feel that I need to sort the trip into multiple entries.  This is because Gabe discovered that it was really fun to take pictures and he took pictures of EVERYTHING.  If he was not in the picture it is a good chance that he took it.  He kept holding the camera and calling it his precious LOL.  I am trying to narrow it down to pictures that I think everyone might like.  The kid did not make it easy, he took over 500 pictures and most of them were really good (don't worry I will not show all of them) 

To start with I thought I would share pictures from the fort.  Hands down it was probably the kids favorite part.  Gave actually wants to work there when he grows up.  :0)

 These top three shots were just random shots from around the fort.  It was really beautiful there.  We arrived on the first day and could not go on the top because they were having thunderstorm warnings.  Our pass (only payed for the adults, kids were free) lasted for a whole week.  We could come and go as much as we pleased.  So after exploring the inside for a little bit we decided to head back to the hotel and came back the next day. Really glad that we did.  We arrived at the opening so no one else was there yet and the kids got to talk with a park ranger a little bit.  When the park ranger heard that they were homeschooled he gave them each an activity book about the fort. 

This whole section was all about the cannons.  The kids loved the cannons. (good thing because the town had cannons all over the place.) 

 This picture is really neat because you can see where all of the cannon balls have hit the wall over the years. (just click on the picture to make it larger for easier viewing.)

Saying good bye to the Fort.  We had to put a limit on it because the kids did really love it and wanted to keep going back.  We had to little time there and wanted to see so much more.  I will actually put a link for the museum that was right across the road that we went to.  It was the Pirate Museum.  A very cool museum that I highly recommend.  My only problem with the museum is that we were not allowed to take pictures.  So sorry no pictures.  Check here though if you want to learn more about the museum.





Orisirisi: Drum Stories

Our Library does some pretty good events.  Over the weekend we attended one called Orisirisi.  It was all about African music and story telling. 

It was run by a husband and wife team.  They did a really good job engaging all of the kids.  The wife danced and sang through alot of the things while her husband played the drums and told the stories. 

She did play the drums a little bit too!

As you can see from their faces they were enjoying it alot.  Our hands hurt at the end from all of the clapping that we had to do.

They even got up and did a little dancing.  :0)

At one point all of the children were asked to come and help play drums and other instruments.  Both of the boys were excited to play an instrument but a little sad that they did not get to play the drums.

I included some videos too!  None of them are very long but they give a nice sampling of what they did.  The first video is of her dancing.  The second video is of her trying to act out one of the stories (about a dog and a turtle).  The last one is some of the song that all of the kids got a chance to play.

Farmer's Market

The other day we took the kids to our local farmer's market.  The kids love going here and getting the fresh fruit and vegetables here but this trip was a little different though.

I promise Gabe had more fun than it looks like in the picture.  He was just a little upset because I asked him not to be silly in the picture.  I know, I know mean mom.  :0)

The difference for this trip was that the kids got to pick their fruit and veggies off the plants themselves.  They thought that this was the funnest thing.

First up was the strawberries.  It was hard to get the boys away from these plants.  They loved finding them in the plants.

Gabe really enjoyed racing up and down looking for new plants.

Sam was a little more patient and relaxed on his hunt.

Eventually we seperated a little bit.  Sam went with his dad and found lots of yummy ones.

I got this little cutie as my helper.  He wanted this picture because of the really long stem.  :0)

My three guys showing off the haul.  Rob really does have some in his bucket but Gabe has the most in his.

We got a nice little strawberry haul.  After picking the strawberries we headed over to the the tomatoes to pick.  We did not stay over there long because all the tomatoes were green.  We did pick some, just waiting for them to finish turning red now.

Heading to the stand to pay for our goods.  It was a really beautiful day for picking.

Some shots from the outside of the farmer's market.  This was an antique wagon.

I love the red in this tree.

This was a bottle sculpture that the kids thought was pretty neat.  It was for sale if you want it.  It  is a just $89.  Sorry kids maybe next time.

That is all for now.  Off to enjoy a homemade oreo, yummy

LoggerHead

A spur of the moment field trip for the kids this weekend to the Loggerhead center. 

The boys love going here because of all the wonderful help that they give to the sea turtles.  They also love the little nature center in the front.

This skeleton of the sea turtle was so large the picture does not actually do it justice.  Lets just say that you most likely will not find one this size on a beach any time soon.

Cool Fish tanks all around.

Checking out some really neat fish with grandpa.

Just being my little Dude.  Love that little face.

The boys posing as a mermaid and a scuba diver.  Each boy had a turn in the different characters.

Here are some of the turtles that are being nursed back to health.

I love this shot with the bubbles.

Gabe could have stayed there all day watching the turtles.  He loves them so much.

I love this shot of the boys.  Gabe was posing and Sam snuck up behind him.  Ohh how much I love these boys. 

Sam ended of the trip with another pose.  This time he was measuring the sea turtle.  He liked that much better than the mermaid one.  LOL.  Check back tomorrow I will have pictures from the Morikami.