Whale Watching Trip: Part 3

Kaylee is excited to play at the beach! My advice to not get her pants wet forgotten.

On the final day of our whale watching trip the weather was absolutely beautiful. As you can guess, Kaylee was VERY excited to play on the beach. I made the same mistake and just rolled up her pants a little bit. I know my girl and her obsession with water. Totally a bad call on my part. Luckily, they are just pants and totally washable. And we had spare clothes in our suitcase.

The sheer joy on Kaylee's face as she ran around collecting shells and splashing in the water.

Striking a pose on the beach.

No trip to the beach is complete without time to play on the playground on the beach.

Playing on the playground on the beach. It's the best playground location.

We had such a great trip. We love the beach. I can hardly wait until our next trip. It can't be soon enough...

Whale Watching Trip: Part 2

After Aaron and Kaylee finished with the whale watching trip, we met up to go to the Virginia Beach Aquarium.  We didn't realize how busy it was going to be. It was "mermaid day." There were mermaids swimming in the tank and mermaids to meet throughout the aquarium. When we pulled in to the parking lot it was full. At that point, if we hadn't already paid for our tickets, we would have left. We had already visited the aquarium and we were hoping for a nice stroll through the aquarium. That wasn't possible. There were so many people that we could barely walk. Even though I wasn't very happy, Kaylee had a good time.

Kaylee's favorite part was the sting ray touch tank. I rolled up her sleeves, but she was so excited to touch a sting ray that she put her arm in too deep and got her shirt all wet. 

Kaylee touching a sting ray. Notice how deep her arm is in the water? 

Kaylee shoulder deep in the sting ray touch tank.

Another fun part of the aquarium is the other touch tank. It has horseshoe crabs, crabs, and a few other marine animals to touch and explore.

Kaylee touching a horseshoe crab. 

Then, we moved on to the mermaid activities. By this time, it was mid afternoon and things were getting a little bit calmer. Kaylee made a hat at an activity station.

Kaylee making a mermaid hat. 

We went to a read aloud story time. A mermaid read us a story about protecting the oceans.

Kaylee with the mermaid who read us a story. 

We explored the rest of the aquarium and found my favorite animal, a sea turtle. 

Kaylee and a sea turtle. 

When she saw this shark, she had to pose for a picture inside of its mouth. She talked daddy into joining her. 

Posing inside the jaws of a shark! 

We then walked over to the other part of the exhibits called the Marsh Pavilion and watched the river otters and explored the exhibits. We were all exhausted and hungry. We left the aquarium and met up with some dear friends and went out to dinner at one of our favorite Virginia Beach restaurants, Rudee's. 

Kaylee was worn out before dinner was over. And so was I. 

Whale Watching Trip: Part 1

We got a great deal on a hotel and whale watching deal in Virginia Beach with the homeschool group we belong to. Our hotel was on the ocean and only a few minutes away from the docks. The weather was beautiful the whole weekend.

Aaron and Kaylee before the whale watching trip.

It was a cool February morning and hats and coats were needed. I didn't go because I get extremely ill on boats. I knew that Aaron and Kaylee would have a great time. 

Kaylee (in the pink and black coat) at the front of the ship. Luckily, she didn't inherit my weak stomach gene.

The Cape Henry lighthouses.

Unfortunately, they didn't see any dolphins. They still had a good time and it was a great experience for Kaylee. It was her first time on a boat. 

Kaylee warming up inside the cabin.

Maybe next time...

Science Museum of Virginia

We try to get to the Science Museum of Virginia  as often as we can. Aaron, my husband, has never been there. He decided to join us on our trip to the museum.

When we went, they had a special exhibit on dinosaurs called, Be the Dinosaur. Everyone loves dinosaurs. It was a great hands on exhibit.

Kaylee pretending to be scared beside the big dinosaur. 

She (and Aaron) really liked the Be the Dinosaur interactive game. She especially liked when you had to have the dinosaur eat and then poop. Poop is very funny when you are 6 years old.

The full sized animatronic triceratops.

Next, we went to her absolute favorite program in any science museum: Static Electricity. She loves going up on stage and watching her hair stick out.

Before

After

Then, she explored the phases of the moon exhibit. Phases of the moon is something she's been interested in for a few months. 

Exploring the phases of the moon. 

Next, the head on a plate mirror trick...

Head on a plate mirror trick. 

Building a Roman Arch from blocks...

Complete!

Then, together we all built a larger sized Roman Arch. 

Kaylee and Aaron posing in the Roman Arch we built together.

Lastly, we made paper planes and tried to get them to fly into the cloud.

Ready, aim, fire! 

What an fun, educational, and exhausting day we had! This was just a small sample of all the things we did. And we didn't have a chance to do each section.

Calling All Spirits

Kaylee and I playing the game she created. 

Kaylee is very creative. The flexibility of homeschooling really encourages her to be creative and do things in her own way. She enjoys making games, putting on plays/shows, art, and creating things. Recently, she was inspired to create her own card game.

She called the game, "Calling All Spirits." She cut out card shaped pieces of paper, colored them, and put stickers of each pony from My Little Pony on a card. There are 3 of each type of card. To win the game you need to collect each pony. There is a deck of cards face down in the middle. Each player chooses a card and then you can pick a pony card from the playing area that matches the color from the deck. She even made a white strip of paper with each pony listed on it to help you remember which ponies to collect. The game totally works.

She created this game on her own. I'm amazed.

Making a Mask

We were reading some books about the Caribbean as part of our study of North America. Kaylee was really interested in the Caribbean Vejigante masks. It is a mask worn in Puerto Rico mainly around Carnival time. She wanted to make one of her own. I got some plaster of paris strips and the mask making began. It was a lot of fun!

Kaylee ready to have plaster of paris strips dipped in to water, then put on her face.

A few strips on her face. 

All of the strips placed on her face. 

Next, I carefully removed the mask, trimmed the edges to make them smooth, and let it dry completely. 

She wanted to draw her design on paper before she decorated her mask.

She created a horn on her mask using paper and tape. 

She mixed her paints to get just the right color purple. 

Then, she painted the mask. 

The mask is all painted and drying. 

Kaylee wearing her finished mask! 

Montessori Addition with Golden Beads

Math girl! 

Kaylee loves to do math. She is really good at it. Montessori method makes it fun and concrete. Recently, we started using Montessori golden beads to do addition. She started out doing equations that didn't require and "carrying" or "trading." That is called static addition. After a few times, I showed her how to do the golden beads for dynamic addition, or carry over.

One of the Montessori golden bead equations.

Using the golden beads, Kaylee sets up the problem on her board. 

Then, she adds together the beads and forms the answer with her number cards. 

Happy Easter!

It's a little late, but I hope everyone had a Happy Easter! I wanted to share some photos that I had taken of Kaylee for Easter. Enjoy.