Happy Easter

Happy Easter

St Louis MO spring break road trip

Caleb and Nathan have been studying the Louisiana Purchase, Louis and Clark, and westward expansion. So for spring break we drove to St Louis MO to the Gateway Arch memorial.

Now, I am no fan of heights but the tram ride to the top of the Gateway Arch wasn't too bad. We went at dusk and experienced the 630 foot lookout tower at sunset. It was beautiful.  The boys were fearlessly climbing onto the platforms to lookout.  I took pictures and reminded myself that hundreds of people travel up there safely each day.

In addition to the Arch, we took a riverboat cruise down the Mississippi on the Tom Sawyer paddleboat. This was so much fun,especially since David read Huckleberry Fin and Tom Sawyer last year. Caleb was thrilled to buy a scorpion lollipop in their gift shop. He did lick it all the way down to the scorpion inside.Blah!

The third day we visited the Science Center and Planitatium. Holy Cow, we could've stayed there for 3 days! We didnt cover the half of it.

John and David went into a fighter jet simulator together. It was neat to watch them enjoy that together. 
Clearly our boys are not little kids anymore.

The younger boys and I did experiements in the life science area. We extracted wheat germ DNA and other fun things there.

Who knew St Louis could be so much fun? What a great little roadtrip.

Caleb's Awana award

Caleb was so excited to finish his first Truth and Training handbook this week at Awana. For those that don't know, that is 80 verses memorized in a year. 
Here he is receiving his gold medal award.   We pray those verses of scipture will bring forth spiritual fruit in your future. Way to go Caleb!

Snow fort

Winter has been absolutely unbearable this year. We have had so many below zero days that no outside play time has been possible.  Until the first week of March, when we had 3 days in a row in the upper 20's. It felt like a heatwave.

We all went outside to make a giant snow fort. This was no ordinary snow fort. This fort had a roof, 2 sitting area benches and a chair. David improved the height by installing a pole support to lift the tarp ceiling higher.

The fort lasted about 2 weeks and then we had a few days in the upper 30's. Alas, we slowly watched it melt away. It was fun while it lasted.

Nathan finishes his Sparks book, review and extra credit

Nathan is very studious.
Yesturday at Awana club he finished his Wingrunner book review and extra credt cards. This was a huge day for him. We are so proud of his accomplishment. 
He was recognized on stage and was all smiles. Way to go Nathan!

Rollerblading and Ice Skating

In February we were really getting sick of winter.  In order to get out of this house we tried both rollerblading and ice skating.

It turns out all 3 kids are pretty steady on blades and skates. So much so that noone needed mom to lean on or be caught by. It was a bit weird at first, but then I decided I would put on some skates too. What a good thigh workout!

We mostly stayed on our feet and had a good time trying something new.  It didn't help winter go by faster, but it did help winter go by happier. We really needed that.