Weekly wrap up 6/21/19 Coming home from camps

Both kids completed their camps and returned home this week.  Both had a very successful experience and were so excited to share their stories.  I was a nervous wreck for most of their time away worrying about anything and everything.  When your kids are with you all the time it is hard to let go but it was a good step for all of us.  The kids will be leaving the home in just a few years with college just around the corner for Firedrake and in a couple of years for MarioFan.

My Mom and Husband will tell you if I didn't hear from the kids every evening I worried but with every note or phone call from them and just hearing how happy they were, I soon relax (a little).  Firedrake was gone for two week, while MarioFan was gone for a week.  The day we picked them up I was so exited to see them again:)

At the end of the 2 weeks they had a ceremony

Firedrake will have earned 3 college credits after attending this course:)

Her roommate--She has never had a room mate before !

Her RA whom FIREDRAKE thought very highly off and whom was also homeschooled:)

Her certificate of completion.  She has until the 1st of July to submit a paper on her experience in order to receive college credit:)  she will be working on this right away while the experience is still fresh:)

A very proud DAD-- I was unfortunate in that I could not attend as I was busy picking up my son at his camp both ended on the same day and at the same time but a hundred miles apart.

MarioFan went to a Science and adventure camp for a week and had a great time.  Here are just a few of the of the pictures.  I bought a disc with over 4000 pictures taken at camp.  I am still going though them finding all the ones of MarioFan.  It looked amazing there was cave spelunking, helping a vet participate in animal surgery, pottery, cooking, animal husbandry, science experiments and so many other classes.  Seriously there needs to be an adult camp cause I want to do some of those things:)

My Mom was there to help me pick MarioFan up

He showed us around the place and was very informed of all the animals and very excited to tell us about all the things he tried while at camp 

One of his camp guides

His favorite camp guides who was from the UK and said so many nice things about MarioFan

MarioFan loved the zip line, archery and rifle classes.  He won first place at the end of the week for his accuracy on the shooting range.  He wants to go again next year!!

Making Washer Boxes -- Camping game

A few weeks ago someone from a local coop offered to have a class to build washer boxes.  We have seen these games while on our camping trips so thought we would like to make one of our own to take camping with us.   My kids have not had much experience with electric tools or building something from scratch so they needing some basic review on managing tools:).

Getting a safety brief about the electric saw

and getting to use it, while Mom was in the background biting her nails in worry  (I actually have a ugly story of what happens if the saw is used incorrectly...I ended up with major hand surgery)

measuring the wood prior to cutting

They both loved using the electric saw (I was just glad I didn't go crazy and allowed them to try it as my initial reaction was to ask they skipped this part...as I had major flashbacks to my accident)

dry setting the boxes and making sure their cuts were correct

Learning to use a electric saw

Trying different ways to get the most behind the tool in order to get a tight fit.  

Practicing hammering nails into wood before attempting our project, I think the Homeschool Dad could see we were going to need a little help here:)

Schooling on the correct way to hold a hammer, and this is not it:)

ahh...much better Little Man

adding a center piece to our game and gluing it to the box

attempting to center the PVC pipe

Learning how to play the game which is a little like horseshoes...throw the washers and see if you can get it into the PVC  pipe

1 point for each washer in the box and 3 points for a getting it in the PVC pipe.  Game can be played up to 15 or 21 points.

We look forward to adding this into our camping trips and hopefully getting more skilled at the game!

Fish boil

While we were on vacation in Wisconsin we did a local custom of attending a fish boil.  This we were told is unique to the area, begun in 1961 by a local restaurant and it has become a huge success.  The fish used is the whitefish which is a mild tasting fish that is caught locally.  Many restaurants in the area hold weekly or even daily fish boils.

There were several sitting at this restaurant and prior to your meal you could observe the boil and learn about the history of this unique experience

The boil includes red potatoes, and sweet onions.

And chopped pieces of whitefish

After the potatoes and onions are added to the hot water large quantities of salt is added

More wood is added to the fire 

We were told wood was added and removed from the large pot to help regulate the temperature of the water

The fish is added and while it is cooked the oils of the fish comes to the surface of the water.




A bell is rung to let the patrons know the big event is coming up!

In order to remove the oil from the water the last stage of the process is to throw kerosine onto the fire so the water boils over and it makes for a great show:)

Then the fish, potatoes and onions are lifted out of the pot

Dinner is served and it was excellent 

Topped off with a slice of cherry pie

We had a fun time learning about this custom in Wisconsin and should be ever go back to visit would love to attend another fish boil!

Cadillac Ranch

We just recently got back from a 2 and a half week trip to the Southwest in our camper.  The kids have named the camper "Jason" as in Jason and the Argonauts:)  While on our way we stopped by the famous Cadillac Ranch.  We were here once before when the children were younger and they barely remembered it so we thought it would be fun to have the children go again and update our pictures of the kids :)

This picture was taken in 2008 when the kids were 6 and 4 years old--this was the summer before we left for The UK

For my readers in Europe this may seem a bit strange, but kitchy road side tourist attractions are all over the states and some you just have to stop and see.  What makes this one so attractive, I guess,  is that the owner of this farm encourages people to come and create graffiti on the cars.

Cadillac ranch can be seen by the road and we just parked along the road and made our way to the half buried cars.  

The fields surrounding the sculpture are filled with empty spray cans.   

We didn't plan ahead and didn't think to bring any paint spray cans with us, which disappointed the kids.  However, they started searching the fields and finally found a few with paint still in them and got straight to work making their own graffiti.  SO if you planned to add this to your trip make sure you stop at the local Walmart and buy some spray paint, we saw people carrying several cans of spray paint with them:)

I am not sure why the owner of this ranch decided to half bury about 10 Cadillacs in his fields but it is part of American pop culture--Bruce Springsteen has a song about it:)

Next we observed a professional graffiti artist at work, at least he look like a professional to us

If you want more information on this strange road side art you can find it on Wiki

Here is our 2013 picture of our kids at the Cadillac Ranch ages 11-9

Visiting Elephant Rocks

Another place we visited while camping was this state park.  Again a great site to visit if you are studying geology.  The rocks here are igneous rocks but unlike the Shut Ins (previous post) these rocks were formed underground by the volcano (making them igneous rocks) and then the surface eroded away and tho weathering the rocks formed into large pink granite boulders.  There is no visitor center at the park just an outside information booth to read about the rocks and the quarry that was here in the 1800's.

There were pictures explaining the erosion process.  The path around this park is approximately 1 mile long and is completely handicapped accessible with paved trails.

Near the beginning of the path and throughout many rocks were covered in green or white lichen

Daddy pointing out a boulder that shows signs of erosion due to weathering

This area used to be a large quarry in the 1800 to early 1900's.  They had several examples of what the stones looked like when polished up.  It was quite pretty (although this picture doesn't do it justice)

The stone in its unfinished form.  Daddy was able to point out to the kids the various types of materials in this piece as he is a geology major in his former life.  There is pink feldspar, quartz, biotite and muscovite

There were also examples of how the quarry men would break up the large stones by hammering in large metal nails making a line of holes as in the rock above

Sample of the nails use

Can't remember what this was called but it was a way for large stones to be carried about very short distances.

We read that the larger hole we saw in the stones were when core samples were taken to determine if the stones were of good quality for quarrying

The old quarry with the pink stones in the background

Exploring the boulders and wandering the trails

seeing a large boulder with the nail holes in it but it had been abandon for some reason.  But it gave the kids an idea how these large stones were cut

Seeing a large pile of discarded stones

about halfway through the trails you come to the amazing Elephant rocks formation

They are huge!!  

We found several with names and dates stamped into dating as far back as 1875.

The kids loved to climb on the rocks

It was amazing the size and the precarious way they were standing.

Kids pretending to push a boulder over:)

an outcrop of smaller boulders tempted the children to climb them

on the larger more leveled rocks we found water spots which are called pot holes or bird baths and Daddy discussed with the children how this help to form the rocks we were seeing today

about 3/4 of the way through the trail we found the old quarry house built entirely of the rough pink granite stone.

inside the house with the rail lines.  This stone was quarried for use in ST Louis, Chicago and other areas for building use.

We had to great time exploring this great park and it help us with our geology lessons.  The scenery was just beautiful and I took so many pictures of this area.  At every corner you see something amazing and pretty:)