Dino Diggers

 

"You two dig up dinosaurs?" Jurassic Park. I used to show Jurassic Park to my classes for a couple of reasons. It related to my genetics unit, and it is one of my favorite movies. I can't wait to show it to my toddlers. To feed their dinosaur obsession and to prepare them for all of the Jurassic Parks, we attend dinosaur exhibits and have many dinosaur toys. Our 1-year old even gave the boys dinosaurs when she was born. The Easter bunny heard about their dinosaur collection and gave them dinosaur models to dig up and put together. 

Sitting around the dining room table with trays and tools in hand, our toddler boys started digging in clay blocks looking for dinosaur bones. My husband and I tried to help, but I observed and documented the activity. Their comments are below:

"This is only for kids." My 3-year old told me when I tried to brush clay away. 

"We are scientists." My 5-year old said excitedly. 

 

"I wish these dinosaurs were real." 5-year old comment. 

"I think I found teeth." 3-year old comment. 

"This is just like Curious George." My 5-year old likes to do most everything Curious George does. 

"Daddy, I can't work with your big hands." My 5-year old told my husband after he tried to help. 

"This is more fun than books." My 5-year old said refering to the Curious George dinosaur book.

"Mommy, be more careful." My 3-year old reminded me after I stabbed myself with the minature wooden digging tool. 

"Stop blowing off the dust." My husband continued to remind them when we were coughing through the dust fog. 

My husband and I super glued the dinosaur bones together, which was a real challenge because some leg bones were broken in the excavation. My 5-year old had a T-rex and my 3-year old had a triceratops. Instead of having the delicate models fight with each other, they settled for painting them.  

It's always such fun to try something new and see what the boys will say. Now if they would just be old enough to watch Jurassic Park. 

Easter Tradition

"Let's tear apart the boat for Easter." Was my husband's suggestion of family fun for the long Easter weekend. I'm pretty good at taking things a part or demolition, so I agreed.

The last couple of years my husband has taken the opportunity of a three day weekend at Easter to visit a friend's shop to help and learn. This yearly visit has turned into our own project weekend mainly because our kids are old enough to help. All the years of accumulating projects, my husband was just making sure that he had family fun time ready.

The boat that we will tear apart is a 1964 Century Resorter with a V8 AMC/Jeep engine in it. The boat has rotted wood under the water line with an unrecognizable interior. The neat part about it is that all the metal is copper or brass or chome. We bought it so my husband could feed his obsession with obtaining Jeep engines.

Right now the boat is parked in the back grove out of site on my parent's farm. It has been sitting there for a couple of years, so I'm excited to downsize our collection. I'm also excited at the opportunity to recycle, up cycle, or just break and burn.

The boys are able to use screwdrivers, so this will be the first project that they will contribute to. Our 5-year old loves to help, so he will be a dedicated worker; however, our 3-year old would rather break things and move on. I see him spending more time on the trampoline than the boat. Our 1-year old will contribute by playing with the cats on the grass or being in the boat directing work.

Our family will do the usual Easter traditions of coloring eggs, hunting for them, and eating great food at family events, but working together towards a common goal is more important to me. It's also a tradition that I hope to continue.

Note: My husband will more than likely have pictures and video of the process, so be sure to check it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicken Run

I had just opened up my 1-year olds muddy diaper when the lights to her room went off. I was ready to accuse my 3-year old son of playing a trick on me when I found him on the floor beside me playing cars. I used all of my diaper changing abilities to make sure I was excrement free, and then I checked a couple of other lights in the house, no electricity. The sun hadn't made it's appearance through the rain clouds, so I lit a couple of candles and we went on with our day.

We were twenty minutes into the power outage when I realized the glow from the chickens heat lamp in the garage was off. My solution was to put warm water in a sealed canning jar so they could huddle around it for warmth. When we went outside to give them this hot water bottle, the flattened piece of aluminum that we used as a door was moved and two chickens were missing. I looked around and found one huddled into the feed sack, but with much looking couldn't find the other bandit. We went back inside to await the electricity, which didn't make it's return for another hour.

The chicken hunt began with the boys lighting the low hiding places around the garage. The search moved to the high dark corners, but the bandit was much better at hide and seek than we were. A few hours later, my husband did a thorough search. When he came back empty handed he asked me if she could have gotten out of the garage. Surprisingly, I said yes. I left the door open for light when the electricity was out. We accepted that our two week old chicken had succeeded in her chicken run.

Today we went to the garage to do morning chicken chores, and that bandit chicken was wedged between the chicken wire of the pen and the wall. She was trying to soak up the warmth from the heat lamp. She looked a little frazzled, but otherwise happy and healthy. She went straight for the water and feed once home. She had been missing for almost 48 hours, and thankfully wasn't dinner for the neighborhood cats. Now if we could just figure out where she was hiding?