Summer Fun!

The boys had a blast this summer.  They spent many days outside either riding bikes or running through the sprinkler.

Sprinkler time!

 Let's go fly a kite!

Digging in the dirt pile that was created when we had the fence built.

 More sprinkler fun!

 Benny helping Timmy ride a big boy bike.  Timmy is even wearing Benny's helmet.

 Enjoying ice pops and watching the birds.

 What happens when we add water to the dirt pile?

Home School Adventures!

Hopefully by the end of October Benny will have finished Kindergarten and moved onto First Grade.  Back in the Spring, we joined a Meetup group called Fox Valley Home School Co-op.  We have been very busy attending play dates and field trips. 

O is for Octopus.  We made these from hot dogs.

I is for insect.  Benny had a lot of fun observing our ant farm.

 He would wake up every morning and run downstairs to see if the ants had made any more tunnels overnight.

 For the letter G we studied goats.  Benny had the opportunity to try goat cheese.  He actually liked it.

 Here he is at one of the science co-ops.  He really likes doing experiments.

 For the letter B, we studied butterflies.  We started out with 5 caterpillars and after a few weeks of waiting, we were blessed with 5 butterflies.  

 Here you can see the chrysalis.

 Can you spot the butterfly?

 How about here?

 Another one of our field trips with the co-op group.  We went strawberry picking.  Timmy ate more than he picked.

 Benny did a great job of picking strawberries.

 We ended up with three pints of strawberries.  We had some delicious strawberry shortcake for dessert.

For the letter R we explored rocks.  We went to a park next to the Fox River and the boys had a blast picking up rocks.  These were the ones that didn't get thrown into the river.  We had fun sorting and classifying them.

Silly Boys!

Here are pictures of the boys being silly brothers.

One of Many Updates: Fair Oaks Farm

Okay here comes one of many updates.  Since my last post (in March) we have been quite busy.

In April since Benny was studying cows in school, we decided to visit a dairy farm.  We traveled to Indiana to the Fair Oaks Farm.  We got to see a baby cow being born, how they make butter and how they milk the cows. 

 Benny riding the Cow-go-round.

 That is one big ear of corn!

 A mommy cow and her newborn calf!  Benny and I watched the birth of the calf.  Due to the amount of cows, they birth about 80 calves a day.

 Our bus to visit the cows and see the milking barn.

 The cows enter the big wheel and by the time they get off, they are done milking.  Doesn't take but a few minutes.  Each cow is milked twice a day.

 Part of the playground at the farm.

 On our way to see the cows.

 Some of the new calves.  They only keep the female calves and sell the male calves.

The boys had a lot of fun and we hope to go back.  Supposedly they added pigs to their farm so we will have to go back to see them.