The Last Dissection: Frog

Landon was thrilled to finish the last dissection of the year! He really did NOT like the dissecting portion of Biology. I have a friend who teaches IB Biology who told me that they do almost no dissecting anymore. There just isn't time. Bummer!

The Apologia book didn't give specific directions for this dissection. It just told them to try to identify the parts. So, I found an online frog dissection and told Landon to follow along.







I think the large 3-part gray piece is the heart.


Nice facial expression, huh?


Yippee! No more dissecting! I'm sure Landon will like Chemistry much better.

Day 17: Vicksburg

We spent most of the day in Vicksburg. The Vicksburg National Military Park was awesome. If you've ever been to a large Civil War battlefield, you know that all of the states with soldiers who fought there will put up a large monument as well as many smaller ones at the spot of any major action during that battle. The large monuments are incredible. The Illinois monument was the largest at this site and was modeled after the Parthenon. It was beautiful. You could actually go inside, and this seal was on the floor. I took this picture since I am originally from Illinois.




The state of Kentucky dedicated its monument in 2001. It is pretty neat. Both Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln were born in Kentucky. So statues of both of them are part of the monument (along with a few other people???).


The cemetery in the park contains the gravesites of the Union soldiers who died at Vicksburg. Interestingly, the Confederate soldiers were buried at a private cemetery in the town. There are both flat and tall markers. The flat stones mark the graves of unknown soldiers.



This picture was taken from Fort Hill, which was such a formidable Confederate stronghold, that the Union forces never attacked it. The scenery throughout the park--hills and valleys and trees--was so beautiful!


The park also contains the U.S.S. Cairo Museum. The U.S.S. Cairo was a Union ironclad ship which was the first ship ever sunk by an explosive mine. It was resurrected from its watery grave exactly 102 years, to the day, from when it was sunk. You can walk right onto this ship. It is incredible!




There were some nice picnic tables outside this museum where we ate lunch.


Before leaving Vicksburg, we drove a mile or two to the Beidenharn Coke Museum (I hope I spelled that correctly). This was the first place ever to bottle Coke. Yes, it was first made in Atlanta, but Mr. Beidenharn, a candy shop owner, had the idea of bottling it. When he asked for permission, the Coke company gave it to him thinking that it was a hairbrained idea. Before too long, they realized their mistake. However, it took them a long time and a LOT of money to buy the bottling rights back! Ah, the power of a good idea!

Gerren and Chase look at the machine that bottled the Coke.


The boys pose in front of a 1902 soda fountain.


Carys "smiles" in front of the high chair.


There wasn't much to this museum, but it was a fun diversion. After leaving Vicksburg, we drove 4 hours to Daphne, AL, right outside of Mobile. We had dinner at a great place called Baumhower's Wings. There are 7 of these restaurants all over Alabama, and it was wonderful!

Well, it is hard to believe, but we are headed home tomorrow. We have a 6-hour drive ahead of us, not including stops. We also lose an hour going from Central to Eastern Time, but we hope to get back in time for Landon to go to Civil Air Patrol at 6:30pm. This blog will be awfully silent when I get home and have to catch up on everything! LOL!

Day 16: A Day of Dreary Driving

I had hoped to leave Dallas around 9:00 am this morning, but it is tough getting the kids away from a place they love. They had a blast with Carson and the doggies at the Taylor's house and really enjoyed everything else we did and everyone else we saw in the area.

We managed to leave by 10:30. It was warm and just slightly overcast in Dallas. It became more overcast as we drove along, and we rain through ran off an on. We arrived in Vicksburg at 4:30 pm, too late to visit the Vicksburg Military Park. This turned out to be okay, though, as we have some time just to relax, read e-mail and blogs (me), watch Survivor Man on the Discovery Channel (the boys), and get a head start on bedtime showers (the girls). We plan on heading to a local family restaurant for supper. I have been craving pie since we saw a reproduction of Pensacola in the 50's at the Naval Aviation Museum which included a diner window full of homemade pie! :-)

Day 15: Dallas - Frontiers of Flight & The Bureau of Engraving and Printing

We tried to get an earlier start today. Carys was up at 7:30am, but she was so crabby. She is wearing down. The lack of a regular routine and enough sleep are getting to her. Anyway, we headed to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Fort Worth. You aren't allowed to take any electronic equipment in, so I don't have any pictures. It was a really cool place to visit, though.

After lunch, we headed to the Frontiers of Flight museum at Love Field in Dallas. The docents at the museum are all veterans. We had the privilege of having the undivided attention of Charles Mohrle, who was a P-47 Thunderbolt pilot in WWII. He was an awesome guide and really gave us a unique experience.



He taught Landon how to "fly" this PT-22.


Gerren and Chase got a birds-eye view.


Carys looks at the plane display.


There were tons of other planes there, too, including this Beech Staggerwing.


The actual Apollo 7 capsule was also in the museum.


After leaving the museum, we headed to Cedar Hill to meet up with my cousin Jennie, whom I haven't seen in 8 years! Kids really slow you down. We then headed for Babe's Chicken in Burleson to meet Julie and Carson Taylor, our hosts for our stay in Dallas (Mike, the dad of this family, was out of town on business). Anyway, the restaurant was awesome! Really, really neat. If you live in this area and have never been there, you must check it out. We had a fun waitress who did a few "tricks" for us. Gerren snapped a picture of one.



We had such a great time here, but we didn't get to do half of what we would have liked. We must come back soon!

Day 14: Pioneer Park, Dallas

We all slept in this morning. When we finally got ready to go, it was 11:00 am. We didn't get to many places today, needless to say, but we needed the rest.

First, we went to Pioneer Park which is a small park by the Dallas Convention Center which was created to commemorate the cattle drives. It was really neat and a short stop.

Chase made friends with this guy.


It looks like Landon and Chase are driving the steer, too!


Gerren was actually with us but ran out of this picture at the last minute. Then he came back over and wanted me to take another picture. Tough luck, buddy!


This was really a neat place smack in the heart of downtown Dallas.


We attempted to visit the Age of Steam Railroad Museum, but it was $17 to get in and we only had 30-45 minutes. So we skipped this in favor of the American Girl Store at the Galleria. I had been promising this to Chase, so it was a must see. Her birthday is May 5, so we did a little shopping.

Finally, we arrived at the Mays home in Allen around 3:30pm. Our kids (who are second cousins to one another) get to play together once or twice a year, but they pick right up where they left off. They had a blast! We are definitely going to have to come back to Dallas soon and spend more time.

I just had to include this picture taken in the morning of Carys "talking" to the Taylors doggies through the door.

Day 13: Amarillo to Dallas

Today we drove from Amarillo where we spent the night to Dallas where we'll stay a few days. Before leaving Amarillo, we went to see Cadillac Ranch, a pop art phenomenon.

It was a quick but quirky stop! Here are some pictures:



As you can see, the sky looks rather ominous. We drove in and out of rain all day.




Chase pretends to spray paint the car. It is actually against the law.


We arrived in Dallas around 5:30 pm, actually in Mansfield which is south of Dallas. We are staying with our friends the Taylors. Tomorrow we'll visit with Greg's cousin, Bob, his wife Elisabeth and kids, Robbie and Morgan. Then, Friday, we'll visit with my cousin, Jennie. There is so much to do here and so little time!

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Dissection 2: Crayfish

Today, Landon did the second dissection in Apologia's Exploring Creation Through Biology -- a crayfish.

He is really NOT a hands-on learner, and he does NOT really like these dissections. He is doing them nonetheless and doing a good job.








I can't remember what this was -- his brain?





He's always happy to finish!

Gerren and Science

Gerren is using Apologia's Exploring Creation with General Science curriculum this year. He is having a few struggles with it: 1) memorizing definitions, 2) explaining himself well on a test (even though he does understand the concept), and 3) warning me ahead of time when he needs something for an experiment (even though Sonlight does an awesome job in their schedules, which we use, of warning you the week before you need something).

Due to this last issue, Gerren ended up doing an experiment Sunday because we didn't have any distilled water on Tuesday. Lots of the experiments in this book call for purple cabbage. After buying numerous heads for Landon (or begging individual leaves from the produce managers), I got smart, bought one head the first time we needed it, and froze what we didn't use. We've been pulling leaves off that head as needed. Usually they are used to make purple cabbage water, so their consistency doesn't really matter.

He had to make several different cups of cabbage water this time. Carys cried and cried, begging for a "drink". He finally gave in and let her have a taste!


She didn't ask again!


This balloon contraption was used (along with baking soda and vinegar) to make carbon dioxide and trap it in the balloon which he then had to release in one of the glasses of cabbage water to see if it made the water change color. Gerren was afraid the balloon was going to burst!