Before I get into our very exciting day, I'm going to post a few pictures from yesterday. Gavin was in camp yesterday and Austin had the house to himself. He decided to play with his stacking blocks. Austin really likes blocks and building but Gavin rarely plays with blocks and Austin won't play with them unless Gavin is playing with them so I was glad he had a chance to build his tower!
After lunch one of Gavin's responsibilities is to wipe the table down with the dishcloth. Apparently, Austin has been watching this process because yesterday he ate his food quickly, slid out of his seat, ran over to the kitchen sink, grabbed the dishcloth and came over to the table and started wiping the table down. He was very proud of himself and did a pretty good job!
This morning we went to the nature center to learn all about dragonflies. I had no idea they were born little nymphs that live in the water! First the boys made a dragonfly craft...I forgot to get a picture of the final results...
Then they looked through prisms to represent dragonflies 30,000 lens eyes. Then they listened to the teacher talk about dragonflies. She even got out a nymph and showed them its special mouth.
Then it was time to go down to the pond and look for dragonfly nymphs.
Austin stuck in his toes and then decided he didn't want to get in the water after all.
They found nymphs, clams, snails, tadpoles with legs and even a baby salamander! Here Austin is looking at a clam.
They put some of the things the kids found in this ice cube tray so the kids could look them over before putting them back in the pond. I don't think Gavin caught anything. He spent his time right next to the teacher asking questions and telling her random things...poor lady!
When we left Gavin thanked the teacher "for all the things you taught me." That made her happy!
After we left we went to lunch with Dad we walked to the state capital for a Civil War cannon presentation! Gavin has been looking forward to this for the last couple of weeks. First the gentleman who runs the program showed the kids different cannonballs they used and they talked about ammunition. I was happy about that because Gavin is very interested in artillery and battle tactics - and I know nothing about either and there aren't really appropriate books on the subject for his age group. This allowed Gavin to ask some questions to someone who knows.
Then it was time to march to the cannon. The last program we went to had about a dozen kids...this time there were about three dozen!
Gavin's job was the 'safety'. He held his thumb over the fuse hole while the cannonball "nerf ball" was loaded, then had to stick a pin in the hole which apparently lights the fuse, then another person put something in the hole and when they pulled it out (it was on a string) the cannon shot. I'm not sure sticking your thumb over the fuse hole is the job I'd want on a cannon crew. Gavin was super excited about it though and they got to shoot the cannon twice.
Gavin was in the very first group that got to go so the instructor had to walk them through the first shot. And yes, the kid in the grey shirt has a rattail. Because they weren't bad enough 20 years ago! His brother had one that went all the way down his back!
Before we left we stopped at the toy store we found on our last trip and Gavin got his Civil War soldiers. He played with them all evening until bedtime!
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