Katie's Garden

I was trying to clear out some weeds to expand Katie's garden when apparently I broke a sprinkler and didn't even know it.  When we got home today our neighbor told us he had shut off the water because the sprinkler was going crazy.  Luckily a gardener was around and fixed it for us.  Then I hired him to finish clearing the evil weeds and mow our lawn :)  It looks really nice and I hate doing it and Dan isn't around much.  Then we planted three tomato plants.  Katie picked out purple tomatoes, orange/ yellow tomatoes, and cherry tomatoes.  We even put them in little cages.  Then we planted some carrots in a box.  She already had sweat peas, summer squash, and basil growing.

Young Scientists at the Fleet Center

Katie went to her first week of Young Scientists class at the Fleet Center in Balboa Park today.  How did I not know about this earlier???  Now she is talking about how she eats with a wedge and is moving her fulcrum around to adjust her catapult (and using the lingo)

She got there a little earlier, so we built towers for the marbels to travel down.  I had a lot of fun with this :)  Katie liked it too.

They started with circle time and a lesson about different forces.  They talked about push and pull, gravity, and magnets.  They all walked around the Science Center to try to find examples of machines and forces.  Then, miss Jamie showed them around the stations. They had several tables set up with different simple machine activities.  This is the stuff I did with 5th graders and they set up very similar projects for 3 to 5 year old and they loved it.

Ms. Jamie showing them the stations

Katie moved the fulcrum around to see if she needed more or less beans to lift her load

making her catapult

testing pulleys

Does one pulley or two pulleys make it easier?

Moving the waterbottle up the inclined plane

different angles

this wedge business was dangerous

After we left the Science Center we ran into this pirate who told us that the Natural History Museum was free today for San Diego residents since it was so hot with the fires.  Okay, twist my arm and I'll check it out :)

Helping the dinosaur eggs hatch

oh no!  its getting her

flapping the sea otter tail

opening jaws

its pirate time

Katie loved this rattle snake

and the garden snake

hi Levi

this pirate gave her booty

He wants to join the elephant herd

 When we were driving home the smoke looked really ominous, but somehow it was beautiful blue skies in Escondido.  Smoke around our house, but nothing overhead, no smell thankfully.  I tried to get it on camera, but it didnt do it justice.

smoke behind our house

from the backyard.  I guess this is from the San Marcos fire

Then I made a recipe that I got from my sister in law Vivien.  It was delicious.  My mom ate all the brussel sprouts, even though she thought she hated them.  

This is the never ending post- I hope you like it Dan!  I think I'm done now.  <3 you

Rescuing the Frozen Ones

Katie has this silly little habit of leaving the refrigerator and freezer doors open.  Last night a few of her toys got into the freezer and were taking a swim in a bowel of water when lo and behold- they got frozen!  This morning I tried to equip her with the proper gear to help them escape their icy prison.  She worked hard with some salt, a hammer, screwdriver, and a couple bottles of water to free all of her animals.

experimenting with salt

seeing if water will work

she hammered so hard so busted a hole in the bottle of the plastic bin. 

trying to figure out a solution

the crocodile was the first one out

all of her gear and some freed animals

Her most successful technique that she discovered through her own experiments was to cover the animals in salt and wash them off- then she pried them loose with the screw driver.  She had a blast.  If it wasn't so windy outside, this would be the perfect activity for a hot summer day.  I'm sure her animals will wind up in the freezer again for some late night fun (not sure if this activity encouraged or discourage freezer door closing)

Relaxing Sunday by the Quantico Creek

Somedays it is hard to decide what to do. After a long, exhausting day yesterday we wanted to take it easy today while still getting outside and exploring nature.  We love going to parks and just hanging out as a family.  By the time we got all ready to go it was almost lunch time- dope.  I knew Katie would want to eat as soon as we got to our destination so we preempted hunger and picked up some Ricky's Chicken along the way.  Dan got this a few weeks ago when I was super sick, and although it smelled delicious, I didn't partake.  This time I wanted some of that yummy Peruvian food.  I need to check pinterest for some recipes- the chicken and the beans were amazing.  Dan thinks we should just go to Peru and get the real thing.  Okay.  Anyways, we brought our food over to the park to eat and Katie mostly played between bites..  

Katie enjoying a little exercise during lunch

Baby Blue Eyes

After chowing down we decided that it was a warm enough day that Katie could finally cross the river.  She wanted to so badly the last time we were here, but it was too late and cold.  For some reason we forgot her swimsuit so she had to wear her undies.  She's only allowed to do that a little longer so we figured we would go for it.

Levi put his feet in until he realized it was cold!

Katie wandered out alone- that water was freezing

She got so far away because neither of us wanted to get in.  It was my job to save her if she fell

Eventually Dan got in with her and helped her cross the river

 After the river time, Katie decided to put on Dan's shirt.  I thought she looked like a poor little river child.  Oh she also wanted to wear Levi's hat :)  

 

river bumpkin

hiking along

We walked a little further.  We came to a little stream and there were two logs to cross it.  I chose one and fell immediately into the stream.  Dan picked the other one and it snapped under his weight.  Luckily, he was able to fall carefully since he was carrying Levi. (He slept through the ordeal)  Katie walked straight through and fared the best of us all.

Katie finally got her Jr. Ranger badge from Prince William Forest Park.  We only come here like every chance we get :)  I also found out the have letterboxing so we might do that sometime during the week since we probably won't see Dan until Thursday night.

When we took Dan back to the barracks we heard Levi laughing in the back and assumed he was awake so we said something to him.  Katie told us he was sleeping.  He was giggling in his sleep.  Katie thought he was dreaming about her and Dan playing with the water bottle since he thought that was so funny earlier today :)

<3 Bonnie