Big Apple Circus

 After recently watching "The Greatest Showman", it seemed fitting to visit the circus.

 Afterwards the performers were available for a meet and greet.  The clowns were my favorite act.

 John remains a kid at heart... one of his great qualities.  I think he would make an excellent ringmaster.

 These were Izzy's favorite act.  One the left was a contortionist.  I had to look away a few times.

My very own contortionist!

April School Vacation

As it seems Spring is taking her sweet time in arriving in New England, we were exceptionally excited to be heading south for April school vacation.  We spent time with my cousin Emily and her family and my aunt Pat.  We met James for the first time.  Such a happy smiley guy!  The kids, especially Victoria, loved their time with Michael.  Since arriving home, they ask when we can FaceTime with him.  We are grateful for Emily and her family for opening their home to our rambunctious family.

 One morning we visited the Georgia State Railroad Museum.  Besides learning about the history of Savannah's railroad, we caught a glimpse of a time gone by and a few tidbits about the Civil War.

 Taking a ride on the railroad, albeit a short one.  The highlight was using the turntable for our train.

 The museum had one of Sherman's neckties on display.  This was a railway-destruction tactic used in the Civil War during General Sherman's march to the sea.  Railway rails were destroyed by heating them until they were malleable and twisting them into loops resembling neckties, often around trees.

 A more playful experience was taking a ride on a railroad hand cart.  Makes me want to sign... "I've been working on the railroad all the live long day"....

To view this video, please visit the blog itself.

The turntable.  This was balanced spectacularly that only two people were required to turn the train back in the day.  Now this is done using electricity.

 As we were greeted with beautiful 80 degree weather, we headed to Tybee Island for an afternoon on the beach.

A few treats from the Savannah Candy Kitchen.  I can still smell them making fresh pralines.

 Our final day we headed to Atlanta spending time at the World of Coca-Cola.  There are so many memories tied to Coca-Cola including Oma! 

 The oldest Coca-Cola syrup dispensary that would have been found in drug stores.  This dates back to the 1890's.

 One of the interactive displays was demonstrating a game using Coca-Cola bottles from the past.  Izzy and I played against each other.  The bottle she landed on was from Scottsbluff, NE.  How ironic!

 A blast from the past.... Max Headroom and New Coke which only lasted 73 days.

 This was all of our favorite experience... tasting different Coca-Cola products from around the world.  Each island was a different location including Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Izzy's Solar Oven

This weekend Izzy participated in the 3rd Annual Brookline Youth Climate Adaptation Challenge.  This is a unique science fair that celebrates nature inspired innovation, art and science.  Categories included biomimicry (yes, we had to look this term up!), art and water.  Izzy and John worked together to create a solar oven.  This was all their own project as I was lacking of knowledge in this area.  I got such a kick out of watching this come together from discussions to inception to building and finally to cooking!

 Mommy was a bit worried Izzy won't remember her talking points.  I don't know why I was.  She can talk anyone's ear off and proved this yet again today.  I was so proud of her showing how the solar oven worked to talking about the challenges we encountered with trying to cook in cool weather.

 1st trial - chocolate chip cookies

Designing insulation after our 1st trial of chocolate chip cookies was a fail.

Originally, Izzy and John tried to bake chocolate chip cookies.  The weather in Boston was just not going to cooperate for this.  They had to battle cloudy, rainy days and even a snow day in April!  We all learned that to bake something like cookies or cakes requires sunny, warm days to get the temperature inside the oven high enough.  The highest we got was 150 degrees F.  We all agreed we'd retry the cookies in the summer time.

Back to the drawing board we went given our lack luster weather.  We decided to make crackers (similar to Wheat Thins).  First we baked them in our conventional oven.  Then we made them in the solar oven.  Being able to taste test these crackers at the science fair gained Izzy many visitors and creative points from the judges.  In addition, we tried to see if we could make a hard boiled egg.  Izzy ended up with soft boiled eggs... still a success.

Thank you to this man who made Izzy's solar oven a reality!

 Other unique projects included how to separate oil and water (aka cleaning up oil spills)...

 hastening decomposition....

 how to create your own water filtration system....

and making instruments out of recycled materials.

The certificate ceremony.  I'm very proud of this girl!

Easter with Oma & Opa

Spending Easter on the farm with Oma and Opa has become somewhat a tradition.  We look forward to a bit of fun with extended family even though its a short celebration.

Up first is the Odell town Easter egg hunt.  It was a chilly afternoon making the run out to get eggs and run back in to collect money short and sweet.  Everyone was broken down into ages.  Micah and Victoria were in the Pre-K, K and 1st grade group.

 One little girl is excited to find some eggs.

 Izzy made friends with Lexi (purple coat) while waiting for their turn.  It was fun to see them find eggs as a team.  Izzy was in the oldest group (3rd, 4th and 5th grades).

While being home you are bound to run into old classmates.  I'm sure to find Andrea and Barb as many events when I return home.

The kids get a dollar for every egg they find.  This year, it was $4 maximum.  Instead of dollar bills, dollar coins were given creating a smidge of confusion before explained.

 Dyeing Easter eggs is also a tradition the kids enjoy.  As they get older, their patience and skills have improved.  Oma and Izzy got creative with clear glue and glitter.  Micah wanted none of this sparkliness opting for his two favorite colors - green and blue.  Victoria however relished all that sparkles!

 

Our final products!

 We woke up to a white surprise Easter morning... SNOW!  Approximately 5 inches fell throughout the day.  I was glad we all had longish sleeves but cringed knowing the girls had sandals on.  Izzy figured out how to walk on her heels to avoid snow getting on her toes.  The snow meant no Easter egg hunt outside.  Have no fear... the Easter Bunny made his way inside.  Izzy's getting more keen as she gets older.  We took two cars to church as one cannot hold all of us.  When we returned home, Opa drove in the lane after us.  This stumped Izzy as she couldn't explain then how the eggs made it inside.

 I'm sure this is one of many pictures to come with Izzy not wanting me to take her picture.

Time to go through our loot!