School's Out!

But not for summer, I'm afraid. At least not for most us.

We delivered both our fourth quarter report for this year, and our IHIP for next year. WooHoo...that means no more paperwork until late September.

And two happy little boys had their last day today. Frankly, that makes their mom very happy, too...I love having them around all summer. Though I'm guessing it may make it a little harder for Annie and I to get through our school days. Especially since Rich will soon be starting his second summer session and has some longer days this time.

Anyway, we went out for our traditional last day of school pizza at Pizza Hut, albeit a bit early as Annie has a soccer game tonight.

Ahhh...

On the trail of...

...mammals. A trip to the park netted Annie deer tracks, squirrel tracks, and raccoon tracks! And this evening, if the weather cooperates, it will be time for a bat walk!

pop art project

Thanks for the inspiration, Mr. Warhol.

a book review for the little ones

The Tiniest Tiger by Joanne L. McGonagle.

When I read the e-mail asking if I might be interested in receiving a copy of this book for review, I couldn't believe my eyes. From the brief description of the book, I would have sworn that this book was written specifically for Max. But of course, there are many little cat lovers out there, and I suspect a great many of them would thoroughly enjoy this book.

The book tells the story of a little stray kitten who wanders into the zoo one day. Upon seeing the tiger, she hopes that maybe, just maybe, she's found a home. But the tiger, while friendly, points out the reasons why she can't be a tiger and sends her along to the lions. The scenario repeats itself time after time as each of the wild cats explains to the kitten why she can't be of their species. We visit not only tigers and lions, but cheetahs, clouded leopards, pumas, jaguars, bobcats, and ocelots as well. Throughout the book, as the kitten visits each new cat, we get to view their zoo fact sign and learn more about each wild cat--things like its status, its size, its lifespan, etc.

So, what did the viewing audience think of this book? In his words...

Me: So, what rating does this book get? (The boys always rate picture books on a 1-5 scale, with 5 being the highest.)

Max: A million!

Me: What did you like most about this book?

Max: I liked the kitten. And all the cats.

Me: Did you learn anything from this book?

Max: The signs told me all kinds of things. But I was sad that all the cats were are endangered.

Me: Do you think that other kids would like this book?

Max: Yeah.

Me: Anything else you want to say about the book?

Max: I love it. And I want you to read it to me again.


And as for my favorite thing, let me just quote from the book's introduction:

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of The Tiniest Tiger will benefit conservation projects for endangered wild cats in Africa, Asia, North America, and South America, through the Conservation Fund of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.

still kicking

Last night, Annie had what was probably her personal best game of the season so far. Still it was a losing effort overall for the girls, but I think they're smart enough to realize that what was really important was how well they actually played.

And the winner is...

Jean!

Game One has now been completed. It turned out to be quite a close game, but Jean came out on top. (Steve, where were you this week?!!)

The winning sentences, by the way, for this final week of Game One were:

*Twitching her tail, Demona thought pointedly that she would trade any or all of her plethora of human-bought toys for one large, live mouse with which to play.

*Is mendacity a requirement for employment in the current White House?

*There are a plethora of wonderful spiders in my house, but Annie doesn't like any of them.

Jean, you should be receiving your prize shortly...enjoy!

And please, everyone come back and join in Game Two, starting on July 7th!

using that vocab-game 1, week 7

Okay folks. Final week for game one. Jean, I guess the worst that can happen is that you end up in a tie, huh? We'll see how it goes...good luck everyone!

*plethora

*serendipity

*accost

*mendacity

*fractious

*cant

*redress

*disquiet

a big day

CTY Awards Ceremony. I tell you, sometimes we just can't help but be proud of this kid.

more on mammals

We're continuing with our mammal unit. Still enjoying David Attenborough's book and series of the same name, The Life of Mammals. Annie gave her power point presentation on the Canadian lynx.


(Please don't kill me for posting this picture, Annie.)

And she did some more small mammal live trapping, though with no success this time.

in uniform

Three games down. One win, two losses. But still in good spirits.

the final weeks

I'm getting so far behind in posts for this blog, but I'm going to try to catch up with a few for today. Annie had her last two Camp Arrowhead classes for the school year. Two weeks ago, they had their big camp out. Annie was a bit nervous about it, but ended up having a ball! (As we knew she would.)


This is the before photo. In typical empty-headed fashion, I forgot to take the after photo.

And then this past week, they had a Civil War reenactment group come in. They also tried out a few crafts of the era, such as quilting and tin-punching. Unfortunately, no pictures from that. But Rich got a few shots of Annie at the end of year party thrown after the day's classes.

using that vocab-game 1, week 6

Just two weeks left for Game 1...and I know all of you could make good use of a $10 Amazon gift certificate. So good luck!

*convoke

*plaintive

*dissidence

*ingenuous

*bohemian

*anterior

*sullen

*extrapolate