St. Louis Zoo...Free, Hands-On Education!

The boys and I went to the zoo this afternoon and had a terrific time, as always.  I cannot speak high enough praise for the St. Louis Zoo.  We focused on insects, primates, apes, and reptiles on this trip.  The boys on a sculpture outside of the Insectarium.

Resting for a bit outside:)

  The "begged" me to take their picture with this statue.  They loved the snakes, especially the Burmese Python. 

On the gorilla statue before the real thing.

Ahh...brotherly love...with sun in your eyes.

Ready to go home????

Brian said, "We looked at the monkeys.  We looked at the gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans. "

It's All Relative

The kids were pretending to be scientists today and calling themselves Dr. Einstein, Professor Einstein, and Baby Einstein.  I asked them if they knew who Einstein was and they knew that he was a scientist.  This started us on a quest to find out some more information.  We discovered a nice article for kids about Einstein and the theory of relativity.  Joshua really seemed to latch onto the example of an infinitely tall building in which you are in the elevator  falling.  It doesn't feel like you are falling at all, but if people saw you from the outside, they would see you falling.  If you saw them, they would look like they are flying up.  It seemed like things were really clicking with the boys and how it all depends on perspective.  Brian then stated, "It's like when stuffed animals come to life."  Oh well.  I guess that is one perspective. 

Fire Station Open House

A local fire station had an open house this past weekend that the boys absolutely loved!

Brian exiting the "smoke house" after being trained on what to do in case there is ever a fire in our home.  

He got to put out a "fire" with a real fire hose! 

We got to see a very old fire "truck"!

We also rode on the back of a fire truck...totally awesome!

Brian is Reading!

Brian reading a book again that he read yesterday.

Caterpillar Investigation

We found a caterpillar and observed it.

This Little Piggy Went to Market...This Little Piggy Stayed Home

All of the boys helped with unloading hogs from the truck with Grandpa K yesterday.  Joshua and Brian were in charge of counting pigs as they passed the empty pen they were in.  (Quite challenging for a 6 and 4 year old!)  *Pigs do not cooperate:)*   Lucas was just amazed at the sight of all of the little pigs running past us.  

Cicadas...Cicadas...Everywhere!

Joshua and Brian found an abandoned shell of a molted cicada.  This started us on a quest to find out more information on the cicada.  The boys made observations and measurements.   We even folded an origami cicada!