Password

Showing posts with label mk nature center. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mk nature center. Show all posts

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Spring Break!!

On Friday Grandma Russell walked with me and the kiddos to drop them off at Chess class. Avery was able to come with us because it was sibling day at chess!


Grandma was able to see the library at Nico's school and also his classroom and where he sat.

Guy and Grandpa and Grandma were able to experience the paella at the Basque Market in Boise for lunch. They make a huge batch and when it's gone, it's gone. They got their tickets ahead of time and it sold out fast.



Nico had an early release that afternoon and we headed over to the Botanical Garden. Check out the video at the end of this entry to see snippets of Nico's Spring break, including some from the Botanical Garden!








On Saturday we went to Birds of Prey. We listened to a talk about the birds at the center, and then walked around the building to see all the interesting bird facts.










Afterward we went to Jimmy John's for lunch



From there, the Grandparents Russell took Nico and Guy to visit Aunt Ruthie and GG and Aunt Pat. I headed home to bake some bread, cookies, and meatloaf.

Saturday night was pizza night, we ordered in from Smoky Mountain Pizza, and we watched Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole on the TV downstairs while we ate pizza. Jeff and Allicia and their crew had gone out of town for the weekend, so we were able to use the downstairs area for a movie!

Sunday was church, and then a visit to the Library for a talk about birds in Boise and how to recognize them. Each time the speaker came to a new slide with a new bird, she would ask if anyone knew what it was. Nico was in the back with us and so she would rarely see Nico as he raised his hand to answer. Such a good student to raise his hand! Grandma told him that he could blurt the answer, and so he waited patiently for the turn of each slide, and then would blurt out the bird.

Afterward, he told Grandma he wanted to check out a story book with birds in it, and our Grandma Librarian was on the case and found the exact kind of thing he wanted. It was amazing, I'm not sure how she did it.

She found this one, along with some Bird and Squirrel graphic novels and a few others. Perfect options for Nico. 

Nico and I read this one before bed tonight, the whole thing. It was a cute story. 

Sunday night, Guy and I attended Bible Study like usual but Nico stayed home with the Grandparents. He was able to take a bath upstairs, and then Grandma read him books before bed. After Guy and I got home, him and Grandma and I went downstairs to watch an episode of Father Brown on Netflix. Totally worth staying up late for!

Monday morning, Nico and Grandpa Russell and I went to an art store in downtown Boise to get some art supplies. Idaho Blueprint and Supply. Quite a nice selection!



We came back home for a bit and then headed out for more adventures. We first went to the downtown library to check out a few more books, then to the Discovery Center. We ran into friends from church there, Nico's friends Lazarus, Leona, and Matthias.





From there went to the Boise Fry Company to eat some lunch!



Nico loved the food there! Afterward we went to the MK Nature Center.





From there we came home, and spent the rest of the evening relaxing. Grandpa and Grandma left the next morning. It was such a fun time having them here for a few days, we will see them again in June when we visit Arlington!!

Tuesday mid-morning another batch of fun started for Nico. Grandma Camp! I dropped him off Tuesday and picked him up this afternoon (Thursday) before dinner. 

On Wednesday Grandma sent me these pictures with this note: 

"Nico discovered the girls were wearing "fake" glasses and wanted a pair!  So while we were in the mall I sat outside Claire's and the girls took Nico into the store to fit and find him a pair that looked good on him.  It was adorable to watch them trying them on him and commenting their opinion.  In the end this is what he chose!"




This evening at dinner he told us all about the mystery of the printer that kept printing without anyone initiating it. He told us how on Tuesday night it printed "Shouldn't you be in bed?", and then another one on Wednesday with a symbol from Watcher in the Woods (scary movie), and then another note in the DVD case of the movie. 

Other things that happened while at Grandma camp: Smores, Pizza, Easter egg hunt, Jump Time. They even met some new friends. A family friend, Robin, came over with her 4 grandchildren to participate in coloring egg cartons and then of course the egg hunt. They also played games with a parachute, one in particular where they bring the parachute up and then all go inside (see video) to have a "government meeting". They spend the time in their meeting saying "You're guilty!" and voting people out. It's hilarious. I witnessed them playing this game when I came to pick Nico up this afternoon.

Government meeting time!

Robin reading a book to the kiddos.

 Ready to decorate their egg cartons.

Grandma sent me this picture this morning:


And then tonight before his shower he told me his tummy didn't feel very good, and I asked when it started and he said that he felt sick this morning like he was going to throw up (picture him pretending to throw up), so "I did iPad and drank milk" and that made him feel better. Before dinner he was whining of a hurt tummy and said "I feel like I'm going to throw up some day." he he. But then when he saw what I had made for dinner - TOAST on white bread, he said "Ok I'll eat". I had also made spaghetti and salad but he was only interested in the toast. 

Evelyn was over for dinner as well. After dinner they did art using the new supplies. Evelyn was in heaven.


I gave Nico a little back massage with some essential oils before bed. I hope he feels better tomorrow! I didn't send his supplements with him to Grandma Camp. Perhaps I should have! They are good for tummies.

Video!!

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Winter Garden Aglow, Advent Calendars, Birds!

Last Friday we went to the Botanical Garden to see the Winter Garden Aglow! You know how we typically get our picture taken there, but for the past 2 years there has been no photographer there like there used to be. So our family picture this year is coming from a different source (stay tuned for that!)

We went straight to Santa to avoid the lines. Nico asked for Alphabots and Numberbots (toys from a catalog that he looked through last week)




Nico knows that Santa does not actually exist, but he still enjoys playing along.

Then we walked up the mountainside a bit and found this view. You can see downtown Boise in the background, and the Key Bank building with the Christmas tree on top.

We visited the trains as usual.

You can see Nico's red eye in this picture.

Like the doctor said, the red spot is disappearing slowly. Nico told me that a few days ago two girls were running around screaming on the playground because of his red eye. And that his classmates asked him to look to the right so they could see the red part, because it's creepy. I asked him how he felt when they said that and he shrugged "fine" and then kept right on talking about something else. Pretty sure it hasn't fazed him!

Saturday was a FULL day. We first went to the church to help them set up for Christmas. We helped decorate the Christmas tree. Afterward we headed straight to the MK Nature Center. There was a birdseed sale going on plus other activities and a bird presentation where you could meet the birds. They had a peregrine falcon, an owl (can't remember what kind) and an American Kestrel. We learned all kinds of things, like how they swoop to get their food.

Kestrel

 The falcon


The falcon had part of his wing missing but twice he tried to fly away and started hanging from his string, flapping. The handler said "Oh stop, that's so undignified" and everyone laughed. He/she (they're not sure) kept looking around the room up in the rafters like he was looking for a place to fly up to. 

Nico laughed whenever it would poop on the floor (they put protective papers on the floor for the occasion).

The owl (Nico remembers that it was a burrowing owl)

After this we went home and had lunch, then went out again to get our Christmas tree!


I should have taken a picture of the tree in our car and Nico smooshed by branches. We didn't think about putting it on top of our car. Maybe next year? Inside the car Guy started getting a bit of a headache. In the past he has struggled with headaches and Christmas trees, but it hasn't happened for a few years. He had a headache that day and the next day but hasn't had trouble since then. The smell from the tree has died down a bit, so that may be why. We enjoyed putting the ornaments on the tree! It is a little squishy in here now, we chose too WIDE of a tree this time. We had no thought to whether we would have room to get around it! Heehee. Then we made pizza and watched a movie.

At church on Sunday Nico got a prize for finishing his weekly Gratitude Journal. For the month of November he had to write down 3 things every day that he was thankful for. Here's the list starting from the beginning. Long list, but fun to record for later. All punctuation is true to what he wrote. Parenthesis are my comments.

Trading candy.
pizza.
Fall.
Good pancakes.
My mom.
Halloween.
My G.G.
God.
Heaven.
Going to Washington.
My dad.
The world.
Having Mario Kart.
School.
United States of America.
To learn chess at school.
Going to Grama and Papa's house.
Going to Kids Discovery Expo with Grama and my cousins.
Grama and papa.
Winter.
A house.
My Grama and Grampa .
Books.
Clocks.
G.G.'s birthday.
Alexa.
Frinds. (friends)
Water.
Animals.
The sun.
paper.
My cousins.
farmers.
Thanksgiving.
car
Bed
Christmas
Backpack
Clothes
Bunnies
Money
games
flowres
stuffed animals
pencils
Homework
Grama and papa moveing.
Flashlights.
popcorn
chips
Lexie
Rory
Bruce
Lily
Kia (Kai)
Foth of July.
doors
meldls (medals from advancing in his Chess class)
smiles
soap
light
droors (drawers - because then everything would just be sitting on top of the counter)
graveyard
Oils
Henna
TVs
Christmas Trees
stickers
Bookshelves
Pictures
Glasses
Legos
Cups
Songs
A heart
tape
a diary
an Addvint calider (advent calendar)
cafe drops (cough drops)
rugs
me
angels
tissues
ornaments

It was a really good exercise, it got Nico thinking. I'd like to do the same thing next year if the church doesn't happen to do it. 

Sunday afternoon Nico and I went to the Grandparents Salisbury house and hung out for a few hours!

Reading a devotional in the morning. We've decided not to style his hair with pomade in the winter, because it prevents him from wanting to put on a hat or a hood, rightly so, because it really messes it up. This is the fuzz-ball look. You just need a little water on a comb and it calms right down.

We have started our Advent calendars. Our traditional Christmas tree one and then the online one Grama Russell gets us each year. Here's a few screen shots from that one.

This is what it looks like at night. In the day time (starting at 6am) it is light outside.

Snowflakes designed by Nico

We've also started doing our Advent candles. Nico has been enjoying lighting matches and blowing out flames every night. He has even learned how to extinguish a flame by pinching the wick with wet fingers. We have a little book we read from every night.

Nico has had a cold this week, some coughing and phlegm going on, but no fever.

And that's about it I think..
See you next week!