Field Trip to the Airport

We went to Ellington Field this morning, for our first official field trip of the school year.

Standing by the nose gear

My husband has been working out there, making some changes to the interiors of some of NASA's planes (like the Super Guppy), and so he was able to bring us out there to see the 747 that was used to ferry the Space Shuttles from coast to coast. If you're not too familiar with it, the shuttle sometimes had to land in California due to weather concerns in Florida. When that happened, NASA had to somehow get it back to Florida and the shuttle processing facilities there. So they modified a 747 to carry the shuttle, "piggy-back" style, and fly it across the country. Now that the shuttles are retired, this 747 will be retired too (to become a display at Space Center Houston), so this was about our last chance to go out and see it at Ellington.

Little boy - huge engine

Three in a row

Future pilot

Future co-pilot

Future clown

Figuring out the controls...

Halfway down

The interior of the 747 was completely gutted - no seats, no carpet, very little insulation - in order to lighten the plane. With a space shuttle mounted on the roof, they needed to save all the weight they could!

Down at the tail end

A long walk back to the front

A very long walk... Plenty of leg room compared to most commercial jets though!

Don't jump out!

Sitting in first class

Fire Station

We went on a tour of a fire station this morning. Our homeschool support group set up a tour for the "birth - 6 year old" group, which we fit in quite nicely. All my kids seem to love fire trucks, shouting whenever they see one while we're in the car, so I figured this would be a good field trip to attend. The firemen showed us their trucks and the things they carry (jaws of life, hoses, axes, etc.), and let the kids climb through the front of the truck (and the moms too, if they wanted). They showed us all the gear they wear, talked about safety, and showed us inside the building (offices mostly). They then showed a video with a silly fire dog and robot, but with little safety tips added in throughout the videos.

My son was thrilled, and kept pointing at everything and naming them ("Firetruck! Firetruck!"). He wanted to touch and climb on everything, of course, so I ended up holding him probably half the time. He was better than I expected - at least he didn't continually run off and escape me.

My oldest daughter was interested, but stuck close to me most of the time. She enjoyed climbing through the truck. She made some friends as soon as we arrived too, handing out hugs left and right.

My youngest daughter was really fascinated and paid extremely close attention to everything the firemen said. She often walked off ahead of me, following the firemen whenever they said, "Come this way." She just had a lesson on a fire station yesterday, so this was really good timing for her. I was surprised just how attentive she was, though, especially for a 3-year-old. She could probably relate to me everything they said!

All 3 kids watched the video raptly, though Ryan did squirm a bit near the end. They all got a bag of goodies and a plastic fireman hat, which all 3 refused to wear until we got home. Then the 2 younger ones put them on and marched around the house playing fireman. And of course, during lunch we had to watch our own fireman video, which is one of their favorites. All in all, a successful field trip!

Vacation!

Tomorrow morning my 2 girls and I are going on vacation! One of the wonderful benefits of homeschooling is being able to go on vacation just after everyone else goes back to school, when the attractions are less crowded and possibly even cheaper. I'll consider it an extended field trip, learning about travel, airplanes, the environment, and cultural differences within the United States.

Unfortunately, we're not taking my son or my husband. We had just enough frequent flyer miles for a trip for 3. We've had the miles for several years and I keep thinking they're going to expire or something, so we decided we better use them. So, the girls and I are flying to Seattle to go visit my brother and other friends up there (I lived there for 10 years earlier). It's still miserably hot here in Houston, but the Pacific Northwest should be perfect this time of year.

My oldest has flown a few times before, but she doesn't remember any of those trips, and my younger daughter has never flown, so it should be an experience for them! They are both old enough to make traveling fairly easy with them, unlike my son. There's no way I could handle him too by myself on such a trip. He'd probably end up escaping from me, pushing open emergency-alarm doors, and running out onto the runway or something.

I will report back on our trip in mid-September, but for now, I will be taking a break from blogging!

Zoo Pictures

My husband got some really good zoo pictures from our last field trip, so I thought I'd post a few of these too!

I see that I'm not the only mom whose children try to crawl between my legs all the time.

Like mother, like daughter

Family togetherness

We encountered some excitement in the rhino enclosure - a slow, quiet fight for dominance. I wish the fights in our house were this quiet, but at least the kids don't have sharp pointy horns

Sisters wrestling - also a similar sight in our household

Fascinated!

Not sure what this look means - the 3-year-old glare

Short Week

This week has been a little shorter than normal for us. We decided to go to the zoo on Tuesday, as the weather was very nice and we wanted to go again before the heat of the summer. Many of the animals don't really like the Houston heat either, so they're a bit less exciting to watch then. But the kids loved the zoo on Tuesday. We got to watch a baby elephant get her bath, saw a baby giraffe curled up in front of her mother, watched lionesses cavorting about, chimpanzees mimicking human kids, and sea lions popping in and out of the water (my 2-year-old's favorite!).

Apparently this past Tuesday was also the day many local public schools arranged for field trips, as the zoo was much more crowded than the last time we went. Parking was at a minimum, and there must have been 40-50 school buses in the parking lot. Ryan even got knocked over once by another kid running around. Fortunately, he didn't get hurt. Next time, we may call ahead and see how many field trip groups are coming on that particular day!

So we didn't do any school that day, other than the education we got at the zoo. We also didn't do school, for the girls anyway, the next day, since Tuesday evening they went to spend the night at grandma's house and didn't come back until the next day. We could have done some school then, but since we're ahead of things, and since we were going to church that night, I just let them play in the afternoon. I did get a chance to do some one-on-one school with Ryan, though. He loves his picture flashcards!

A few times, when we've had appointments or other field trips during the week, we'll do school on Saturday instead, but tomorrow I have a brunch to go to, so we'll just wait until next week.

We have a few more field trips coming up soon, arranged by the home school group we belong to:  a trip to the wildlife park just down the street from us in about a week (the group rate is much cheaper than going by ourselves), a trip to a "hands-on, interactive learning" event on colonial times at the end of April (just when I'm starting to teach Rebekah about the colonies!), and a trip to a water park near the end of May. We also need to go and pick some strawberries soon at a local farm. We do plan on continuing school over the summer (when it's too hot outside, and most venues are too crowded anyway). So for now, some fun, some learning, some social activities - a nice break from studying at home!