I'm home from vacation just in time for Show & Tell, which is hosted by CanadaGirl.  Please join us, and visit the other bloggers participating!  I hope I'll have time to view them myself, and catch up on the blogs I read... 

For the past several years, our family has been going to a Christian music festival at Darien Lakes Theme Park (formerly Six Flags Darien Lake) in western New York state called Kingdom Bound.  We set up camp at nearby Darien Lake state park and then commute each day to the park for the concerts and speakers - and of course, the rides as well.  Here is the little tarp town we called home for the week:

Our next door neighbors are friends of ours and we share meals and campfires with them.  There is a lake (duh - Darien LAKE) with a beach, but despite our good intentions, we still haven't been there.  There is a playground near our site and the younger kids sometimes go over there.  This year we also got a look at a snapping turtle that had wandered up to the road near the bathrooms!

We think he had a run-in with the lawnmower - see the scrape on the top of his shell, and how the tail end of the shell is broken off?

Well... off to the park... we all enjoy the rides, and Landon is tall enough for all but one this year.  Kennady is still too short for the coasters, but she just managed to sneak in for this one - the Silver Bullet, I think its called.  I guess Harrison must have looked really responsible to the ride attendant:

There isn't much point in taking pictures at the concerts, because we usually are too far back, but I usually grab a couple shots just for fun.  Some of the bands we saw this year were:  Decemberadio, Thousand Foot Krutch, Skillet, Denver & the Mile High Orchestra, Big Daddy Weave, Salvador, Jaci Velazquez, 33 Miles (had not even heard of these guys before, but I really liked them - always nice to add someone new to the list of artists we enjoy), Matthew West, Delirious, and Newsboys.  I will put up a couple pictures I got of the Newsboys concert, since I was actually close enough to get some that turned out.  We also met an artist and speaker - Eric Samuel Timm - and bought some of his prints. Other speakers we enjoyed were Justin Lookadoo and James Ryle. 

Well, just looking at the time now, I guess I probably won't have time to visit everyone's blogs today and get caught up, but I'll try to see a few.  I'm short on time because Harrison and I are going on a mission trip to Honduras, and we leave tomorrow!! Not much time between the camping trip and heading to the airport to do all the laundry and all the other fun stuff.  I'll be back in just over a week, and hopefully have LOTS of Show & Tell material from Honduras!!  Prayers for the trip and for the projects the team will be working on are appreciated!

It is time for Show & Tell with CanadaGirl, a highlight of the blogging week!  Click on the link to visit her blog and participate in the fun!

 I am going to share about THE most redneck, hillbilly thing that I have done in a long time.  On Saturday night I took Harrison and Kennady to the 4H/FFA Fair to see a Combine Demolition Derby.  My homeschooling friend told me about it on Friday night, because her FIL had a combine he was putting in the derby, so she and her family would all be "pit crew"  I didn't need to think twice - I absolutely HAD to see this event!! 

I've got two slide shows (at photobucket)  that I made from my pictures, but can't figure out how to make them work here.  So I will be sharing the individual photos instead.  If I crack the code on getting the slideshow to work, I'll edit and put those up here instead.  Anyway...

The crowd for this event was HUGE, relatively speaking.  The emcee told us that this was the first time a combine demolition derby had been held east of the Mississippi.  Wow.  Ground-breaking!!! LOL  But obviously a LOT of people wanted to see it - the traffic was lined up in all directions from the fairgrounds, and parking was at a premium.  There were long lines to get into the "seating bowl" for the event, and in fact they had to prolong the parade at the beginning to give more time for the people to get through the line and find a seat.  (There were only a few bleachers, so seating was BYOB - bring your own blanket) 

Here are pictures of the parade of combines.  I wish I'd remembered all the years and make/model info about each of the eleven entries, but most of it left my head.

(This "Holstein" combine is the one belonging to my friend's FIL)

I do remember that this one is an Allis-Chalmers Gleaner.  Originally manufactured in a silver color, which is why the owner decorated and named this entry "The Tin Man"  That is "Dorothy" up front. LOL)

This one was called First Responder, in honor of the owner's connection to the fire department.  The emcee made a comment about them taking a "perfectly good John Deere and painting it red"

The entries were divided into three "heats" and then at the end the winner of each heat faced off in the final.  Here's the first heat lined up and ready to go:

And let the demolition begin!

As it got dark, it got harder for me to get good pictures.  After the third heat, there was a ten-minute break for the winners to make repairs before the final.  The small wheels on the combines did not fare so well, and the Army Farmer (who won the third heat) had his welding crew come out and fix him up!

Some final heat action:

And the winner...

The Holstein belonging to Lisa's FIL!! (BTW, pray for Lisa's family - after the big win on Friday, this week has brought some not-so-fun things to their household - just pray for them, the Lord knows the details)

The pictures really don't do the event justice - it was so much fun! 

Now I need to get back to work here - we are headed out on vacation tomorrow morning, the annual Kingdom Bound camping trip!  I'll be home next Friday, and hopefully will have time to put up a Show & Tell about that.

My kid has a Learners Permit.

What an -- how shall I say this --- adventure?!?! to get it. 

He took a Drivers Ed class July 14 - 25, five nights a week, 3 hours each night.  This is because in our state, it is mandated that minors have a minimum of 30 hours of classroom instruction to get their license.  Now don't get me wrong - I am ALL FOR classroom instruction and having someone teach young people to drive who is a professional at their job.  All for that.  But I don't much like the fact that the state says they HAVE to take the class.   I would have had him take the class anyway, but IMO that should be my option and my duty as a parent, not my obligation to the state.  At any rate...

Oh yeah - and at least 2 hours of those classes was devoted to discussion of substance abuse as it relates to driving.   All the students were 18 and under.  They cannot legally purchase alcohol or even cigarettes.   Why the long discussion? Just show them some pictures of bodies and wreckage and people in jail and tell them that's what happens when you drink and drive.  Next topic.  Instead, at one point they did a word search or crossword or something, with words related to drugs and alcohol.  So they're more familiar with the street names of various illicit drugs, I guess??? I don't know.  I should ask Harrison if the words "revoked license" "Criminal Negligence"  "vehicular manslaughter" "dead at scene" or "prison term" were included in the word search. 

And yes, I do know that there are publishers that sell Driving Instruction programs accepted in all states that can be taught by parents.  And I know that it would have cost me about a hundred dollars less to do that.  I made the choice to do the driving school classes instead, knowing all of that, and actually I'd probably do the same again - despite my skepticism about the value of doing word searches on alcohol abuse.  

Our state also has a special requirement for some students getting their Learners Permit.  You can get your Learners at 15 years and 9 months of age.  However, for those getting it before their sixteenth birthday, they must also have a school attendance affadavit from a public school official!  When this new law was in process, many opposed it, and with the help of HSLDA it has not become as problematic as it could have been.  This law has been in effect since October.  You can read about it at HSLDA's website.  Now that story says that... "Students under age 16 seeking a learner’s permit will simply need to get the signature of a local school official on the form confirming that the student is being homeschooled."  The word simply is somewhat misleading, we've found.  Because the parent cannot sign it, neither can our homeschool umbrella group administrator.  It must be signed by the one and only person in our county authorized to do so.  And if she is on vacation, or out of the School Board offices on the day you go down to get it signed, well... you'd better hope that whoever is there does it correctly.  I went all by myself while running other errands to get this form signed, sealed and placed in a sealed School Board envelope.  After confirming by phone that I did not need to bring my student with me to do it.  I figured I didn't really want to put my son in the position of possibly being questioned about any aspect of our homeschooling.  Well, the lady was out of the office, but of course there are competent and efficient officials there to cover for her.  And they did so, very nicely, as a matter of fact.  I have no complaint at all about how I was treated in the offices.  They were very kind indeed.  However, I suppose that because no one other than that one special person usually signs these forms, the lady signing mine made a slight error.  She checked a box that was not pertinent to homeschoolers.  Which of course I didn't notice at the time - it is the school board official's duty to put that piece of paper in an envelope and seal it up before giving it to me, so I didn't have a chance to double check it for accuracy.  I think you would probably be in big-time trouble if you didn't bring the enveloped to the MVA with the seal intact.  So... fast forward to Tuesday when we took our precious form to the MVA...

Round One:  We stand in line at the MVA to get to the "guards" at the front desk who look over your paperwork and deem whether or not you are worthy to receive a number to await the pleasure of the staffers who will give you your tags, renew your license or whatever your business there may be.  The guard very skeptically looked at our papers and pointed out that we MUST have the actual social security card with us.  Grrrrrr.... This was mostly my fault.  I had checked the requirements online and thought I had everything but all the ID requirements are rather confusing and I had brought Harrison's passport to back up his birth certificate, because his birth certificate is not from the USA.  So - return Home.  Do not pass Go, do not collect $200, etc.  (MVA is about 45 minutes away from my house, btw)  The guard gentleman was, I think, a robot.  Given his monotone voice, lack of discernible emotion, and complete inability to smile or express sympathy with our disappointment at a wasted trip.

Round Two, Part One:  We returned to MVA later on Tuesday, with the social security card (and with Harrison's bank statement and pay stub, just in case I had to further prove residency in this state and county... ya never know, wanted to be prepared) and stood in line again.  Longer line this time.  When we reached the guard desk, the social security card passed inspection and they proceeded to rip open the school board envelope to make sure that this kid had attended school often enough during the past semester to "earn" his chance at a Learners Permit.  (can someone show me actual hard data proving a correlation between school attendance and ability to drive???  why is this form necessary in the first place??? But that is a different rant for a different day)  And at this point, the error of the extra box being checked was discovered.  YellowShirt (as we dubbed the cheerless guard) droned "this is not acceptable.  both boxes are checked" and walked away with it.  Ummm..... okay....  After a long wait, another staffer (this one we named "Scruffy" in honor of his meager beard) who informed me that they couldn't accept the form because "both boxes are checked" and he suggested I phone the school office and have them fax over a statement saying that they made the mistake and what it should say.  Excuse me????  I pointed out that since Box 1 was checked that YES this student is homeschooled, that Box 2 was therefore completely irrelevant.  (Box 1 says if Yes, that the appropriate official should sign and seal the form, nothing else required.  This is what HSLDA worked for - that homeschoolers would not have to show attendance.  Box 2 questions if the student had 10 or fewer unexcused absences over the past semester, and they had more than 10 - sorry they don't qualify for a license.  No joke.  The "unexcused" thing is another PS term that bugs me.  But I won't get into that now)  Although he couldn't really refute my reasoning, he was firm that the form as it was could not be accepted.  He had showed it to the supervisor and the supervisor said so.  "May I speak to the supervisor then?" I asked.  And after another long wait in limbo, the supervisor showed up.  (BTW, Scruffy was a robot too)  The supervisor, another robot, was not particular nice.  Obviously we taxpayers/customers were interrupting something important she was supposed to be doing.   She took us into a little "principals office" - leaving the door open - and sat down at the desk but didn't invite me to sit down on either of the other chairs.  Rude IMO.  I preferred to stand anyway, as I intended for her to understand that I meant business and didn't expect to have to wait long.  Same general conversation as I had with Scruffy, but I insisted that since it was not MY mistake and not MY problem in accepting the form, that if SHE didn't like it, SHE could phone and request the fax.  She even tried to intimidate me by saying something about the person's name that had signed it  - "she's not authorized to sign for this county" - and I pointed out that the lady who WAS authorized was out of the office that day and someone else was completing her duties.  Whatever.  So Supervisor takes the form and marches out of the office saying "give me a moment"  It was a long moment.  But at last she came back and said that she had called and the official at the school board had confirmed and was faxing over an amended form.  Score one for Mama Bear.

Round Two, Part Two:  We were called over to Scruffy's station to continue the application process.  At this point the fax has been received and we think we are all good to go.  Not so fast... turns out that Harrison's vision didn't quite make the grade, and so we needed to take a form to his eye doctor for completion.  I am ready to go postal on someone at this point.  And I probably should have made sure that I got the eye doc to fill out the vision exam statement a month ago, but again, the info on the website wasn't 100% clear about needing the doctor's statement.  I made sure to ask about the school board form before we left though.  Last thing I need is to come back with the doctor's statement but have them reject us because *gasp* the seal on that envelope has been broken!!!!  But thankfully Supervisor had already signed and initialed that form, so we were hopeful that Scruffy's assurance that it would be alright was true.

Round Three:  On Wednesday morning, we stopped at the eye doctor's office and waited for the vision exam statement to be signed, then headed back to MVA and hoped for the best.  Another wait in a long line.  Yet another robot at the guard desk.  She reluctantly gave us one of the coveted deli counter tickets so we could wait our turn.  At long last, we were called to Station 11, where the one MVA staffer with a pleasant voice and demeanor was on duty.  (I had told Harrison I would buy him lunch if he could spot an MVA employee smiling - I paid up)  All our paperwork was in order - yay!  So he got his picture taken.  Ironically perhaps, there was a little note taped to the camera reminding licensees to "Smile!" for their picture.  Although I only noticed this at the nice lady's station, not at any of the others.  Then Harrison had to go into the exam room to take his knowledge test.  I used that wait time to fill out the customer survey regarding our experience at MVA.  Mwaaahaaaahaaaa.  He came out having passed with flying colors, and with another deli counter ticket to wait for the prvilege of paying the bill.  Much longer wait than any up until that point.  But finally it was done.  And that very nice lady at Station 11 smiled and said "Congratulations" when she finally handed him the completed permit card.

So now the hard part is over. 

Except for teaching him to drive, that is.

Be afraid.  Be very afraid. 

Its time for Show and Tell again!! To participate or see other entries in this highlight of the week, visit CanadaGirl

On Monday I took the kids to a mountain lake beach near here.  We went with three other families and it was the perfect beach day in many ways.  Sometimes that beach is quite crowded, especially when busloads of kids from daycamps or schools in the city show up.  But lucky for us, despite the perfectly clear and hot day, no busloads arrived!! So it was relatively quiet, and with fewer people on the north beach, it was also not too difficult for the moms to keep an eye on their kids without having to be right next to them at all times.

Landon volunteered to be buried in the sand (I supervised this very closely, because I knew it could be dangerous - and told them not to do that ever again):

On Tuesday I took Kennady to the playground, and in some ways she is just a teen girl.  Most notably, she likes to take pictures of herself with the digital camera.  LOL  Here she is:

And then she needed a picture of the two of us.  I hate pictures of myself.  But if I can get past the fact that I'm not wearing makeup and my double chin shows in this one, I guess its not too bad. 

I guess my Show & Tell for this week is not terribly exciting, but to me, it sums up much of our summer experience.  Taking a little extra time to do some fun things and be silly.

And it comes at a good time, I suppose, because I kind of feel like I should be blogging more but I don't have much to write about.  Actually, that's not true, but the blog fodder I've got right now is mostly of the rage-against-the-machine variety.  My oldest son is learning to drive and I am beyond irritated with the stupid and intrusive hoops the government puts in the way.  But that's a whole 'nother entry, which I think I'll save for when Harrison actually has the permit in his hand, so I can do the entire rant at once.   

So on an entirely non-homeschooling subject, I've been tagged by Lily of the Valley:

Here are the rules:
1) Link to the person who tagged me.  (done)
2) Mention the rules.  (here they are!)
3) Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about myself. (I'm all about quirky yet boring)
4) Tag 6 other blogger´s by linking to them.  (I will probably break this rule)
5) Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they’ve been tagged  (because I'm breaking #5, I'll inevitably break this one too)

1. I don't like being told what to do, without being told why.
2. I really need a haircut, probably a makeover.
3. I've lost two rings in the past week - just cheap ones, but still... 
4. I drink my coffee with just cream - never sugar - and my tea with sugar or honey - never milk.
5. My favorite cereal is Shreddies and I always bring a jumbo box back from Canada.
6. I am going to be a reviewer for my homeschool association this coming school year.  In fact, I'm going to the meeting this morning to learn all about my new duties. 

Okay... not sure my Fact #6 is boring enough.  I find it kind of exciting and amusing.  An exciting new phase in homeschooling, but amusing because I am not exactly organized or by-the-book in my homeschooling style.  "Not exactly" is putting it mildly. 

Anyway... now to break a few rules!  If you're reading this and are not declared a tag-free blog, please consider yourself tagged.  I won't name any names.

I got started during the week with sharing the pictures of our day in Niagara Falls, but didn't finish.  Therefore, it has become my Show & Tell entry for this week!  For more Show & Tell fun, visit CanadaGirl.

The first thing we did when we got into the town was to stop at a "souvenir mall" where there was a glass-blowing studio.  We thought it would be fun to watch the artisans at work for a bit, and it really was interesting but I didn't take any pictures.  There were a couple "photo op" places there, and Kennady wants her pictures taken every chance she gets, so I complied with some of her requests:

This is what I got when I asked Landon to pose at the same place:

Other "characters" that Kennady met included this RCMP officer

the Pink Panther

and - how thrilling - Hannah Montana!

We chose to park at the lot quite far from the falls and downtown and take the shuttle in.  We got off the shuttle at the Floral Showhouse (link takes you to my pictures) and looked around at the greenhouses, and then continued on to the main attraction - the Horseshoe Falls.  This was one of the first views we had:

I kept thinking about those cartoons - like in The Lion King - where the characters are floating down a river saying "I wonder what that roaring noise is?"  LOL

 As we got closer, we could see the famous rainbows.  Now I'll keep quiet and just post pictures of the Falls...

That's the Maid of the Mist boat tour above.  In this next picture, you can see the little knot of people in raincoats - that is the Journey under the Falls tour that we wanted to do but the timing didn't work out.  DH and I went down there years and years ago (as in - when we were dating!!) and it was awe-inspiring.  The power and beauty of waterfalls is breath-taking, and to think that God planned it and created it for our enjoyment, and I believe He was also planning ahead to provide hydro-electricity!  Amazing!

We went into the shopping district to have our dinner and then came back to the Falls in the evening for the fireworks show.  From where we sat down to watch the fireworks, this was our view until it got dark:

The Parks light up the falls at night, with colored lights, which is nice enough, but it doesn't begin to compare with the rainbows and sunsets that God creates!  Thanks for coming by!

No, this is not a game where the husbands play tag.  Nor where the wives try to tag the husbands.  Just a meme that Chrissy (MamaSmurf) invited me to participate in.

1. Who is your man?  Henry

2. How long have you been together? We've been married almost 21 years

3. How long dated?  About a year and a half.

4. How old is your man?  Two years older than me.

5. Who eats more?  Depends what we're eating.  LOL  Meat/potatoes/vegetables = him; anything involving chocolate = ME.

6. Who said "I love you" first?  Hmmm... I think he did.

7. Who is taller?  He is.

8. Who sings better?  I do.

9. Who is smarter?  Toss-up.

10. Whose temper is worse?  I'd say mine is.

11. Who does the laundry?  Me, when I remember. 

12. Who takes out the garbage?  I do, or one of the kids.

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?  I do.

14. Who pays the bills?  I write the checks or click the button for the ones I pay online, but of course its his money.

15. Who is better with the computer?  Another toss-up.

16. Who mows the lawn? The boys, and DH.

17. Who cooks dinner?  I do, but I don't usually enjoy it.  If we're grilling, smoking or deep frying, then he does it.

18. Who drives when you are together?  He does.

19. Who pays when you go out?  He does.

20. Who is most stubborn?  Hard call... probably me.

21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong?  Hmmm... I think I am.

22. Whose parents do you see the most?  His. We definitely see them more often, but when we see my parents, its for a longer stretch at a time.

23. Who kissed who first?  He kissed me.  And he asked permission too.

24. Who asked who out?  He asked me.

25. Who proposed?  He did.

26. Who is more sensitive?  I think he is.

27. Who has more friends?  Me!

28. Who has more siblings?  I do.  I have a sister and two brothers; he has one sister.

29. Who wears the pants in the family?  We all wear pants!! LOL  But he is "in charge".

30. How did you meet?  At college.

I won't tag anyone, but if you decide to do this tag, please leave me a comment here or in my cBox and let me know!

One thing I really had wanted to do on this trip to Niagara Falls was to visit the Butterfly Conservatory, but we didn't have a great deal of time and the boys were SO not interested.  So perhaps we'll do that on a future trip.  I settled for a walk through the Floral Showhouse gardens and greenhouses, which was really my DH's idea but I didn't mind in the least!  The boys still weren't really interested, but at least it was free for them to continually ask how much longer we would be there.  LOL

Fuschia:

One of the beautiful roses in the rose garden:

I thought at first glance that these were pansies, but they are orchids:

There are several different kinds of birds living in the greenhouses.  I'm not sure what kind this is, but I'm checking!

He's hard to see, but this is the best picture I got of the Red Bishop bird.  His head is that little red blob.  LOL

Another kind of "bird" - this is a Bird of Paradise flower:

I can't remember what all of these are called!

These are the flowers of the Pitcher Plant, which is a carnivorous plant.  They are not very pretty, are they?  They looked kind of like rotting bananas to me.

Those are real, although they look like they are plastic! Those leaves are probably about 4 feet long. 

We found this topiary in the outdoor part of the garden:

Water lilies:

I guess the greenhouse was a pretty good consolation prize.  But I still want to see the butterflies!!

For this week's Show & Tell with CanadaGirl, I'm going to show and tell about someone else's "show!"  While on vacation in Ontario, we were able to visit with some friends of ours and enjoyed the garden showplace they had created in their backyard.  My younger two children weren't really interested in sitting in the shade at the patio table so I suggested that they explore the garden, and gave them my camera so they could take pictures if they wanted to.  At the end of our visit, we toured the garden as well and I took a couple more pictures, but I think all but one of the ones I'm sharing today were taken by Landon (9yo) or Kennady (just days shy of 7yo at the time). 

If I had a green thumb, THIS is the kind of garden I would absolutely LOVE to have. 

 Our friends told us that this garden had been "inspired" by a Bed & Breakfast at which they had once stayed, and that almost all of the "props" are things that have been picked up from trash.  Keith made the bird feeders himself, and they have designed their own squirrel "baffles" on some of them.  I just loved this peaceful little oasis right in the city!  There were many birds and butterflies - and apparently squirrels too!  And I'm proud of the job my young photographers did on their pictures as well!

Stop by CanadaGirl's blog for more Show & Tell fun!

I've been MIA in the blogworld for almost two weeks now - last week we were on vacation, but this week I've just been busy trying to catch up.  And I guess I"m caught up on message boards, email and blogging now; but the housework and summer school is another story. 

Anyway, from June 29 through July 6, we were on vacation and visited my DH's family in southern Ontario.  We spent a fair bit of time visiting family and friends, and did a couple of purely fun things as well - such as seeing fireworks on Canada Day and on Independence Day (we LOVE fireworks!), and visiting Niagara Falls.  On one day, we were coming home from a visit with some friends, and on a whim, we stopped by the Zamboni plant.  Zamboni has had this facility just a very short drive from where my DH grew up and where his parents live now for as long as he can remember, but we have never stopped in. 

So, just for fun, we did what any hockey-loving homeschooling family would do - I went in and asked if they did tours.  They did not, BUT I noticed that they had some machines and things displayed in a lobby-type showroom, so I asked if it would be okay to bring my family in to look around at those.  The gentleman said that would be fine, so I brought the gang in.  No sooner had we come in the door, but this employee came back and said he would give us a personal "tour!"  So we had a wonderful history and science lesson all about ice-resurfacing.

Mr Zamboni created the first ice resurfacer by modifying a stripped down jeep and building a wooden reservoir that sat above the chassis.  It was nine feet high!  He built it to resurface the ice in a rink in California that he owned, after the advent of electrical refrigeration slowed down his iceblock delivery business. 

This is the "Model J" Zamboni, which was used in the 1960s.  It still used the paddle and chain, and after resurfacing, a crew had to climb into the top and shovel out the snow :

 This is the Model K, which was manufactured at about the same time, but used a newer technology instead of paddle and chain:

 We also took a look at the most current model, and our tour guide explained many of its features and mechanics to us.  This is the water reservoir and engine.

This is a view of the engine from the front access panel.  We were told that this is basically a motorboat engine!

The tires are all studded to increase traction

These are the brushes that sweep up the snow along the edges of the rink:

This is the part of the resurfacer that does most of the work.  There is a blade that shaves off the top layer of ice, and an auger that channels the shaved off snow so it can be deposited in the reservoir in the top of the machine.  Zamboni resurfacers use a hydraulic system to keep even pressure on the blade, so that any ripples in the ice surface can be evenly shaved.

You can also see the pipe along the back edge of the blade assembly, where fresh water is sprayed onto the newly cleaned ice.  Here's a little closer look:

This picture isn't worth much unless you know what it is.  LOL  This is the reservoir where the snow is deposited, and then can be dumped out.  (and that's Kennady's head in front)  We were told that Zamboni uses the same material to line this reservoir as the boards around a hockey rink.  That's because the ice/snow can slide out easily when the container is dumped, eliminating the need for anyone to have to reach into or climb into the holding tank to shovel it out, like they used to do for the earliest models.

 And of course, the driver's seat:

We all took a turn sitting in that place of honor... Harrison:

Spencer:

Landon:

Kennady:

Even Dad:

And me!! (Kennady took this picture, notice the much different perspective since she is so much shorter than me.  Does nothing to help me look slimmer, sadly. LOL)

Almost done, couple more pictures.... This is the edger machine, to do the tight corners and edges of an ink surface:

The giant Toronto Maple Leaf bobblehead they had on display.  (Yes the head really does "bobble" - this came from an All-Star game a couple years ago)

And each of the kids was given a souvinir by our tour guide - a Zamboni keyring:

You can read more about ice resurfacing machines  at Wikipedia, and about Frank Zamboni here.

Hope you enjoyed my very long picture tour of Zamboni.  Lesson for everyone - even if the place you're interested in doesn't do a "tour" you can sometimes get something really field-trip-worthy just by asking and showing a genuine interest in the product or service.  (Years and years ago, DH and I got a similar personal tour of a Coca-Cola bottling plant in the Bahamas, just because we walked in and asked.  We told them we collected Coke memorabilia and were interested, and we got the royal treatment.  Everything except the secret formula.  LOL My point is: Just ask!)

Time again for Show & Tell - visit CanadaGirl to see others and to participate!

So... we got a wireless mouse for the computer last week, which requires a USB port.  That being the port that I use to load pictures from my camera.  And I forgot to get DH to show me how I should load the pictures from now on.  So today I am sharing an older picture.  LOL

Almost a month ago, Kennady and I stopped at the grocery after a ball game, and noticed a bird on the sidewalk in front of the store that didn't seem to be disturbed by the people walking past.  We had a closer look, and this little bird held his ground and didn't act at all nervous by our presence.  We think perhaps it had flown into the window several minutes earlier and wasn't quite recovered yet.  But it was odd that he seemed so calm and wasn't breathing quickly the way startled birds will do.  Anyway, being a good homeschool mom  I got out my camera and took a couple pictures and Kennady and I knelt there and watched and talked for awhile before heading into the store to do our shopping. 

I'm not a birdwatching expert, but I studied a lot of field guides growing up and learned a little about identifying birds.  This is, to the best of my knowledge, a young Grey Catbird:

A close relative of the catbird is the Northern Mockingbird, and we have a pair nesting in a tree in our backyard.  They are here every summer, but we've never found their nest before.  Mr Mockingbird likes to perch on our TV antenna tower, but its terribly difficult to get a picture of him when he's up there. 

Thanks for visiting!!

I sure haven't blogged much lately, so it's a good thing I have Show & Tell to keep me coming back!  Hopefully I'll have time to do a little more soon.  For this weeks Show & Tell with CanadaGirl I'm going to share a couple of pictures from last weekend, when DH and I took part in a Relay for Life event in town nearby.  We went with a team from our church which included a number of teens.  The teens from our group raised almost $2000 in donations - good for them!

Many of the Relay for Life events take place overnight, but some, like ours, are "mini-events" and are just a part-day.  Ours started at 10am and was finished around 4pm.  Since this was the first time DH and I had done something like this, the shorter event was a good introduction!  The relay was held at a retirement community in town, so the Opening Ceremony was held in front of the clubhouse:

Because it was a daytime only event, we were able to buy balloons in honor of, or in memory of, folks we know affected by cancer.  The events that take place overnight offer luminarias.  The balloons were placed on the lawn in front of the clubhouse:

DH and I bought a balloon in memory of his Uncle Bill...

... and in honor of his mother, who was recently diagnosed and is now receiving follow-up treatment.

I have two friends on a message board, both with little boys that were diagnosed with leukemia recently.  I purchased balloons in honor of these two Strong and Mighty Warriors as well.  Tristan (his mom is L:indaI)

and Suzanne's son Philip:

After the other ceremonies and the Survivors Lap, the balloons were handed out and there was a ceremony for releasing them.

After that we started walking.  It was hot, but not as bad as the previous weekend, and at least there was a breeze. 

Overall, it was a wonderful day, and we are almost certainly going to participate again next year.  I'd be willing to do the "full-length" Relay for Life event as well, if my schedule permits and there is a team I could join with.  I joined our church team literally at the last minute this year, but will plan ahead for it next year.  If anyone reading would be interested in making a donation, my personal page is still available to accept donations to The American Cancer Society.

Thanks for visiting! To visit other Show & Tells, or to participate, head over to CanadaGirl's blog and learn all about it!

Well, it's time again for Show & Tell with CanadaGirl, and since I've been neglecting my blog lately, I thought this might be a good opportunity to get caught up a bit.

Late spring is a busy time of year - we have two kids playing baseball (my last S&T entry) and those schedules keep us hopping!  And of course we are busy, as always, with church commitments.  DH is extra busy at work this time of year as well.  On top of all of the extra-curricular busy-ness, it is the "official" end of the school year, and I need to get report card information sent in to our oversight.  All of us that have had experience in public school or at college are familiar with the term "cramming" I believe - and that is what happened in our homeschool this year as well.    Report cards have been sent away - barely on time - but is that the end of the school year? Not for us.  Way back in September I thought it would be, but it didn't work out that way.  That's okay, because we've done year-round school before, so its nothing new for us to have at least a couple of subjects still going through the summer months.

We finished our weather unit in Science, and had a very short Oceans unit to end the year.  The last demonstration we did involved ocean currents - how cold and warm water interact.  The pictures didn't turn out very clearly, but here they are:

The colored water had pretty much spread out by the time we got the picture, but you can kind of see the swirl pattern near the opening of the mini Coke bottle (yes, we used a mini Coke bottle to do the experimment - it was the perfect fit for the bowl!)  We took a clear glass bowl and filled it with cold water, then filled the small bottle with very warm water with red food coloring.  Then we put the bottle on its side in the bowl and slowly uncovered the opening.  The warmer water rose to the top of the cold water and made a little "current" pattern that we could see.  Then we tried again, with the opposite - bowl filled with warm water, the colored water in the bottle was cold:

I took this picture a little earlier, so you can see that the cold water sank and spread more slowly.

We tried saltwater painting, but that didn't turn out at all.  I think I should have put WAAAAAAAAAAY more salt in the solution.  I'll remember that if we ever try it again.  The picture of Kennady painting was cute (of course I think ALL pictures of Kennady are cute.  LOL) so I'll share that anyway:

Something else that's kept us busy lately is the youth center at our church.  We've had a couple of parties and special events lately, celebrating our youth pastor.  Pastor Donnie has just moved to New Brunswick to do youth ministry at a church there.  We're sad to see him go.  Donnie is a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, so at the Vault Wednesday night farewell party a couple weeks ago, we had a GIANT sheet of brownies decorated just for him:

And finally... last Saturday Harrison and I worked at our yard sale and car wash fundraiser.  The proceeds were to support our missions trip team going to Honduras later this summer.  It was a HOT day!!!!  The sale was successful, and we have more fundraising activities coming up.  Harrison and I are finally getting our support letters sent out to friends and family as well, so please pray with us that we are able to raise the necessary funds.  Anyway, back to the yard sale - of course I was happy to buy some of the items for sale myself - money I probably would have spent anyway, and this way it also helped raise support.  However, Kennady fell in love with something that I wouldn't have bought otherwise, but since it was still there at the end of the day, I did.  Here is her new (antique?) school desk:

(yes its in my kitchen LOL)  She got right to work on her Math:

(and that's her newly awarded baseball trophy stnading guard over her as she works)

To participate in Show & Tell, or see what others are sharing this week, head over to CanadaGirl's blog and join in the fun!

Just had to post a quick entry - Kennady just came to me a little bit ago and said "Mom, I want to read a book to you"  That in itself isn't unusual, because she often "reads" to me.  But up until today she just told me the story in her own words as she turned the pages.  Today she actually READ the book.  And did a very good job too!!!  This what what she chose to read:

She's been less than enthusiastic up until the past week or so about doing anything with phonics, and personally I don't like forcing it.  So I don't.  I knew (from past experience with Landon) that one day she would "feel like" reading and then it would be practically effortless.  Looks like today was that day. 

This week for Show & Tell with CanadaGirl I have some pictures from our baseball teams.  Landon and Kennady are both playing again this year - Landon is playing "kid pitch" for the first time, and Kennady is playing Instructional Ball, where the coach does the pitching.  I haven't taken a lot of pictures this year - and there are fewer of Landon than of Kennady for some reason.  Most of the pictures I have taken were the first couple of games and I haven't bothered since then.  My bad.

Here's Kennady on Opening Day:

And this is one of her first at-bats in a game:

Different game, on base:

Harrison got bored and wanted to go back to the van:

The few pictures I've tried to get of Landon don't even turn out.  *sigh*  And he refuses to pose (for me) so I guess I'll have to wait for the official photos.  Which are too expensive and take way too long IMO, but I won't bore you with the negatives of the baseball experience for us this year - the photos are only one of many.  LOL  I found ONE picture of Landon and you can barely see him.  He's #9 at first base.

So that's how we've been spending much of our time this spring - baseball practices and games.  Its fun, but it takes a lot of time and gas money!

To participate in Show & Tell, or see what others are sharing this week, head over to CanadaGirl's blog and join in the fun!

Nancy writes:  Hello everyone!  I thought it would be nice to get to know one another's Favorite Bible Story...not necessarily a story in the Bible but the story of what your favorite Bible verse or story is and why.  This will probably be a very easy assignment for us all but with warmer weather well on it's way, I know how hard it is to stay indoors, even for school work.  (Head over to Nancy's Nook, the blog home of Blogger Friend School, to participate and to read other assignments)

I do have a verse that has become somewhat of a favorite of mine - Acts 17:26 - and there is a story behind it.  In 1993, DH and I moved from western Canada to southern New Jersey with our then one-year-old son.  There is a whole 'nother story in how everything was worked out in a series of God-incidents (not coincidences!) for us to acquire the necessary visas and move; but that's for another time.   Anyway, we moved across the continent and settled in as best we could, found a local church home, and did our best to get involved and make friends.  It really went very well, but of course there were many times when I was lonely and discouraged, especially after our second son was born in 1994. (it wasn't his fault, he was a very good baby!!) DH and I had a small Bible Study group we were leading at the time, and one evening our study guide directed us to a Scripture passage in Acts.  I don't know any more what the lesson was about, or what Scripture we were supposed to read, but I remember skimming either before or after that reference to try and get a context and read this in the middle of Paul's speech in Athens:

From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.

That was the perfect reminder I needed that God was in control.  We had followed His leading in our decision to accept the job offer to DH, and had gone through the doors He had opened to get us to that place.  And God had determined exactly where we should live, and the times we should live there.  After that, Paul goes on to say:

God did this so men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.  'For in Him we live and move and have our being.' 

While its true that we already knew God, its entirely possible that someone we came in contact with during our time there didn't, or didn't know God as fully as they could.  I know we certainly did draw closer to the Lord in those days!  Only God knows all the reasons and purposes for placing each of us where we are, we may not know until we reach heaven what those purposes are.  But I believe that we should always be seeking Him and encouraging others to seek Him as well, and remember that He knows where we are and has prepared good works in advance that we are to do.  (that's in Ephesians 2:10)

After a few years in New Jersey, we moved to Maryland, and have had some ups and downs in our experiences here as well.  When I have 'one of those days' where I wonder why I'm here or what good I'm doing, I try to remember that even my address is not just by chance.

Since I am pressed for time, and behind with blogging yet again, I am combining my BFS assignment with my Show & Tell entry for this week!!  The link for Blogger Friend School is below - be sure to visit for other assignments about our homeschool travels.  To participate in Show & Tell, visit CanadaGirl

This is the assignment Nancy has shared with us for this week:  This week we're going to reminisce on our Favorite Travels!  I had three requests to do something about favorite field trips, favorite vacations, or just favorite places to go as a family or with other homeschool families.  I combined those three requests and came up with Favorite Travels! Do you have a favorite travel prayer that the children recite or a favorite verse you can add?  That would be fun too.  Don't you just LOVE the graphic for this assignment...it's thanks to someone on Fliker (not sure that's spelled right), there was no name to give thanks to.  Please share pictures or a direct link to them if you have any!
I love sunshine faces!

I will have a hard time narrowing this down!!  First, I'm going to provide a link back to my own blog entry when I entered a drawing based on "the most memorable field trip"  (guess what - I won!!).  I listed several great trips that our family has experienced, including:

A church-sponsored field trip to Hope Acres (a dairy farm)  (my blog entry about it is here.)

We live close enough to Gettysburg that we can visit Gettysburg National Military Park often, and we do.

On vacations, we have enjoyed some great "field trips" - we have been to Taliesin in Wisconsin.  I blogged a little about it here.

We have also visited The World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, which I definitely counted as a history lesson!  Our family loves to visit Disney World, although we haven't been as often as we would all like.  Our family vacation to Alberta, Canada this past November gave us the chance to spend a day in Banff National Park, which was very educational as well as being lots of fun!  I blogged about that day in three separate entries.

I was able to take my oldest two boys on an all-day field trip to Philadelphia.  Another three part report.  We saw the historic city...

...and the Franklin Institute, which was featuring the King Tut exhibit at the time:

But I still think our most memorable field trip was the weekend camping trip at Camp Flintlock near Historic St Mary's City, Maryland.  DH and I took the boys on this trip with other homeschool families several years ago and it is a favorite memory of ours.  DH has talked about possibly doing this encampment weekend with the mens group from church, and if the opportunity comes up for us to do it as a family again, I'm sure that we will.  If you really want to read my entire post about it, follow that "most memorable field trip" link - but here is a little bit of that post, and one of the pictures:

A group from our homeschool fellowship went together to experience a little bit of life as it might have been in colonial and revolutionary war times.  We slept in tents with straw ticks under our sleeping bags, dressed in period clothes, were awakened by drum call, gathered firewood and hauled water, cooked over an open fire, made crafts, played colonial games, and we even learned how to throw a tomahawk and shoot a musket! 

Here's our family portrait, taken in front of the tent we called home for two nights:

 "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path"

~Psalm 119:105

Nancy writes:  I got this idea from Pat and her beautiful daughter-in-love, Jenny in an email about two weeks ago, so I decided to use it first.  I quoted her email here to give the directions.

"what if you took Jennys idea about showers of blessings and if we all told about a time God showered us with a blessing and how we paid it forward to bless someone else or how we had done something for another and in turn were blessed."  Share a verse or worship song that touches your heart for this assignment.

I'm coming in late to do this assignment, so I'll keep it short.   Over the years, our family has been blessed by the generosity of others many times.  When we lived in New Jersey, our wonderful church family was so helpful.  We were expecting our second child, and had only a vague plan of where Harrison would sleep once the new baby outgrew the cradle I had.  One of the church families gave us a twin bed.  Another lady in the church often blessed us with childrens clothes she had purchased at the store she worked at - when things came off the racks as discontinued, the employees sometimes had opportunity to buy the items for practically pennies.  This lady would buy things up and then give them to families at church.  When we moved to Maryland, we found that church folk here were just as generous and willing to help.  Some of the things we've been blessed with from various people are kids clothes, a bed, and even a TV for the kids to use for their game system.  We have tried also to be generous when we hear of someone else with a need - we have passed along to others a bed, toys, many kids clothes and many baby items.  Most recently we were privileged to be able to supply our youth pastor and his wife with a crib for their new baby.  I'd like to be able to do more and to give away more of the many things we have accumulated that we really don't need any more.  Perhaps never needed in the first place. 

I've learned that there are many people who are reluctant to ask for help when they need it, to accept a gift or offer of help, or to admit that they are in need and allow others to help.  I am like that myself!! But I've also learned that the giver is blessed simply by giving.  It really is true that "it is more blessed to give than to receive"  Don't turn down the help that a fellow believer offers, because you may be denying them the blessing of being able to share what God has given them for just that purpose.

It's interesting that our Scripture reading for this morning was from II Corinthians - where Paul has a lot to say about giving.  So I picked these verses from what we read to share for the assignment:

No he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.  You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overlowing in many expressions of thanks to God.  Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.  And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.  Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

~ II Corinthians 9:10-15 ~

It's time for Show & Tell Friday, hosted by Mary aka CanadaGirl - head over to her blog to participate and to see what others are sharing today.

Our spring co-op classes ended a couple weeks ago, but I kept forgetting to load up my pictures to share.  Our homeschool association has a co-op class opportunity for 12 weeks in the spring.  This year Landon and Kennady participated.  Their classes were Art, Science, and Spanish. 

The second last week of co-op, the kids that were in Spanish classes had a little "fiesta" Show & Tell.  Each of the children was to bring something to "show and tell" about a Spanish-speaking country.   We found that the previous week, we had to give them a list of countries to choose from other than Mexico! LOL  The teacher was hoping that the kids would be able to connect with someone who was a native of one of those countries, or had lived there.  The kids (well, actually, the mothers) brought a food item to share from that country as well.

Landon and Kennady chose the Central American country of Honduras, because a young lady we know from church (Danielle) is currently teaching there, and also because Harrison and I are planning on going on a missions trip to Honduras in the summer.  We were able to borrow some things from Danielle's family for them to show in class.  Here is Kennady giving her little presentation:

We got her class to pose for a group picture.  Kennady is in the front row, on the left.

Here's Landon giving his presentation (love his hair.  LOL  I don't think he was happy that I was taking his picture):

He is showing a photo album covered in cloth woven by the Lenca people of Honduras.  We showed all of this:

Our friends also loaned us this clay pot that they brought back from Honduras.  It's kind of like a fondue pot - you put a candle or heat source in the bottom to keep the food warm.  They said this is served as appetizer in many Honduran restaurants, the same way Red Lobster gives biscuits.  It is just refried black beans, and cheese, with tortilla chips. 

We even used beans that came from Honduras! 

(I don't think the picture on the package looks very appetizing, do you?   But it was SO good.  Kennady practically licked the bowl.  LOL)

Here's a plate full of a sampling of the foods brought by all the co-op participants:

What a delicious co-op class!!!

Between our co-op class focusing on meteorology, and our science class at home which is also focusing on meteorology, I think we should consider putting together our homemade weather instruments into a science fair project.  Here are the latest things we've tried.

This is a psychrometer (which is a very hard word to type!) which measures relative humidity.  It has two thermometers, one of which has the bulb wrapped in cotton cloth and the cloth is dipped into a jar of water.

After sitting out for the required hour or so, it looked like this:

We could read the difference in temperature on the two thermometers - the dry bulb was about 70 and the wet bulb was about 65, to the best of my memory now - and then use the chart that came with our handy dandy weather kit:

...to figure out the relative humidity.  Going by memory again, I think it was about 70%.

The same day, we made our first attempt at a simple homemade thermometer.  This is made with a 20 oz water bottle filled with colored water (chilled), into which we put a stopper (provided with the kit!) and a clear straw.  The trick, apparently, is to lose as little water as possible when shoving the stopper in, so that the water comes partway up that straw.

Now the challenge was - we were supposed to set it out in the sunshine, undisturbed for about an hour, then mark the water level in the straw.  (I took this picture before marking the starting water level, which turned out to be a good thing...)  Then we were to put it in the shade for an hour and mark the level again.  Both times we would also check the actual temperature on a traditional thermometer, and that was supposed to help us calibrate our thermometer.  Well... as I said... the challenge  - we live in a wind tunnel, I think.  Our poor bottle kept tipping over in the wind, no matter where I put it (not a lot of options either, since it was supposed to be in the sun!) and of course, each time we would have to refill and get that stopper on again.  Frustrating.   So we gave up around 4pm as the sun was getting too low for this to really be effective. 

We decided we would try it again on the next sunny day.

Which at this point, I think might happen sometime in June...

This was the creek near our house within a couple of days after our aborted thermometer experiment:

Yeah, pretty high.  Lots of rain here lately, and usually on baseball days too.  So what we SHOULD have done, was put out our homemade rain gauge and calibrated THAT.  Oh well.