http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:47:01 -0500 Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:47:01 -0500 Long time friends of ours have been on an adventure in retail - both online and in a store.  Steve & I first met Chris Weickert in Virgil, IL when he was working in the Office of Youth Ministry and Steve & I were both members of the Diocesan Retreat Team - which is where Steve & I met.  As a teen, I affectionately called Chris, "Mr. Pher", and still do!  We've known Elaine, Chris' wife, less just a couple short years. They began with CatholicFamilyGifts, an online store based out of their basement.  Then they bought the Vineyard Catholic Books and Gifts Store in Rockford, and moved the online store headquarters there.  They've now got several other online stores for specific products like the Red Plate and Catholic Saint Medals. We began with a tour of the store.... Then on to the "secret" areas where items are re-stocked from, the system of finding boxes, picking and packing orders... the packing peanut dispenser was by far the favorite... Though viewing the CatholicFamily Gifts website, and pretending to "pick" an ordered item was also fun.. Okay - I think seeing AND trying out the cash register was the second favorite... Our field trip tour was a first for Mr. Pher - at least the 'new experiences' from teens to now have improved.  Though I must say, occasionally I do miss the clinking keys with their threat if disciplinary action if we all didn't be quiet and go to sleep.  Heck, Steve has thought of pulling out his own set of jangling jeys when our kids won't go to sleep!      Thanks Chris and Elaine!  ENJOY! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/669460/ Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:47:01 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/669460/ So what does this entry's title mean?  Well - Noah planned a re-enactment of the Sword in the Stone as part of his Great Britain presentation, only we don't have a toy sword and before he though of designing a cardboard one, he spied with his little eye his Star Wars light saber from Disneyland(Christmas 2008) and the adventure really began!     First things first - here is the travel brochure and the Saint Edmund Campion bookmark. Here is our fearless King Arthur... and here is a pic of the re-enactment... And here is a pic of King Arthur with Queen Guinivere... And of course, being the huge Harry Potter series fans that Steve & I are (and the kids will probably be when they get to read them) - I *HAD* to make Treacle Tart... it was okay - if I make it again I *won't* use blackstrap molasses, just a mild molasses and I think it will be better.  Otherwise, it was like pecan pie without the pecans - very rich!  Had to eat it with vanilla ice cream to cut the richness (and the blackstrap molasses flavor, geesh it was only a tablespoon!) Oh!  And I cannot forget the post-presentation Jousting demo with light saber swords (of course), and pillow shields (which pleases Mommy!)... Next we're off to Nigeria.... ENJOY! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/669316/ Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:26:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/669316/ Steve and I had the chance to go out for St. Valentine's Day on Thursday, because Aunt Jen & Uncle Brad took the kids to see the Lipizanner Stallions.  So we took advantage of smaller crowds, and went to Applebee's for an appetizer and dessert, then to Barnes & Noble for an hour of browsing. So we spent St. Valentine's Day with our little loves, making heart-shaped, homemade pizza and watching Charlie Brown's Valentine DVD.  (Do you like my handiwork on this picture in picture below?  I am so proud of myself for figuring out how to do this using GIMP all on my own!) ENJOY!  (We did!) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/662097/ Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:50:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/662097/ We were truly blessed to celebrate our Savior's birth with my parents in California with one of my brothers and his family.  Our kids so adore their cousins!  It brought JOY to my heart watching them interact with my nephews.  We enjoyed a day at Disneyland with our kids thanks to Christmas gifts from Grandma & Grandpa Smith, Aunt Anita & Uncle Ken, Aunt Jen & Uncle Brad and Aunt Julie & Uncle Alex.  As well as a couple visits to the beach.  Steve & I were both able to do some of our favorite activities too - frisbee golf and letterboxing.  The best gift Steve & I received was daily Mass together the week of Christmas.   Here's some pics of our visit... This is one of my favorite - after a long, chilly but FUN day at Disneyland, during the 20 minute drive back to Dennis & Kris' house.. Would have been a great Christmas card picture if we hadn't already sent them out! Couldn't resist drawing the WWME symbol in the sand and taking this picture.  It just might appear in the WWME 2010 calendar!  Letterboxing at Huntington Beach with two of my nephews, roland and Devin as guides... Beach fun between cousins... ENJOY! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/662087/ Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:22:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/662087/ A Visit to Italy Beware the Black Olive!    This costume represents a major crop for Italy, and a favorite food of (most of) our family.  Noah cooked homemade marinara sauce that we served over pasta, along with some yummy ,multi-grain bread and dipping oil.  (We actually presented Peru & Italy together - interesting mix of foods for one meal - plus lots of birthday cake!  It was a marathon day with the presentations following Isaiah's birthday party.)  Our bookmark is of St. Thomas Aquinas.  ENJOY! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/662074/ Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:13:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/662074/ A Visit to Peru For his costume, Noah was a piece of Inca Gold.  He enjoyed reading about the Incas and the Conquistadors - though it is a rather sad part of our world history. I tried my hand at Ceviche and it came out quite well. The bookmark was of St. Rose of Lima, the First Saint of the Americas.  ENJOY! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/662068/ Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:06:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/662068/ Uganda Uganda was our next stop for Tour the Countries.  We were able to get a wonderful book via inter-library loan about Kitzito, A Boy Saint from Uganda - one of the 22 Ugandan Martyrs.  Kitzito was only a few years older than Noah, so he could identify with his story pretty well.  The bookmark is of the Martyrs of Uganda. His costume is also of Kitzito. Then there's the food!  It doesn't look very appetizing, does it?  We found a couple of recipes using plantains, a staple of Uganda.  We had some Ugandan Pineapple Nut Bread (no picture, sorry!), Ugandan Plantain and Chicken Stew (first picture) and Ugandan Matoke(second picture).  Also made a big pot of rice, just in case!     ENJOY! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/662065/ Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:35:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/662065/ Our Letterboxing adventures continue, only this time we were able to enjoy a beautiful Fall day as a family.  Our adventure began with a picnic lunch in Kirkland. Our letterboxing this time was "Feed Me" in the Potawatomie Woods Forest Preserve, and included 2 boxes to locate.  Here, Steve is finding Box #1.  Below, is Miranda & me coloring the stamp with a Stampin' Up! marker to add the image to our log book. Here is our log book with both images stamped... If you and your family enjoy Letterboxing, or give it a try, we'd love to hear from you - please feel free to leave comments on our blog.  ENJOY! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/617125/ Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:57:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/617125/ Have you heard of Letterboxing?(Click on the word to find out more!)  Friends of ours turned us onto this wonderful outdoor treasure hunt adventure which we began this year.    It combines rubber stamping and outdoor treasure hunt.  We bring our own Letterboxing Log Book, stamp and ink.  When we find a box, (or the one in a set that has a log book), we stamp our image and leave our trail name and date visited in the Placers log book.  Then we stamp the Placers stamp from their box in our log book, also recording the name of the letterbox and date we visitied, and any other comments we might want to  record. Our family trail name is "The Lighthouse Crew" - which is where I got this blog name from too. Our first letterboxing experience was during a camping trip to Shabbona State Park, IL.  I had no idea about difficulty levels, being the first time.  I picked a doozy!  This was "Creatures Along the Trail" and had 5 boxes to locate.  Theboxes were along the Arrowhead Trail, as pictured above. This picture was actually taken AFTER the hike, which I estimate to have been about 5 miles!  Look -they can still smile! (probably because it was finally over!  heehee) This was our first stop, and for the first box - Ring Necked Pheasant.  It took me 20-30 minutes to find the box in the trees behind this bench. The clues said, "Look for the tree with two more growing from its base..."  There were LOTS of trees like that!    But, happily and with much relief, I did manage to find the first box. This awesome hollow oak was part of the clues for Box #4 - Wild Turkeys.  I think we all could have fit inside this oak together, if we could have squeezed through the opening - it was that BIG! Here are the stamp images we were rewarded with, upon finding each Letterbox of the "Creatures on the Trail".   ENJOY! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/617104/ Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:34:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/617104/ We ventured into Chicago this past Tuesday for a free admission day at the Adler Planetarium. Noah's Science lessons, Behold and See 3 by Catholic Heritage Curricula have been on our solar system, and since we've not been to the Planetarium yet... We saw two shows: "One Sky, One World" with Big Bird and friends (good for ages 2-5 for sure, but a bit slow for our two oldest.  Isaiah liked it though!)  and "Fly Me to the Moon" which was a 3-D (thus the glasses) animated story about the first mission where an American walked on the moon - Apollo 11.  Three little flies (yep, insects) go along for the ride.  They all liked that show too. Here's Isaiah trying to "see what Galileo saw of Jupiter on four different nights." Then, there was a free activity to learn about how craters are made by dropping rocks of various sizes into a huge pan of flour.  (Glad it was their mess!  hehe) Next we discover that Miranda isn't just an adorable, sweet little Smith girl - she's a moon of Uranus too! There were so many activities to try, the kids really enjoyed themselves.  They even said "Thanks Mom, this was a great day!" as we were leaving!!  This activity demonstrated a way of identifying a black hole.  Did you know you can't just "see" a black hole, and point to it and say, "There's a black hole right there?"  Black holes are sometimes identified by the stars rotations.  When there are stars clustered together, and the ones in the center have a faster rotation than the ones on the outer edges, that is one indicator that a black hole may be present.  Miranda is turning a crank that brings up some ping pong size balls that are released at the top, then spin there way down the black funnel.  When the balls get closer to the middle of the funnel, they spin around faster and faster, just like the stars in the sky do when there is a black hole present.  (Yep, Mom learned lots too!) The last activity of the day was in the Shoot for the Moon exhibit where Noah & Miranda tried out the Lunar Jump activity.  They were actually lying on their backs and pushing off with their feet.  This is what I saw on a projector screen  (thus the poorer pic quality too.)  They also got to see themselves on a screen like this while they were "jumping." I guess our day trip into our universe was quite exhausting, as Isaiah promptly fell asleep in the car, but only after setting up his own system for shading his eyes from the afternoon Sun!    (Okay, I'll admit - we were ALL tired.  But geesh - we got up at 6:30 am, and left the house by 7:30am for the two hour trek into Chicago.  Normally, Isaiah is the ONLY one who WAKES UP at 7:30am, the rest of us roll out of bed after 8:00am.  Okay, okay - 8:30am for ME!  Natural sleep patterns are very important - just read Dr. Sears' Sleep Book.    ENJOY! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/613516/ Sun, 2 Nov 2008 15:12:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lighthousecrew/613516/