Castle McCulloch

We went on a field trip to a Rock Quarry/old Gold Refinery/Castle yesterday.  We had a great time despite the rain!   

The kids were excited to see a suit of armor (even if it was just in the gift shop)

This was the rock quarry.  We watched them work some while we listened to the construction worker tell us some about the quarry.  It was amazing how big that hole was.  We learned that all of the rocks in the quarry were quartz and they are mainly used for driveways and roads.

Ari took that pic of me and Ryan

The castle grounds were beautiful.  We spent some time inside of a replica of the Crystal Palace in England. It was a smaller version but we were able to tell why it was built the way it was.  The acoustics are amazing in the center of the room. (didn’t take any pics)

Here the kids are in front of the “castle” on the “drawbridge”.  It actually is not a real castle.  We learned that the gentleman that bought it in 1982, first saw the place when he was a kid.  Someone said “Do you want to go see this haunted castle in the woods?”   He ended up purchasing the property later.   The building was originally a gold refinery mill.  The building was used in the civil war as a hospital and was also used in WW1.  Now it is home to many weddings and proms. 

Lastly we panned for Gems.  This was the kids favorite activity!  They both found some beautiful gems!

If you are interested in more info on Castle McCulloch visit here.

Farming Day

We have decided to volunteer our time twice a month at an organic farm.  We want to learn how to farm as well as lessons about hard work.  Today was our first day volunteering.  We pulled weeds to prepare for some fall plantings.  Along the way, we found many neat insects and a lizard. 

After our hard work at the farm, we met dear friends at the park.  Arianna found a caterpillar (which came home with us).  She name her Lily.  The kids also put on a play of the Three Little Bears.    

Notice Ari’s caterpillar on her dress above.

Arianna was Goldilocks first.  

Here Arianna is Momma Bear and below Alana is Goldilocks.

How many kids can you fit on one stroller??

New Daisy

 

Today was Arianna’s 1st day of Girl Scouts.  She was nervous at first but had a good time with new (and some old) friends. 

Death of a Pet

Well the thought-to-be-immortal fish Daniella proved us wrong today.  I found her dead in the bowl this morning.  Arianna has taken it pretty hard.  She has cried a couple of times today.  Ryan at first tried to say that Daniella would wake up soon.  Arianna wanted to bury Daniella in her Lego Indian Jones box .  Ryan didn’t want to bury her since “she wouldn’t be able to get out when she woke up.”  We buried Daniella underneath the tree in our front yard.  Arianna put a butterfly flower in the box with Daniella.  After the burial, we sat and talked about death and our fish that lived far longer than she should have.  Ari was concerned about Daniella’s soul and if it was in heaven with God now.  We said a prayer for our fish and laid a rock with a cross on top of where we buried her.  Ari also laid one of our morning glories on top of the grave.  Arianna is upstairs now coloring pictures to put on Daniella’s grave tomorrow.

End of Summer Fun

Yesterday was the last day of our pool being open.  Ari is making a sad face to share her feelings about this.  We spend the afternoon at the pool. 

 

Our very pampered pooch-Ari thinks that we all love her purple blanket as much as she does.  She frequently shows her affection by “sharing” her beloved blanket. 

We went to the park with Mr. Tony who has a new puppy named Sasha.  Sharp puppy nails and teeth:)  The kids enjoyed playing chase with Sasha even if they came home with a few new scratches!  Ryan freaked out at first because he thought Sasha was biting him in a bad way but he calmed down some once he begin to realize that puppies bite.

Whose walking who?

Super Dad carrying kids while running from Sasha

 

That’s our boy…just whip it out in the middle of the park after doing a dramatic pee-pee dance. 

We showed Mr. Tony the ropes of one of our favorite family pasttimes…Geocaching!

 

See the micro-cache in the tree

Here we found a regular size cache.

It wouldn’t be summer without little frogs