3rd Grade Field Trip - Arboretum

I was so excited that, at the last minute, I was able to make it to Collin's 3rd grade field trip to the local Arboretum for the day.  The kids road on the bus while I carpooled with one of Collin's buddy's mom, Kirsten. 


When we arrived, the classes split up into groups. Each group spent 20 minutes at each station before switching to the next learning opportunity.  With as many kids there, the volunteers at the Arboretum kept things running so smoothly. Our group started in the learning center where they got to learn about animal fur and skins, have garden snails crawl on them, look at turtles, lizards and pond animals and learn about animals living in the trees.

Next, the kids went to the play area where they could pretend to be animals living at the Arboretum.  They climbed on ropes, jumped from log to log and dug in the dirt to pretend they were a burrowing animal.

We all then walked to the trail to have a scavenger hunt.  The class split up into 3 teams to work on the scavenger hunt.  Collin liked looking for objects that protect the plants.   There were 15 things we needed to find.  It was not a race, but Collin's team finished going through their list first.  There were a few items that I was skeptical they really found but it really did not matter.  They were not getting special treatment because of it.

We then gathered as a group at the front of the building to eat our sack lunches.  It was such a gorgeous day to be outside and eating a picnic-like lunch.  Kirsten and I had fun listening to the boy's conversations.


We left after lunch even though there was another hour left of the field trip.  The mom's were hungry and wanted to get lunch before heading back home.  We enjoyed lunch outside and then headed home.  On the freeway, we realized that we were behind the school buses taking the kids back to school.  The kids at the back saw us in the car and started waving.  We waved back and they laughed.  It was fun for them...and us.  At one point, they were dabbing and laughed hard when I dabbed back.  We drove by the side of the bus trying to find our sons but did not see them.  We know they were in there somewhere because the kids at the back are in their class.


When Collin got home, the only thing he wanted to talk about was how funny it was that I was dabbing in the car behind them.  Guess it made an impression on them. 

3rd Grade Comparison

I finally pulled out all of the photo boxes we inherited from Grandma H to start categorizing, organizing and deciding what to do with all of the pictures.  It's a daunting task but I know the end result will be worth it.  I am SO appreciative of Grandma H writing on the back of at least 90% of these pictures including the name, age, date of the people in the picture.  Sometimes, she did include what was going or the location of where the picture was taken.  I have been doing this for years when I learned as a teenager how important this is.  We were going through my great-grandmother's pictures that did not have writing on them.  With her gone, we could not ask her who was in the picture and how they were related to us.


What I did not expect was how much we are enjoying this as a family.  Each night this week, Dad pulled a photo from the pile and told the history of the picture as he could remember it.  We have learned:

• His grandpa teaching him how to tie a neck tie
• Riding on the back of the riding lawnmower with his grandpa
• Learning to ride his first motorcycle with Dad's step-dad (I forgot Grandma H was married a second time)
• His water bed he bought by himself.  Collin was really interested in this story because he just could not understand why someone would want to sleep on water.  ;)



One of the really fun things we did was find a 3rd grade picture of all of us and do a comparison.  Putting these pictures side-by-side was fun to see which part of Collin's face favored each of us.  You decide for yourself:

Collin's only comment was "Dad, you really did have a lot of hair when you were younger.  What happened?  Will that happen to me?"  Ha!  I also commented about my hair in my picture.  Who cut it?  They must have been in a hurry.  The timing right before Picture Day was terrible too.

Science Experiments After School

Instead of the usual, "Can I play with a friend?" or "What can I do before dinner?", I did not give Collin an option.  We sat down and worked through all 6 of the Super Science elective activities for a Bear Cub Scout.  Collin experimented with:

• A balloon and static electricity learning what objects would be attracted to a "charged" balloon and which ones would not be.  We guessed wrong on a few of them like string (not) and foam (not).
• A balloon and rolling objects to show how a "charged" balloon could make an object roll toward it.
• Eggs dropped in water, water with salt and water with sugar.  This was one of our favorites.  Collin thought it was cool to see a floating egg on it's side in the salt water.  
• Food coloring, water and oil mixing the food color in the oil and watch it eventually mix slowly with the water learning that oil and water do NOT mix.  
• Static electricity and packing peanuts watching them move around in an empty liter bottle

This took about an hour but was so much more fun to do this together rather than doing something separately.  I won't lie, I did have to twist his arm a little bit only because there was reading involved.  Of course I made this fun AND a learning project.  He did not like to read the background about each of the experiments even when I explained this reading would could for the 30 minutes of reading he had to do anyway.  He just does not get that reading this way, while having fun, is so much better than trying to fit reading in after dinner or right before he goes to bed.  Enough of that.

Collin liked showing Dad some of the experiments and explaining what we did.  Dad then had to guess what he thought the result was for each of them.  See, fun for all of the family.  Even Burke was interested in the balloons rolling on the floor.

Play Outside vs Electronics? The Decision Should Not be That Difficult

Collin loves to be at his house.  Whenever we talk about leaving the house for errands, dinner, meeting with friends, etc, he asks either if he can stay or if the people can come to his house.  Thus, it makes sense that every moment there is free time either during the week but especially on the weekends, he asks if a friend can come over. 


Friends do come over, but when they do, the first thing they ask is if they can play on the electronics whether that be their phone they bring, Collin's computer (family computer) or on the PS4.  We even laugh internally when more than one friend has come over, barely walking into the house before asking what the Wifi password is.  Really?  These kids are 8 and 9 years old!  We think they should be playing outside or, if inside, playing a game, playing in the playroom or talking to each other.  Our rule is that the boys can play on electronics the last 20 to 30 minutes of the visit, depending on how long the friend is over.  It's usually the friend that cannot stand that rule and continually ask if it's time to play on electronics...or my favorite, "Collin wants to know if it's time to play on the electronics yet".


An example was this past Saturday.  Collin had a friend over for 2 1/2 hours.  During the time that they had to come up with something to do before the last 30 minutes were available for electronics, they:

• Road their bikes around the neighborhood finding the dirt trails in the back of the neighborhood or stopping to say "hi" to some friends playing outside
• Hiked and played in the bird sanctuary coming back with wet shoes and shorts....and smelly
• Swam in the pool
• Had lunch
• Shot some basketball hoops

I really felt sorry for these boys that they had to do all of this, making great memories, discovering the hiking trails, looking for animals, splashing in the pool and resting while having lunch, before they just could not stand anymore that they were not playing on electronics (sense the sarcasm?)  Collin is generally fine to not be on electronics.  It's usually the friend over that keeps bugging all of us to play on the electronics.  It's gotten to the point that Collin does not either go over or invite a few of his friends over to his house because he knows they will complain the entire time that they cannot play on the electronics.  I feel terrible that he feels like he has to exclude these friends but I do not feel bad one bit that Collin is exercising, playing outside, using his mind and creativity to play and be a kid. 

Hiking in the Woods

I love that we live so close to a bird sanctuary that has multiple trails leading through the 150 acres of the sanctuary.  Burke and I go there for a quick walk.  Collin, Burke and I went for a 45 minute walk the other day because we just needed out of the house.  The plan was to show Collin where Burke and I walked previously but Collin had other plans.  He wanted to walk near the water and....then eventually got in.  I was shocked to see that Burke got in the water too.  He HATES to get in the pool water other than to get a quick drink.  This time, he walked around the water until it was up to his chest.  The boys (Burke is a boy too) enjoyed walked around in the water and keeping Burke in there as long as he could. 

We then got back on the trail to head to the zip line to see if it was unlocked.  Collin was excited to see that it was because he wanted to give it a try.  I pulled the zip line T-post back up to where he was to give it a try.  Guess he should have prepared for the landing better by putting both legs up ... because he crashed into the post at the end.  Ouch!  He was not interested in trying that again.

We then walked around for another 30 minutes looking for critters...and more water for the boys to play in.  We found both!  There was a lot more water but I discouraged them from getting in so we could keep walking around and because I had to be mindful of the time.  We had baseball practice to get to. 


During some of this time, Collin had my phone to take some pictures.  I think he did a fabulous job.  Look at the things he was interested in and how well he took the pictures:

One of my favorite bridges in the area.  I stopped here the other day to read a few pages in a book.

Very interesting moss on a log

Look how this tree's branches grew.  Not sure what kind of tree this is.

A turtle greeted us on one of the bridges

It's me!  Shows was a beautiful day it was to go for a hike.

I love these times with Collin listening to him talk or ask questions.  At one point, he asked me why we cannot call him Caden instead of Collin.  We have had this conversation before.  He thinks he looks like a Caden and likes that name better.  I am sure lots of kids go through this.  I did not particularly like my name either when I was young because I did not know another Laura.  People would always mispronounce it.  Really?  I thought it was simple.  Maybe Collin is going through the same thing.  I humor him and let him keep talking about it.  He does eventually change the subject.


Here are some additional pictures from our fun morning:

Astros' Preseason Game

Last night was the Astros' second pre-season game.  The game started as expected with Collin on the bench the first inning.  For the second inning, he played left field which was not too much of a surprise either.  He is one of the younger, less experienced boys on the team...and that's just were they play.  While out there, he did all he could to look "baseball ready" but that lasted about 5 minutes.  He started to play with his hat, put his glove over his face and even did some leg stretching moves.  I had the camera zoom lens to on him at this moment and could see that he was singing and really trying hard not to dance.  Hard to blame him for doing this really.  It was about 7pm at this time, long day already with no action, so far, in the outfield.


Baseball glove behind the back does not equal "baseball ready"

He turned his cap a little sideways and was making noises with his mouth.  At least his glove is up front.

He is in mid-dance in this picture.  He was lucky the coach did not see him doing this.

Oh look!  "Baseball ready" position!

For the third inning, I was surprised, as I am sure he was, that Collin was headed to the pitcher's mound.  The coach had been really good so far to test the boys out in different positions to see what they could do.  After all, that's one of the things a pre-season game is good for.  There he was, my little man, pitching for the first time in his life.  He had not practiced this during any of the practices the team had so far.  I was amazed to see that he knew how to hold the ball, bend over to aim, and then throw.  Later that night, he said that he had been watching the other pitchers on the team doing that so he was just copying what they were doing.  It took a few batters to plate for him to warm up.  The pitches were barely making it to the plate.  The coach was patient with him and giving instructions every few pitches.  He did finally warm up and ended up throwing several strikes.  Some batters did get some hits, but he also struck out two batters.  Dad and I were so proud at that moment.  Who knows if he will pitch during a regular game or not.  We liked seeing him out there on the mound and not complaining or wanting to quit.



What I did not notice until I looked later at the pictures I took was that he had a serious concentration look.  He curled his lips inward and bit on the every time he made a throw.  Whatever it takes!

For the next inning, he played 3rd base which was also a new position for him.  He did not have any hits or balls thrown towards him, but I did notice he kept covering the plate in case he was needed there.

When he up to bat both times (yes, it's a MUCH slower game with kid pitch), he got a hit and made it on base.  The first time, he got an RBI.  The second time, he stole the bases enough to make it to home and score. 

Stealing to 3rd base

Attempting to steal 3rd again...and made it this time

Close call at 1st base but he made it to 2nd because of an overthrow

That night, he said that pitching was his favorite.  I was happy to hear that.  He turned the challenge into a learning experience and did not have a negative attitude about it.