Pool Time again

It's pool time again.  The boys are enjoying trying to get the highest jumps they can.  Not much else to do outdoors when its hot and muggy out there.   

I passed by a home in town and just can't get over how long this small area has lasted.  I still see those poppy flowers out there.  Reminds me of my trip to California and friends.

 

We have also had so many bunnies outside.  It's crazy.  We hadn't seen so many in forever.  I think it's the drought that has them coming closer to home and eating what little bits of our grass we have left.  My youngest loves going out there to see how close he can get to them.  Not much closer than that before they speed away.

 

By the way our berries are all gone because of the heat and bunnies.  We did enjoy our berry cobblers though.  

Our lives are still full of things to do.  We still have lots going on in our volunteer service.  Our ASL is going great.  We all keep learning more and more.  We can carry on a conversation with the deaf friends we have.  

There is my little update for now.   

It's Berry Picking Time Again

 

While hubby was working on dinner the boys and myself went outside to look for and pick some berries.  We got a big batch and I decided to make a cobbler.  It was soooo yummy.  As you can see on the bottom picture it was almost gone.  

It's amazing to just be able to walk out your door and look for them and pick them and voila you have a cobbler out of fresh fruit.  These berries grow wild on our land around our trees and I let them grow there.  The only bad thing is that they are very thorny.  Ouch!!  The results were good though.   

It's all gone now though.  Every last bit of it is gone.  It was a fun nature, outdoor, cousin bonding time.  Yes, their cousins were over and they enjoyed the cobbler too. 

First Post on Vacation

So have any of you wondered where I am?  Here are some pictures to show you what we have done so far.  Some things I was not able to take pictures of because we were going 70mph on the highway and by the time I saw things we zoomed by.  So here is what we have done so far. 

We have done the Smoky Mountains and went to the top of one area for pictures.  That was a hard climb for me.  One of the boys stayed with me while the other two climbed to the top with hubby.  Then there was the drive further up the states.  My boys laughed at this sign even though it's blurry you can tell what it says.  They wondered if there were airplanes with missles aiming at you.  hehehe  

Then we drove to DC.  Yep that is where we are now.  But not for long.  We will be hitting the road for some further excitement.  Stay tuned for more.......  

Our Cattail Nature Study

Some of you may know that living down in South Texas can be a challenge when it comes to weather.  Up north there is snow to deal with but down here there is heat and mosquitoes.  This year was particularly hard due to the drought conditions and the heat we have had.  There were cracks in the ground big enough to put a foot through.  I did not attempt to do that though.


So what does this all have to do with cattails?  We don't have any.  There were some but have all withered and died.  Any ponds that were out there with cattails are now dry and gone.  Next week we will be going on vacation so we will keep our eyes open for the live kind.  For now we took pictures of what they look like with no life in them.  It's a pretty sad story.


What did we learn?  I found a site that had some interesting things about cattails.  We learned that they were used for medicine, clothing and even food.  Imagine that!  It has even been found as mats in caves.  So many ways to use one plant.  The liquid jelly from young leaves was used on sores and wounds.  The starch from this plant was used to thicken soups and we also found some recipes out there of people who stir fry it.  Also the brown flower heads make good "punks," keeping a slowly-burning flame, with a smoke that drives insects away.  Maybe I'll plant some and use them on our mosquitoes.

There were so many uses for this plant and we read a lot and looked at pictures of what they should look like when alive.  Now we will have to keep our eyes peeled for them on our trip.  I also made my own notebooking page.  I've seen others out there but I usually always make my own things.  I was asked by a friend if I follow directions and do everything the way it is on the instructions and of course, I don't.  I also had my nephews here so they joined in also. 


I will have you all know that our local homeschool group was on the lookout for cattails all week.  Asking around anyone that travels.  Husbands were also asked to keep an eye for them on their way to work.  Not one single live cattail for miles.  I traveled 34 miles round trip to get the few pictures that I got.  Maybe next year will be better.  We'll have to keep an eye on that location and see if they come back with the rain we have been getting this week.  Rain, finally!


By the way, I will be following Barb's new challenges this time around.  Just so you know.         

Texas is a Country, really!

We went to the zoo on Monday.  It was a nice fun day.  We joked around and laughed all day.  We had a nice time at the zoo.  It's not a very big zoo.  We went through it in an hour.  Like I said, it's not that big.  My youngest got to feed the goats.  




 
We did see some ducks. 



 


We saw big teeth grinning at us.  
 



 

Then my son saw something that made us laugh again.  Click on the picture and take a look at the zoo.  Look at all the countries mentioned.  Now who says that Texas is not a country? 

Dirty Dirt Diggers

We're going on a bug hunt, going on a bug hunt....

What in the world are those things in the ground. We are studying geography and since I have these in the backyard all over the place we decided to study these creatures. So what are they?

These are called Ant Lion Larvae. These are smart creatures. Why are they called antlions? The name makes sense since their food are ants and they ambush like a lion. Look at those jaws too. I'd hate to be the ant that falls in their trap.

These little creatures hide beneath the dirt and wait for their food to come walking by.


They have long jaws that once their prey is caught they kill it and ok here it is they suck the ant dry. Nasty! I am actually glad we have a ton of these because we have so many ants. These will actually become something similar to a dragon fly.

I found a You Tube video that is pretty interesting. Take a look at what they do.

By the way, these little antlions will go with just about any country you study. Have you seen them where you live?

Saturday Nature Morning

Texas has been extremely hot and there has been record breaking hot temperatures this past week. Breaking the hundred degree mark was not hard at all this past week.

Needless to say we stay indoors most of the day with the A/C on to get a little relief.

This Saturday was different though. Not because of the heat but because we had to drive to Houston and leave hubby at the airport. Hubby will be at a week long school. We had to be at the airport by 6:30am which meant we had to leave home at 4:30am. Oh my, I am so tired but we had fun.

I took the boys first thing in the morning before the heat come on full force somewhere fun. Where did we go? We went to the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center. We saw flowers, mushrooms, squirrels, birds and butterflies. Oh and did I forget to say we had fun.

The mushrooms were on the nature trail and was the first thing we saw there. There were some beautiful butterflies. There were dark ones and orange ones. Beautiful creations!

Since we were there early, early in the morning there was still dew drops everywhere. No this was not from a rain storm. Houston has gotten more rain than we have where I live but I think they are still far behind in getting their rain for the year.

We had a nice time and plan on doing that again but it will have to be early in the morning or later on in the year.

Take a look at some of the fun the boys had out there. Not only was there trials and tons of flowers but some fun things. We didn't make it to the Discovery Center because it opened up too late but we had a nice time anyway.




Of course, my oldest has to have fun while I'm taking pictures. What a ham!

These were some of the things we did at the nature center. I never thought that there could be such a beautiful place like that in Houston. Houston is a city in all sense of that word. It's a major city but having this place to go to has to be very refreshing. It was for us.

That's me, ready to leave because the heat is starting to get to me. It was 9:30am and it was already hot by then. Now this was not all we did in Houston. After this we had to have A/C so we went to another place. We hadn't been there since the older boys were small.

To be continued......

Summer Time Is Here

With temperatures soring over the 100 degree mark we stay mostly indoors with the A/C on but later afternoons is pool time. Do you like his smile? His new tooth is coming in.

Ok time to get back to the pool.

Another Garden Update

Just wanted to show you an update on our garden. Can't wait to try that cantaloupe. Those little tomatoes are yellow and they are just about ready. Little salad yellow tomatoes that are tasty. I'm planting some more seeds of corn because these are almost ready. That zucchini is almost ready to eat.



Hope it rains today so I don't have to water but probably have to go out there with the hose. I can still hope for rain, right? Don't forget to click on the pictures to see them better.

Math the Fun Way

Today we did math outside. How is this considered math? Well, let me tell you. We did measurements. We only had a 25ft measuring tape and needed something way bigger than that.

While at the homeschool convention this past week I was able to find a little time to sneak away from my booth to go looking around. I found this neat thing that I just knew would be a hit with my boys. It is called Blaster. It says it can launch a water balloon 150 yards. Now what kid would not enjoy this? We launched several from out in front of our house to our neighbors house which happens to be my brother and sister-in-laws. So I called her and told her to come out and look our direction. We launched several balloons at them. She preferred that I launch them in the direction of their garden. LOL

After the launchings we set out on foot to see what the distance was. We shot the farthest about 300 feet. That was awesome to see and it was a fun way for them to learn that you can count feet by counting the steps. We saw the measuring tape to see how far to step. Then came the steps and counting. I'm looking for something fun to do with fractions next.

My pictures didn't come out that great but you get the idea of what we did. It's hard to have my camera and an umbrella to shield me from the sun at the same time. At least I didn't have my cane with me or it would be really hard. Fun was had by all to be outside despite the 90+ degree weather.

Oh, I'm so sensitive!

This is called mimosa pudica. My little one hadn't ever seen this plant and thought it was so neat how when you touch it the leaves close. I actually hadn't seen it in a long while but found some in our backyard. He had fun touching it and watching it close. Here is a site that I found some interesting information on this plant.

We had fun outside and had fun playing with this plant. One more nature day checked off.

How does my garden grown?

Driving back home we had to do a little stop. Can you see why? I've seen some bluebonnets in my day but this was incredible. We stopped on the side of the road and I could not believe the smell. It was such a sweet smell. Like I said we have seen some but not in this amount and not that you could smell just by standing there.


It was truly amazing to see and smell this. The bluebonnet is the Texas flower and I think it is a beautiful flower. If you drive along the highways of Texas, down south anyway, you will see lots of wildflowers including the bluebonnet. This makes the drive a pleasant one.

Now that we are home after two weeks being gone we came home to an amazing garden. Our garden has grown so much. We have corn, yellow squash, lettuce, bell pepper plants and green beans in one box. The corn was small when we left but now it is big.

We also have carrots. Can you see them in the picture? There is also some spinach. We will be making some good salads. Yum, can't wait.

We did two 4x4 squares this time around but we might get 2 more ready for our late season planting. Living down south we don't have much winter time so it will be great to have plenty of fresh veggies.

What do you think of my garden? This is the first time we have had a garden that it has gotten so big and has been so easy to do. We are having fun but it will be nicer when we start eating our labor.

P.E. Time

It was too hot to stay outside too long but they did stay for a while and rode their bikes. They were all red and hot. hehehe So they came indoors. Don't you think my baby needs a bigger bike? I do!
We also have a few flowers left. This is one of my favorites. It smells soooo good. This year has not been the greatest for our flowers. Oh well, maybe next year.

I saw a black witch!

What do you think I am talking about? hehehehe This moth is called a black witch. I looked on the internet at this site and learned some interesting things about it. This thing was amazingly huge. I didn't get too close and I am so glad I was able to get my zoom lens. This thing had to be about 5 inches from tip to tip of wing. At least 5inches! Since this is a tropical moth don't forget to look at the Mexican superstition at that site I mentioned. Mexicans have lots of superstitions but I never heard of this one. hehehehe By the way, this is a male moth....figures more men at my home....like I don't have enough already. hehehe