Odds & Ends: Cabin Fever Edition

It has been a long week here at the House of Hope. Due to the winter weather and north Alabama snow hsyteria, not one of our scheduled activities took place this week.  NOT ONE.   While I definitely welcomed the break at the beginning of the week, by the end of the week I was through with snow forever, or at least for 2015.  🙂  The funny thing is, we really didn’t get any snow to speak of–some sleet or freezing rain, and the lightest dusting of snow.  Our area is gun shy about such because of an ice storm that actually resulted in a few fatalities when I was in college back in the 1990s.  Schools let out at the hint of snow or ice, and all of our activities follow suit.  The good thing is that because of the winter weather forecast, Steady Eddie had a crazy week, too, with late start times and even an early dismissal.  We were the beneficiaries of that!  He had the day off for winter break on Friday, too, so all things considered it could’ve been worse.  🙂

On Thursday we spent the afternoon and evening in Huntsville at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.  We had no agenda in mind–just take in the sights and get out of the house.  This is the best kind of field trip, I think.

• The Quick Plane—

• The Saturn V rocket is gargantuan!

• It was SO COLD that day, so we didn’t spend much time outside.  However, I did take time to snap this picture of a mock-up of the lunar landing.  I’m sure the highlight for my boys was the chance to go inside a Vietnam-era Chinook helicopter.  🙂

 

• There’s a pretty neat exhibit on tour at the Space Center now–101 Inventions That Changed the World.  We didn’t get to tour the whole thing because the boys (and their parents!) were pretty much done by this time, but I did snap a picture of something I thought was interesting:  a corn cob curry comb.  Of course, there were quite a few things on exhibit that were a bit more impressive than this, but I thought it was neat.

• After eating at a favorite seafood restaurant (where all the kids got chicken, of course), we headed over to the Huntsville Museum of Art to take in the Grandma Moses exhibit and the Rembrandt, Rubens, Gransborough and the Golden Age of Painting in Europe exhibit.  I loved it!  That was our first trip to this museum, but it won’t be our last!
• School perked along pretty well this week, as well it should’ve, considering how much time we spent at home.  The thing I want to remember the most about this week is that Lulu took great pleasure in her writing assignment, which was truly a first.  She’s almost always a fairly willing student, but often it seems that she does her lessons more out of duty than anything, and that’s okay.  One of this week’s assignments (WWS W 13, D4)  was to rewrite last week’s assignment using sensory details.  She had a grin on her face the whole time she wrote.  That did this homeschooling mama’s heart good.  🙂
• We’re gearing up for a super busy week next week.

Come on, springtime!  We’re ready!  🙂