Russman's spot: September 2007

9/28/07

Hands on History

Our homeschool group went to "Hands on History" yesterday at the Olmsted County History Center....there were many sessions we attended, including, Medicine show, Civil war civilian life, story telling, reptiles, candle making, Dee Cabin, and one room schoolhouse....the events were outstanding, the day beautiful, and the volunteers informative and interactive....we will be back next year!!!!

Renaissance faire

We went to the Renaissance last Sunday.....at the last minute, we thought that we would dress up.....Maybelle wore the boy's old outfit....it fit perfectly!

Of course we had to see the belly dancers....

A game of dueling buckets was in order to beat the heat of the day.....Maybelle defeated her sister early on in the game......

But revenge can be so sweet!

We took a walk through the enchanted forest to the secret garden.

and had a few uneasy moments too

But all in all....it was a GREAT DAY!!!! The elusive boy joined us, but went off on his own and avoided my camera....He is in the group photo!!!!!!!

9/22/07

Minnesota zoo homeschool day

We went to the zoo last Tuesday for homeschool days....here the girls are watching the sharks get fed at the coral reef.

Wood duck on the brand new Minnesota trail.

We went to the Imax for the 3d movie.....Dinosaurs of Patagonia....it was fabulous!!!!

Maybelle just before we saw the dolphin show.

Greta streeeetching to touch a sea star in Discovery Bay

OOOOOPPPPPSSSS!!!!!!! She stretched a BIT TOO FAR.....and took a swim in the freezing salt water.....denim jeans and all!!!!!!!

Fortunately the zoo staff had towels handy as this was not an isolated incident!!!!!!!

9/15/07

Fort Snelling

Fort Snelling has homeschool days on Fridays in September....this trip we learned about WWII...Here is Maybelle just before entering the fort....

This is on top of the tower, the fort is in the background

Here was the obstacle course....this soldier is on her belly, keeping her weapon out of the dirt!!!!

What a great experience...we learned how to censor letters, learned about morse code, how to swing dance, some Japanese words, made paper dolls, watched a rifle demonstration,...learned about rations, and life on the homefront.....even got inducted into the army!!!

Steam Engine

By chance today, while driving to Red Wing, I noticed folks pulled over all along the highway...we found a place to stop just in time to see this train heading south to LaCrosse...it was traveling at about 50 mph when I took this picture.....

Later in the day, the train stopped in Red Wing for a bit to take on water, what an incredible experience!!!!! This was just as it was leaving the depot.

The girls and cousins

It got to be a bit long, as the train was there about an hour....the girls were anxious to find all the pennies we had put on the tracks!!!!! We left 15, but only found about 8!!!!