Disneyland

Oh My Goodness!!!!

My husband and I feel our age right now.  We have just returned from a wonderful trip to Disneyland where we spent at least 10 hours a day.  We had to get our moneys worth, you know.  By Saturday evening we were completely toast, and I was ready to push people down as we were trying to exit the park.  We somehow got caught in the fire work exit crowd, and I simply do not do well with feeling like cattle! 

We had a great time, so let's get to the pictures.  I do have to tell you, we took the old camera, thinking it would be better because it was smaller.  But it stopped working on the second day.  Oh well, we have our memories!

Most of the pictures are from the beach.  Middle Bit desperately wanted to go since he is still deciding on what he wants to be when he grows up: a surfer or a priest.  I think surfer is in the lead after this visit!

As you can tell, the pictures become really blurry towards the end.  Oh well.

We had a blast!  The kids rode their first roller coaster rides and were champs at walking around and not whining!  This was a great trip, and I loved every second of it, but I am glad it is done and we have survived Disneyland.  I love it, but I do not want to return any time soon!

Have a great day everyone!
Love,
Suzy

School Days

Well, if you were wondering what we have been doing in school lately, I will tell you.

We have been learning about seed, flowers and how things grow in science.  What a perfect time to learn about this subject.  Everything is sprouting up, we are planting seeds in our garden and planting flowers.  The kids have been loving the hands on experience and discovery.

An experiment that we did was called scattering seeds.  I used to do this experiment in my classroom for older kids, so I made it suitable for three different age groups.  We took three different sizes of seeds, a fan, a long piece of butcher paper, tape measure and pen and paper.  We did this more systematically than what I am about to tell you.  We did write out the steps to the scientific method and work through it, but I do not want to go through all of the details.  Basically we threw the seeds in front of the fan and watched the wind scatter them.  We found that how they were scattered was affected by their weight, shape and how strong the wind was.  Pretty cool way for them to see how the seeds can be scattered by elements.

We also did the old put white flower in food coloring and watch it change colors. Another great visual for the kids to see how the water goes up the stem and is distributed throughout the entire flower.

We took those flowers and dissected them.  This was really cool to watch how each one did it.  Little Bit watched me and then she drew a picture of a flower.

She was more concerned with drawing than seeing all the parts.  But art is her thing.

Middle Bit Took his time!! He is definitely one who likes to look closely and discover everything he can.  He separated all the parts, put them in viles, and wanted to see it all under the microscope. 

He kept wanting to call the parts the thingy.  So I had him practice looking at his diagram, and calling what he found by name.  It was cool to watch him learn.

Oldest Bit, got it, understood it, then finished as quickly as possible because I had an assignment that would interest him much more.

The assignments that was more intriguing? 

As a family we are going to write a monthly newsletter and send it out to our subscribers!

Who are our subscribers?  Anyone who emails me at bitsofthepast@hotmail.com or my other one if you know what it is!

How much? Free for now, but we may start incorporating math into it.  The funds would strictly go to distribution, but I think it would be great for them to learn how to manage funds, send out the newsletter, address letters, write articles in a fun educational way.

How does our newsletter work?

I will be working with Little Bit to write her articles.

The boys will each have two articles, take pictures etc.

Oldest Bit will design the newsletter.

Mr. Bits and I will edit and make sure it is all ready to send out.

The jobs are almost entirely done by the kids, and as they get older, the newsletter will get more involved.  Are you interested or know someone who is, but does not have access to a computer?  Email me at the address above.

They have already brainstormed and are ready to start! 

More details to come later.


Oh and finally, tomorrow we leave for the Happiest Place on Earth.



The excitement in the house is unbelievable!


Talk to you all soon!
Suzy

Pictures

While we were delivering clothes to CCAI, the kids spied a playground. 

There is a wonderful playground on the premises, so after the formalities were over, the kids played.  And played.  And played.

I think they were just extremely happy to be out of the car.

So here, they are as happy as can be!

Denver

We recently took a trip to Denver for a program called Yellow Ribbon.  This program is for families who have recently gone through a deployment or are about to go. 

Basically, it is a trip for the whole family to a place of rest.  There are programs for the kids to go through as well as adults.  In the evening, we were dismissed to see the city.

We had an amazing time!  The kids went through the deployment line to see what their daddy went through!  They received their shots, packed etc.  They talked all about it that evening.  It was a time when they discussed their feelings, and spent time with other kids who have been through similar events.  This was not our first deployment, but it was the first time we participated in the Yellow Ribbon Program.  It was highly educational for all.

Here are some pictures

We stayed at the Marriott in downtown Denver and went to

16th Street Mall,every night for dinner. It was only a block from our hotel, so we walked and had delicious food!  One night, a couple sat right next to us, and paid for our entire dinner because they thought my kids were so well behaved!  Little do they know, my children were just extremely tired, but it was the sweetest thing anyone has ever done!

We went to an Avalanche game (hockey) on Saturday.  I love hockey.  I guess that is the aggressive side to me.

I also forgot my camera for most of the time!  Oh well!

We left Denver on Monday of last week, and were in the car forever.  Why?  Well, we decided to go up Loveland pass.  This is a very special place for us.  Mr. Bits proposed to me in this exact spot many years ago.  Now we have a picture of our entire family together 13 years later.

You might be wondering why we look like we are holding on for dear life.
Wind gust up to 50 miles per hour!
Which created this mess....

We decided to get back on 70, which ended up being closed!

So we took a huge detour through many mountain passes, and went through Leadville, the Highest town.

 This says great living at 10, 200 feet!  I was out of breath in the car!  Can't imagine.

Leadville had some wonderful old buildings!

We get back on 70, to get stuck again!

Next to a pig truck for an hour!

Little Bit finally succumbed to the agony!

Can you see the traffic wrapping around Glenwood Canyon?

We were on our way to Mr. Bits' family in Grand Junction, if you are wondering why we were enduring such pain!  What was supposed to take us four hours, took us nine!!!!!!!!!!!!

We finally made it, just in time to see all the cousins before they had to go to bed!  Ugh!

All in all, it was a great trip,just a lot of car!

Service

My son decided he was going to collect clothes for the orphanage where his little sister came from.  We did not plant this idea in his head, I promise you.  He honestly came up to us last September and stated, "Mom, Dad.  I want to collect clothes for the orphans.  Can I make a flier and hand it out to people?"

Really, what else can you do, but respond with a, "Yes, of course you can!"  We ended up posting it on my other blog as well, and the clothes started coming in.  We even had clothes come from Washington D.C.!

This past weekend, we finally had the opportunity to go to Denver and deliver these clothes to the agency we adopted Little Bit from.

Chinese Children Adoption International has adopted thousands of children to their forever families.

The pictures in the hallways tell the story.  They are lined with pictures of all the children who were once without a smile and a home, now happy and loved.

These pictures are everywhere.
Not only does CCAI adopt beautiful children, but they also hold classes.

Chinese language, Chinese cooking and dance.
This is truly an amazing and inspiring agency who has made it their life mission to help the orphan.

We were privileged to take a tour through this agency and deliver the clothes that my son collected.

We are proud of Samuel.  He stepped outside of himself to do something for others.  Now, it did not have to be a huge project like he chose, but we are grateful for his heart and his willingness to think big.  He was excited to deliver these clothes, to meet the owner and to see whom the clothes were going to.  He walked away with a heart for the world.  This is what is gained from teaching the importance of service to our kids.

Have a wonderful day everyone!
Love,
Suzy