Wyoming Sights

Chicken Poop

My boys get chapped lips. They forget to put lip balm on them. They complain about their lips hurting.

When we were recently in South Dakota we stopped by a little roadside store and saw Chicken Poop. Nope, it does not really contain poop. Click on to the website for the little story behind the name. My boys love it! The "poop" in the name of it really appeals to them and they remember to but it on! It is an all-natural lip balm and it smells wonderful since it has sweet orange and lavender essential oils. Good stuff!

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Yesterday I mentioned the new homeschool co-op I discovered. Today I was poking around on there and decided to look over the free curriculum resources. Wow! There are history and geography resources, math, art and more-ALL FREE!

I Love a Good Co-op!

I have a fondness for co-ops. I belong to a local health food co-op and love the convenience and good deals we get through it. Recently, I discovered Homeschool Buyers Co-op. I browsed the site, it seemed like a good thing and then I saw it. There it was. And it was 50% off! A curriculum I had been looking at but had not ordered because of the price.

Today I took the plunge and made an order through the Homeschool Buyers Co-op. The process was easy and the savings excellent. The site offers a number of things that I have not yet explored and I look forward to doing that. They offer free student ID cards for homeschooled students, that seems sorta fun, and there are classified ads for selling/purchasing used curriculum as well as a number of other things.

"Do you ever stop to ask yourself that question?"

Yesterday I took some time to catch up on computer stuff. I spent a good deal of time writing some emails, writing a couple notes on Facebook, downloading photos...After I had been at these tasks for awhile, B came up to me and laid his head in my lap. He laid there for awhile and then asked, "Is the computer your life mom?" Before being able to gather my thoughts and answer that question he added, "Don't you ever take a break? Do you ever stop to ask yourself that question?" No, I guess I had not stopped to ask myself that question, I was just enjoying the feeling of getting things done. =)

Cats Do Not Talk

L came crying to me because the cat bit her. I wasn't surprised that the cat bit her, truthfully, she had it coming. I told L I was sorry Farmer bit her and then told her she had been mean to Farmer. "You should go tell Farmer you are sorry for being mean to her." L looked right at me and said in a voice that was both matter-of-fact and a touch annoyed, "Farmer can't talk, mom." As I tried not to laugh too hard, she stated in the same tone, "Farmer just says, 'meow, meow'."

More Sights We Saw

I had not intended to take such a long break from blogging, but it has just worked out that way. At some point I will get back into a more regular routine, but for now we are still settling in at home and enjoying our summer.

Notice the photo of the guy in the brown t-shirt. It says, "Jesus loves everyone-even Sasquatch." What is that all about? He was at Mt. Rushmore and I had to snap a photo.

South Dakota Fun

Wall Drug and the Corn Palace-both tacky, both fun and worth visiting. Wall Drug was huge! I mean huge. I didn't realize how large it was nor did I realize the history of how it started.

Some Sights We Saw In Iowa

Here are some of the sights we saw while driving through Iowa. A highlight was stopping by Prairieland Herbs. I have ordered on-line from them for awhile now and it was fun to see the actual shop and garden.

Visiting the Creation Museum

One of our first stops on the drive back home was at the Creation Museum. We arrived and spent the afternoon there and then went back the next morning. We could have easily spent another half day. It is impressive. Very well done. I am always leery of cheesy-christian exhibits and this was not that. It is certainly all about creation as opposed to evolution, and it does take an evangelistic approach, but it was not cheesy. I will admit that it is strange to see such a high quality display that refutes evolutionary theories and boldly proclaims the Bible as the authority in all subjects. It is different from anything I have ever seen, in that way. It was nice to see "the other point of view" displayed so well.

The gardens were amazingly beautiful and included several bridges. My kids loved the floating rope bridge and the suspension rope bridge. The petting zoo was super clean (not stinky or in any way messy) and had a camel, a wallaby (that is a great word to say-wallaby) as well as the standard goats. The exhibits are well displayed and after all the museums we have been in in the past months, the quality of this one was right up with the best of the museums we have seen. It was nice to see that. The Creation Museum has a planetarium, a special effects theatre and three other smaller theatres interspersed throughout the exhibits. It is a nice multi-media experience.

We ate lunch at Noah's Cafe, just one of the 4 food venues. The selection and quality were excellent. They even had a "Mediterranean Vegan Wrap" made with organic greens, veggies and hummus (love it!). I opted for the "Homemade Chicken Salad Wrap" and it was delicious.

It would be excellent to return at some point down the road, when the kids are older. There are plans for more exhibits and there are lectures that we didn't participate in on this visit. If you do plan a visit, look on the Creation Museum web site at the local hotels that offer special deals. They also offer, with valid ID, free admission to active-duty police, military and firefighters. Dependants are 50% off with valid ID. Or anyone may purchase a 2-day pass that offers a savings.

hoping to be back up to regular posting soon!

I have missed my blog! We are back home and my internet connection is acting up, so I have internet connections sometimes and more often I don't have it. After three phone calls to tech support and the phone company concluding that the problem is on their end of things, a person is coming out to look at the situation. Hopefully that will get things up and running.

It is good to be back home, but there have been lots of boxes to unpack. Then my grandma fell this week and cracked a bone. She is currently in the hospital. The kids and I went to visit her today. As we walked up to the hospital, L thought it was a hotel-yup, we were on the road for a long time! The kids are loving being back home, but are still adjusting to things.

B just came in and told me that for the 4th of July, he wants to eat watermelon on the deck and spit the seeds out so we can have a watermelon plant grow there next year. The watemelon I bought is seedless. So, not likely that we will have a watermelon plant growing next year, but we can eat it on the deck!

Have a happy 4th of July!!!!!