Bee All You Can Bee!!!!

Science says that a honeybee can't fly. It's wings are too small and its body is to heavy. However, the bee doesn't know that, so it just does what God wants it to do and flies from flower to flower. We should be like the bee. We shouldn't worry about what others(or ourselves) say and just do whatever God designed us to do.

This week we visited Peace Bee Farm in Proctor. It was an awesome trip. I love insects! Bees are fascinating to me. They are one of God's wonderful creatures that make life better and possible for us. They pollinate flowers which results in the fruit we eat and they make yummy honey for us to eat. If you love honey, you might not want to learn exactly what it is and how the bees make it. Just let that be a secret of the bees.

On our field trip, our homeschool group met with beekeeper Richard Underhill. He is a bee expert. The kids, and adults, asked lots of questions and he answered all of them. We got to see the "hives" or boxes where the bees live. It was cold that day, but the bees were out. Mr. Underhill said that bees only fly when it is about 50 degrees out, so he knew the temperature by the actions of the bees. There was a large group of bees on the ground. They aren't usually on the ground so they might have found this particular soil full of nutrients they needed. Next, we looked at a display bee box. It was way to cold to open up a real box. Bees are cold natured and they keep the hive at 95 degrees year round. Opening the box would have cooled the hive. The display box was very interesting and had pictures in it that looked like what you'd see if you opened a real box. The kids took turns trying on beekeeper equipment. They all looked so cute in their beekeepers hat.

Then we went into the processing building. There we were showed how they uncap the honey and get it out of the frames. The wax is saved and melted into candles. The honey is bottled and sold. Each child was given a straw with honey in it to try. They loved this. Finally, Mr. Underhill took us to some special bee boxes that are used to raise new queen bees. Everyone had a good time and many took home bottles of honey and candles as well. We all know so much more about bees now. We will build upon that knowledge when we discuss bees again in our summer Botany coop.

Our Vacation 2008

Earlier this month my family went to rainy Florida. I know it is the Sunshine state, but it wasn't while we were there. It rained every day. We got one pretty good day with only a couple of hours of light rain. We had fun. On the way down we stopped quite often to stretch our legs and let the kids play. We spent the night in Panama City. The next morning we spent a couple of hours on Mexico beach. It is only about 30 minutes up the road and it is beautiful. The sand was white and fine. There were very few people there. The beach had lots of shells and cute little baby birds. Tyler loved chasing the birds. I wan't to go back there real soon.

The next day we went to Sea World. It was beautiful and sunny for a while, then the bottom dropped out. It rained until the park closed. We were sooooo unprepared: no umbrella, no raincoats, no anything. We were drowned rats. The kids didn't mind because they had been playing in the water for an hour and were already soaked. Mom and Dad weren't as happy. Our shoes didn't dry out until after we were home 3 days later. The second day at SeaWorld was awesome. We started the day feeding Sting Rays. I fell in love!!!! They are soooo sweet. The just suck the fish out of your had. It is like getting a kiss. Then you could pet them. They are so soft. They swam around this tank and would come up to the side and flap their "wings" at you and stick their heads out as to say, "feed me, please."
The dolphins were just as awesome. We got to feed them also and pet them. Sweet. Then there is the Shamu show. What an emotional experience. The people who work with them are truly amazing! Shamu is HUGE! We have been studying ocean creatures for months and this trip was the icing on the cake. We have even decided to do a lapbook on whales for our science project at our homeschool group.

The last day we were there we went to Cocoa Beach. It was very cloudy. In fact you could watch the rain coming down the beach, but we stayed until it go to us. Then we went to the Kennedy Space Center. The beach was not as nice as the Gulf side of Florida. The sand isn't as pretty and there were no shells. The waves were wild that day due to the upcoming storm. The kids enjoyed splashing in them. Once a huge wave took them by suprise and down they went. Bobbi came up with seashells an sand in her cast. The both thought it was the coolest ride yet. I think they would have stayed even in the rain. The KSC was nice, but we were just way too tired to enjoy it. We took a bus tour and saw the Space Shuttle on the launching pad. However, it was raining so much we could barely see it. The next day we drove 13 hours straight to get home. We were all exhausted. Tyler ended us sleeping in a precarius way. Check out the slide show to see how I found him just an hour before we made it home. We can't wait until next year. We are going to go to the beach and just veg out for a few day. Check out the slide shows. They are in reverse order b/c I am still new to this blogging thing, but I am learning.

Astronomy Field Trip

Future anthropologists digging up dinosaur bones?

Picking up things like a Mars rover would.




Riding on a sea turtle.





Yesterday we went on a field trip to our local planetarium. The kids really liked it. It was specifically for homeschool children. They got to sit in the planetarium and look up at the stars as a cowboy told about the stars. It was pretty cool. Then they got to go to a special room with lots of hands on things to play with. They loved it.