Seattle Aquarium

Seattle is unlike any other city I've seen.  It felt like a mix between Houston, Baytown, and a forest full of pine trees. It's right on the coast where there is a lot of shipping so there are a ton of shipping containers and cranes but there's also beautiful water just feet away from the city and huge boats coming in and out of the harbor.  The city is filled with brightly colored houses and murals painted on walls, leaves changing color, and hills throughout downtown.  The driving part wasn't super fun for Audrey but most of the time she was distracted by her surroundings so we made it through just fine. After going to the beach we decided to go to the aquarium which is right next to the ocean.  While we were there we got to see so many new things but Audrey's favorite was the River Otter.  She could have stood there forever watching them.  She was so excited about them that all she wanted to do when she got home was learn more and write about them.  My favorite and dare I say a bucket list item was touching the Star Fish and the Sea Anemone.  The Star Fish was like sand paper when I expected it to be more squishy.  The second you put your finger near the Anemone it's tentacles wrap your finger. They were soft but when they wrapped your finger it was more rough like sandpaper that sticks.  It was the weirdest thing I have ever felt.  We also got to watch a Sea Lion show and watch a diver dive into one of the tanks.  It was definitely a home school win.  It think I have a science lover on my hands.    

Lovely Seattle

 In the last several years we have done a lot of road trips to new places we have never been to.  It was really fun living in Houston and having a whole new set of states and cities we had never seen.  We were able to see Austin, San Antonio, Baton Rouge, and Orange Beach.  When we moved here I was excited about exploring a new area and taking more road trips.  This year we went to Yellowstone with Rod and Anne which was super fun and hopefully next year we can take a trip to Glacier which I've heard is amazing. 
Unfortunately, other than these two things there's not as much to see up here in the North in lieu of a 4- 6 hour drive.  Luckily we had some airline points in September and decided to make a trip to Seattle.  I had never been to Seattle so I was excited to see the northwest coast.  We've been missing beaches around here.  

So after deciding on our destination, it wasn't long before we were packing up and heading out.  

A friend recommended that we go to a beach at low tide to see some marine life. As luck would have it we got to Seattle right a low tide.  We weren't able to see live marine life.  The birds were right there waiting with us for their next meal so when we arrived a lot of the crabs and clams were just shells of what they had been.  

I was amazed by the large sea shells, coming from the south where nothing like that exists on the beach.  Audrey was gathering them up by the armfuls, insisting that she was going to take them all with her.  She has always been a collector and sea shells are no exception.  She was in heaven and was a little disappointed when I would only allow her to take two home.  The water was a little cold, but it was so relaxing wading through the shallow pools in search of what we considered treasure. 

 As we walked we noticed squirting water coming up out of the sand. Paul got hit several times by what seemed to be little geysers. After doing our homeschooling research by searching google, and doing a little digging in the sand were we able to find out what was happening.  Here it is for you...if you didn't already know.  

The squirting was coming from the Rough Piddock clam.  This clam rasps away at clay and soft rock to create a burrow where it will live for about 8 years.  The part of the clam that beach goers see is the siphon, which extends from the buried clam up to the water.  The siphon allows water to circulate in and out of the clam for feeding, breathing and reproduction. 

After reading this we had to do some extra digging to validate our research so when Paul felt water hit his leg again he started digging in the sand and found a siphon from one of the clams buried just below the surface of the sand. 

After the stress with work it was good to put our toes in some cool sand and enjoy some new sites and sounds.  There's also something about gathering together in the late afternoon in a hotel room to  eat dinner and watch our favorite cable shows. 
Memories made!

School at Home

We started school in August and I found out really quickly that this year was not going to be like her kindergarten year.  Not all days have been rainbows and butterflies.  Some days are just hard, hard on both of us.  I had to make a schedule because I found that she was asking me..."what's next?" all day long.  Most days we don't follow it exactly, she has some classes at school and gymnastics once a week but it helps a lot with the flow of our day.  She knows what to expect and it helps to minimize questions.  

We also had to make a progress tracker.  She starts at 5 every morning and every time we finish a subject or an assignment she moves up a number.  Sometimes she gets to 10 before we finish what we have to do for the day and other times she doesn't.  If she struggles with behavior or refuses to let me teach her then she moves down.  If she makes it to ten for 5 days then she gets a 1 dollar prize.  The target dollar section has been amazing for this.  So far she has earned Halloween window stickers, a Halloween Sticker book, a pair of socks, and glow in the dark fingernail polish.  Most days she is really motivated to get her sticker for the day but we have had a couple days where she hasn't made it.  

Overall I'm really happy that we decided to home school this year.  It's been so rewarding for me to see her progress and to learn right a long side of her.  We've been learning about early history and there's so much that I have forgotten that I have loved relearning.  I've loved exploring new literature, poetry, and learning about new bugs and reptiles.  

I am so happy that we were able to go to Seattle and that we are able to go to Utah a couple more times before the end of the year.  The flexibility of  home school has been well worth it.  

She's learning so much more and she's loved making new friends along the way.

One of my favorite things has been watching her write.  She's supposed to write a thoughtful thank you note 1 to 2 times a week.  It's been so fun to watch her think of ways to thank other people and to see her get excited about doing it.  I love that she's learning gratitude and her writing is getting better everyday.  

 I love being able to spend time teaching her one on one....It's just something I love to do.  I feel really blessed to be able to do it at this stage in my life.  

Keep growing little one.