{Pretty,Happy,Funny,Real}

-Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life-

I thought I would share  the cover on my facebook right now,  the view was glorious! 

{Pretty}

For part of this week we went on a little miniature vacation to our friends lake house. However, since it's Fall we thought it would be fun to explore the surrounding area. We visited the Confederate Reunion Grounds and Fort Parker State Park. These were both very interesting sites, however, I would suggest planning to visit both sites on the same day if you are going to make a special trip to see them. Fort State Parker is very small.  The woman who works at the Confederate Reunion Grounds is very well versed on the site and it is more then worth it to go into the gift/resource center and pick her brain! 

Confederate Reunion

(Happy}

This is the preschool group from our co-op. This week the preschoolers got to dip their hands into pumpkins for exploration time during co-op. I was surprised at how many of them didn't want to get their hands dirty. My two however were all about digging out the goup and getting the seeds! They enjoyed learning about pumpkins and 'most' of them enjoyed the baked pumpkins seeds. But I do need to brag on these tiny tots for a moment all of the children from the five families tried at least one pumpkin seed!

We took our Christmas pictures at the lake and I took a few individual pictures of the children and this is just such a sweet picture of Shooshoo,  that it makes me smile.

{Funny}

A whole room full of kids dressed as astronauts in winter clothes during a hot Texas fall. Seriously, I think it was like 85 or 90 degrees outside. My kiddos are even wear parts of my husband's bee suits to complete  their intergalactic look. The kiddos also all agreed that it must be very difficult for astronauts to work in their space suits.

{Real}

Our real life organization...I have to say that since this blog is weeks behind our actual life that we have really made some very real strides in organization since these photos were taken. In fact, yesterdays bill payments & filing only took a few minutes to complete and I was able to quickly call the 1 person that needed a follow up. A miracle has occurred, I do not have lots of stress in regards to wondering what is in the pile of bills & misc. papers that I am missing. In fact there is no pile! This has been accomplished through utilizing a bill organization system and a filing system from a VERY organized woman on YouTube. Getting more organized has given me a lot of mental peace in my heart!

Remember we serve a God of order not of chaos!


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Field Trips: Central Texas

Welcome to our families personal online list of field trips, I hope you find something your family will enjoy. Please leave the names of any field trips not on this list in the comments so it can be added to the list.

So this week we are participating in Hip Homeschool Mama's Field Trip Ideas Around the World. Our family loves museums & zoos so we tend to go out of our way to visit them. As I have grown in my homeschooling I have had to temper my desire to do LOTS of field trips but we still make time for this kind of super fun experiential learning.

Houston Area Field Trips:

• Space Center Houston - We went to Space Center Houston several years ago during it's school days program. We saw several versions of the space shuttle, sat in "mission command" and the kids answered questions, toured the facility on a 'tram', & enjoyed the various exhibits/experiments they had set up. 
• Houston Zoo - We really enjoy going to the Houston Zoo. It is a large zoo but you can see the entire zoo in one day if you get there early and keep moving.
• Weather Museum - We have been to this museum once and we really enjoyed it. However, in my opinion it is over priced and I would suggest attending on a free day! 
• Houston Museum of Fine Arts- The last time we visited this museum was when it had an exhibit featuring impressionists. We had a wonderful experience and the kids really enjoyed seeing Monet, VanGogh & Degas and frankly so did I. WARNING- Please check the exhibits they they currently have and make sure they are appropriate for children. For instance right now they have "120 days of Sodom", this is not an exhibit we will be attending. 
• Houston Natural Science Museum - You can click -here- to read a post on our old blog about one of our many field trip to the Houston Natural Science Museum. This is one of our favorite 
•  laces to visit in Houston. It is of course evolutionary in it's perspective but we have an  pologetics attitude about  museums. We have our children note each reference to evolution and Mama keeps score and they earn prizes for pointing out evolutionary theory. 
• Children's Museum of Houston- The kids have been to this museum several times when we had a premature baby in Texas Children's Hospital. So I have very fond memories of this museum. It is huge and there are lots of things to do for a wide age range. We haven't been in the last few years and it's my understanding that they have remodeled it. 
• Houston Health Museum- We have been to this museum a couple of times on the free days. This muesum is jam packed with interactive activities that our kiddos really enjoyed. They also have a couple of movie theater type displays one of which featured Bill Nye the Science Guy. I also recommend this field trip on it's free day. 
• The Rest of the Houston Museum District - this is a list of the many museums in Houston.



Houston Zoo

• Forbidden Gardens - "The latter invites tourists to "Discover the mysteries of Imperial China," but the world's oldest civilization has proved no match for the blistering sun and hothouse humidity of south Texas. Still, we recommend visiting F.G., a unique sight for Texas " 

Brazos Valley Field Trips

• Washington on the Brazos - In August Washington on the Brazos has an education program for teachers that I have attended with 10ish year old children. Then in September they have school programs for different ages. This trip is well worth the money and the time if you are studying this time period. We will return to Washington on the Brazos in two years when we get back to American History.
• Anderson, TX Stage Coach Days and the Fanthrop Inn...This event is jam packed full of re-enactors and re-enactments. Another field trip well suited to the study of early Texas or American History. 
• Burton Cotton Gin - We haven't been there yet, this is another field trip that is on my list when we get back to early American history.



Fanthrop Inn

• Antique Rose Emporium -One of my favorite places to go to explore all the flora and fauna.

• Blue Bell Ice Cream - This is an informative video and tour of the ice cream manufacturer. We have gone on it 3 or 4 times. At the end of the tour you get a free scoop of yummy Blue Bell Ice Cream. (Children under 6 are free)
• Texas  A&M Vet School Open House
• Texas A&M Chemistry Open House
• Bio Blitz at Lick Creek 
• Air Port
• HEB (grocery Store)
• The Eagle (News Paper)
• Brazos Valley Solid Waste Management (aka the dump)
• Police Station
• Fire Department
• Brazos Valley Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch
• Animal Shelter 
• Brazos Valley Natural History Museum - This is a very small museum we have visited many times. 
• Brazos Valley Children's Museum - We have been to this museum several times but not in recent years.It is a very good small town museum. 



Houston Museum of Natural Science George Bush Museum

• Renaissance Festival School Days (Other days it is my understanding that there is a lot of drunkenness & 1/2 naked women)
• Younderway Farm- A working Farm that produces beef, pork, chicken and eggs runs by the Kramer Family! This farm delivers it's wonderful food to several strategic spots in Central Texas.

North of Bryan College Station Area (Waco, Dallas etc...)

• McDonald Observatory- We have not gone to this one yet but it's on my list of family field trips this year since we are studying Astronomy this year. 
• Witt
• Dr. Pepper Museum
• Waco Zoo -here-
• Mayborn Museum in Waco- You can click -here- to read a post on our old blog about our field trip to this little children's type museum. 

• Fort Worth Zoo - We love this zoo it's very family friendly, it's small enough to be feel small town but big enough to be fully entertaining. 
• Sand Creek Farm - A working farm that uses plow horses, aqua-phonics and makes raw milk.A very enjoyable field trip especially for city slickers.

I hope you are able to infuse a bit of excitement into your homeschool with the occasional excursion off the beaten trail.

Also, please leave your Central Texas (and general) Field Trip ideas in the comments I am really looking forward to hearing from y'all!