Experiments

We have been trying to make crystals. We have done two experiments and both have not been great. The first one we used charcoal. There were little crystals but not as big as we would have like.

The second experiment we tried making sugar crystals. It has been a little better. You can see some forming on the picture below. I think I am going to leave this jars out for a couple of months and see what happens. (We need to have some days without rain).

Anyway, we have one more experiment we are going to try out. If you have any recipes for growing crystals we would love to try them.

Henry the Cub Scout

Ready to go to his first "offical" den meeting

Henry got to start a couple of months early. (There are advantages of having your mother as the den leader)!!!!
Henry got his Bobcat on Friday. He thought pack meeting was really fun!!!!

The best part about pack meeting is the treats at the end.

Henry loves being a cub scout!!!

Grandma's Visit

Well, I took NO pictures while grandma was here----So you will have to imagine what we did. We hung out. We played games and games and even more games. Grandma taught Henry how to play chess. Then the boys couldn't get enough playing time after that. We also played a couple of new games we got for Christmas. It was great!!!!! We also went for a couple of walks and ate out a couple of times. It was really nice and relaxing. The boys said their favorite part was playing games and Lizzy loved helping Grandma!!!!

This week we have been busy going here and there. It seems like I haven't been home. And when I am home I am cooking meals.

Lizzy is a sunbeam

What more can I say. Isn't she a cute sunbeam!!!!

Victoria, Canada

Well, we finally did it. I have been wanting to go to Victoria to Butchart Gardens to see the Christmas lights. It was really fun. We went over for 3 days so we wouldn't be so rushed. We went and did all the tourist stuff we normally do. It was great to be there for a couple of days. We slept in, played at the hotel pool and even find Henry some new shoes. YES---it has taked almost 7 hours of shopping to find shoes Henry likes (and he is 1/2 size smaller then Thomas!!!!) Overall, the trip was nice and relaxing (as relaxing as you can have with three children going in different directions). It is great to have older children!!!!

Between the three cameras we took over 350 pictures. You can tell their personalities by what they took picture of.......

Thomas' pictures

Thomas took pictures of birds, the water going fast under the Coho, models of villages, boats, etc.

Henry's pictures!!!!

Henry took pictures of fossils, bugs (alive and dead---didn't matter), boats, airplanes, etc.!!!!



Enjoy our pictures!!!!!

The kids at Butchart Gardens in the Japenesse section.

British Museum

Okay, this is not in the British Museum but the boys are on the Coho coming over. The wind was really strong. I personally don't get seasick and actually like the rocking feeling. None of the kids got sick either. It was fun to be a boat ride that long (It takes about 1 1/2 hours to get to Victoria).
Lizzy being a spider playing hopscotch.

Henry learning about entomology at the British Museum. They had an exhibit about what the scientist do who work at the museum. I thought it wouldn't be that good but I really like it. It was really fun to see what scientist do over in this part of the world. I could work for them. They had Life studies so entomology, ornithology, botany, invertebrates, etc. Henry loved the bugs, Thomas loved the birds, I was fascinated with all the animals, Lizzy went this way and that way and Chris tried to stay with her.

Thomas enjoying a minute of quiet at the museum.

Lizzy always on the go!!!!

I didn't get to many pictures here (because my camera doesn't take really good pictures without the flash). The British Museum is one of my favorite museum. It reminds me of the one we would go to in Denver (even though there isn't many similar artifacts).

We also went and saw an IMAX while we were at the museum---about waves!!!!

Butchart Gardens and skating

Thomas skating.

He is a lot like Chris where he can go do something once and be pretty good at it. He slipped a couple of times but got the hang of it pretty quickly!!!! He says he likes roller skating better but I think if he did this more often he would be really good at it.
Chris helping Lizzy out. She didn't like it at all!!!! She was on for maybe 10 minutes and then Lizzy and I got off and looked at the train.

Henry is awesome. By the end of the time he was getting the hang of it. I think it is great that he is willing to try anything (well almost anything).

Henry got better as he went along. He was willing to get off the fence and try skating on his own. He had a hard time getting back up.

There is Chris just hanging out. (Ask him how many times he has went. Not many and he is pretty good at it)!!!

Lizzy liked this part the best. Eating the snow on the side. Yeah---we have a problem with eating things we shouldn't. (The grossest thing on the trip---She dropped her gum in the public bathroom and put it back in her mouth. When I told her she should throw it away (already in her mouth) she chewed harder.

The only family picture we got. Enjoy!!!!

I like this Buddha. This was in the Japanese garden.

This is the sucken garden during the day.

This is at night. I didn't get a really good picture but hopefully you get the idea.

The kids and Annabella!!!!

Lizzy didn't like skating at all but she loved the carousel. She could have gone on it over and over again with every different animal.

Henry sitting on the city bus after a night of fun. He earned the candy cane by finding every thing on the scavenger hunt. He looks like he had a great time.

They also looked like they had fun but they look like they are tired!!!!