So, after a week learning about the difference between a swamp (wooded trees) and a marsh (grassy plants), watching graceful manatees dive down deep, and reading about the many plants and animals that make up what is known as the Everglades, we sat down to a meal representative of the area we studied.   Even though we already spent a week in Florida, we chose to dine that week like the astronauts.  This week, we ate like the Floridians do.

Everglades Dinner

Alligator Bread

Okay, maybe they don’t eat alligator bread, but that was our “kid friendly” part and a perfect conclusion to our week.  Don’t let this bread fool you into thinking it’s a crocodile, for, as we learned, crocodiles sport a long skinny snout, verses the wider front that graces the gator.  The kids LOVED this, of course and each chose a body part to enjoy.

Florida Jambalaya

Okay so this may not have been the most kid friendly as it was a teeny bit too spicey and I may have lost a little control with the cayenne pepper, but at least we could all breathe well for a few days.

Key Lime Pie

Just a tip, don’t send your spouse or significant other to a gourmet grocery store to buy key limes, turns out they are much more likely to be found at the typical run-of-the-mill store.  This key lime pie was simply delicious and will be stored away in my files of family favorites for sure!

Thank you Florida and thank you Jesus for the beautiful Everglades you made for us to enjoy.  Enjoy it we did!

Having had such wonderful experiences, I am even more curious to discover what it would be like to swim with the massive, chubby, short-legged creatures known as manatees.

This week as we have been learning about the Everglades, we couldn’t resist viewing a little footage of what that experience would be like.

Enjoy!

This week our focus is on creative writing/art. We started with a little geography reminder as we were in Florida not long ago for our week in Cape Canaveral (which was actually more of a week in space) learned some new spelling words, hit the library for a stash of reading materials, then began our small “project”.

I had Tallinn design some sort of swamp creature, which ended up being an animal with the body of an alligator, legs of a manatee, head of a turtle and teeth of a crocodile.  Sadly, somewhere in the process of being nine months pregnant and having a baby, that beautiful drawing has been lost into the abyss of misplaced art projects.  It never was brushed with the intended paint colors and was lost naked, with only an outline of number 2 pencil. 

After he designed this swamp creature I had him write a little (very little in fact) story about his animal.  If you have a seven-year-old son, you might understand how difficult this type of task can be for an energetic boy. Writing isn’t quite as fun as science and math and just plain being outside, but it was a first step and we will do many more, just not for a while .

Here is his simple story, using a few spelling words for extra motivation, copied exactly as he typed it on the computer.

Once there was a monster who was big bad and scary.  monster who lived in a marsh.  His mouth was as big as a garbage truck and it eats  people.he was a alligator mana tee turtle and a dolphin the dolphin was eaten by the alligator there were oranges by the swamp it was going southern there were palmtrees and the weather was                  very very very veryhothothothothot.

Awesome!

Everglades Spelling List

1. oranges

2. marsh

3. swamp

4. weather

5. palm

6. manatee

7. dolphin

8. southern

Bonus: alligator

Here’s our newest sweetness. 

 We just finished our week learning about the Everglades and I’ll post on that soon.

Thanks for hanging in there .

It was super cold at the Grand Canyon and the kids managed to find a "patch" of snow.

 Next stop: Four Corners

Everybody pick a state!

And last: Mesa Verde.

Burrrr!!!!

View from the top.

Good Times!

When we visit Farmer's Market, I usually give them each a couple of dollars to spend how they choose....adding a little math to the equation.

And, we bring along our bikes and scooters as this is a pretty kid-friendly place, nice and open with friendly shopkeepers.

Selecting our fish for the evening

Our favorite hummus bar.

Des Moines Dinner Menu

Yellow Beans (boiled with a hint of butter)

Grilled Halibut with Fennel

Fresh Gilroy Garlic Bread

Typically I like a bit more color in a meal, but the children chose the beans and preparing fish with fennel is one of my favorite ways to make it.  First, grill the fish, then cover and set aside, then, after dipping sliced fennel into flour, saute in butter until tender, seasoning with salt and pepper.  Serve fennel atop fish.  Delicious and the kids love it too!

We did one more farm activity that I will share the next time I get around to posting as it was quite fun as well!

I LOVE all the fun colors!

The taste of fresh eggs is simply unbeatable!

Of course we had to include bacon into our breakfast as well.

 And some somewhat untraditional, but simply delicious Pumpkin Clove Pancakes.

I make these quite often in the fall and add a bit of allspice and cinnamon as well.  They are always a big hit in our family, especially when topped with some pure maple syrup!

And what farmer can start the day without a cup of Café?

Now we’re ready to go work some fields…..or at least do some laundry .

Our first activity was to work on our own urban farm…

Our City Hens

 

Tallinn measured some spaces for planting seeds

 After measuring out our space, we came back inside and drew a grid using a book a friend let me borrow awhile back to maximize our space for growing vegetables.

Our plot size was 5′ x 7′, so we made a grid to correspond, marking off square feet using square inches, and then decided which seeds to plant in each square (as was recommended by the Square Foot Gardener).

This was actually quite technical to do and my brain was on overload by the time we were finished, but such a great way to incorporate math, especially for a boy who loves to build and design.  Maybe someday we’ll actually build and plant the garden we designed .

Des Moines Week Spelling Words

1. farmer

2. market

3. harvest

4. barn

5. seed

6. water

7. pumpkin

8. garden

9. planted

Bonus: vegetable