The Polar Express Field Trip

Meadow and I ventured out on a long, long field trip last Thursday. We had to get up at 3:30 am and be at my friend Debbie's house at 4:15 am, travel an hour away, board a Coach bus, and travel 4 hours to ride a train with the theme planned as, "The Polar Express."

The day was long and the train ride short and disappointing but the time spent between Meadow and I: PRICELESS. We spent the entire day together as best friends. We wore our pajamas! We watched 2 Christmas movies on the way to the train and 2 Christmas movies on the way home. We laughed, we talked and we truly had a ball.

Below are a few pictures of our trip.

Early morning, two sleepy girls!

After we arrived, we seen the *chefs* going to their coaches.

Gift shops were nearby.

The Engine

Our coach: The Dillsboro

Meadow in front of our coach

People walking down the tracks to find their coaches.

One of our chefs. She was so funny!

After we had boarded our coach. Look at that smile!

This picture shows the inside of the coach.

The view from our cabin before the train ride started. This was a very poverty sticken town. Nothing like what we had expected.

Meadow, taking pictures of me!

Mommy and Meadow

Our other chef getting things ready. We are served hot cocoa. Yummy!

We are also fed chocolate, marshmallow santas. Mmmm

Meadow in front of town decorations after our train ride.

Back on the coach bus.

Tired eyes, but we had a great time.

The disappointment came for several reasons. We were under the assumption that the place we were visiting was nicer than it was. We also thought that the train ride would last more than an hour and that the scenery would be at least pretty. There were spots that were gorgeous, with maybe two pretty homes, and a few places that you could see the river without seeing garbage or trash but for the most part there was junk every where. Who wants to ride down a dump road on a train? We had also been told that our tickets were first class and that we would be on the nicest coach, with souvenir Polar Express mugs with our cocoa and shortbread cookies. That wasn't true. Traveling more than 4 hours each way was a hard day just to ride this train. BUT as stated above, Meadow and I had a great time together.

MFW Update Week 25

We finished week 25 last week but didn't get to move onto week 26 as I had hoped. That is perfectly fine, these next few weeks are jam packed with history reading, state reports and presidents!

We had a great homeschool week. We finished our missionary book about William Carey. Once again I learned so much. I think it is so awesome to see (well read about) people with patience and trust in the Lord. William had to deal with many unpleasant situations and people. As I was reading there were several times that I found myself fed up and thinking, "I would have done this".....or "I would have said that"....but as I kept reading I was shown a whole new way of handling things.

I stopped and thought to myself, at the age of 38 is that possible? It would seem that being a Christian myself and living the life we live that this kind of behavior would be typical in our environment and every day life. Sadly, it isn't.

I was once again reminded of how far I have to go, and that I am not setting the best example for my children.

Lord, forgive me. Show me, mold me. Let me MORE like YOU!

This is one of my favorite things about My Father's World. It deepens my relationship with Christ, it convicts me and brings me to repentance. A place I never want to find myself short of.

We did go on our field trip to see the Tabernacle. I'm going to link it below so that you can see it for yourself and later this week when I have more time I will load and post our pictures. I had such a great time. It was a huge blessing and opportunity for our family to have the honor of being able to go and visit something of this magnitude. It brought the plan of Redemption to life. It really focused on repentance and the need for the covering of Jesus' blood to wash away that sin.

The Traveling Tabernacle

Virtual Field Trip

I thought that this was very interesting and that it'd be nice to share. Let me know what you think about this. This story really touched my heart.

Just click below:

You're Invited! Meet Winter-the Dolphin at Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida!

Friday's Field Trip

We had a wonderful time, my husband ended up being off of work and got to go with us and that made the trip extra special to all of us.

I love this picture of Meadow. We ate lunch at IHOP before going to the museum.

Daddy and Sky

Meadow and Mommy

Sky and Meadow playing a huge Xylophone

A Trolley, I really wanted to ride!

This was a weather station, so Sky and I tried our hands at being weather women...I don't think we are cut out for the job!

Mommy and Sky being silly.

Sky reporting a tornado!

Not sure what this is called but it was pretty.

This was in the History part of the museum. We've been reading a lot about families that had to weave for a living with the loom in the middle of their home. It was neat to see how large they really are.

A copper pot used to make apple butter.

Tee pee and an Indian

Inside of a cabin replica.

Battleship

I tried to get a close up so you could see the details.

Monkey Toes Meadow!

These next few pictures were taken inside the Mega Dome Theatre while we were watching the movie. Very neat and interesting shots.

This was a picture taken from the top floor looking down.

And that's all. I could have posted so many more but it felt like I loaded pictures forever. We had a great time and really enjoyed being together as a family. It's a wonderful part of homeschooling. I'm so thankful for the opportunity. God is so good to us.

Bunny Adventures-Part 2

After Tuesday I was almost hesitant to go to see more bunnies but we were on a mission....so I found what looked to be a wonderful Rabbitry only an hour and a half away. It turned out to be a G-R-E-A-T rabbitry. This lady was so nice to me through e-mail and was willing to work us in last minute. She had a huge barn that she kept all her bunnies in and the only bunny she breeds is the Holland Lop.

Brenda introduced herself and shook my hand and I was thinking, "Praise God, this feels good." Brenda showed us around her barn and shared with us a wealth of information on Holland Lops. I was so excited. She put her Grand Champions up on blocks and showed us what the judges would look for if we decided to show our bunnies. She showed us differences in the bunnies, how one had this better or one had that better. The thing that excited me the most was that even if she pointed out what a judge would consider a fault, I couldn't see it. Her pet bunnies were show bunnies and I'm NOT kidding.

She proceeded to show me little kits that were only four hours old, 7 days old and then 14 days old. (Don't you know I forgot my camera and didn't get pictures of this wonderful experience!) This was truly an educational field trip on bunnies. Exactly what I'd been hoping for.

Brenda showed me Lops that were so friendly and some that were more shy. I learned that the boys were absolute lovey doveys and that my thoughts of having all girls was silly. The bunnies that I did finally end up getting have pedigrees and Grand Champion bloodlines. Not that that will matter, I really don't know that the girls and I will show our bunnies but you just never know. I'm going to continue studying it this winter.

Meadow decided on a buck that is 12 weeks old. We had a hard time choosing a name but finally all decided on Frodo. Here he is.

Meadow holding Frodo like a baby, notice how friendly he is.

I love the beautiful color of these Holland Lops, it is called broken tortoise.

Here is Frodo on the carpet.

Sky decided on a sweet doe that is 16 weeks old. I know looking at these pictures its very hard to tell them apart. They really do look so much alike. Sky named hers Bella. Bella doesn't like to be held as much as Frodo, she prefers to have her freedom and hop around the house! We are giving Bella a two week trial, and in two weeks if Brenda calls and has this other buck ready we may take her back and exchange her. Bucks are just friendlier and it would save me the worries of them ever breeding....which we would breed some beautiful Holland Lops if I decided to go that route, but we really were just looking for pets. I could get both bucks fixed and they'd live in perfect harmony. :) We shall see.

Bella, hopping in front of the piano.

Bella, facing me.
The butterfly shaped coloring on her nose is higher than Frodo's and the color is darker. I'll be posting more pictures of them soon.

Tony finally got one of the cages together today, so we've moved them over into it. I did have them in a dog cage but there is no wire for the poopies to drop through. We are going to set up the big cage as a play area for them a change of scenery and exercise. I am so glad that we went with the Holland Lops. They really are a friendly, furry and hearty breed. I just love bunnies!

Bunny Adventures-Part 1

Boy has it been a long week.

The girls decided a while back that they wanted bunnies but with getting the lovebirds and being as busy as we've been I was just taking my time and studying the breed we wanted.

Meadow really wanted a Netherland Dwarf or a Hotot. Have you ever seen a Hotot? They are a beautiful solid white dwarf breed with a black circle around their eyes that looks like eyeliner. They are known as *Fancy Eyes*.

Well I had searched and searched online and had finally found what I thought was a good breeder about 2 1/2 hours away. We went through her web site and seen what was available, I e-mailed the breeder and talked with her on the phone and decided to make the trip up there.

Were we so disappointed. Meadow went right in and found the bunny she'd seen online that said it was available. "Here she is mommy, here is the one I want!" The lady said, I don't believe she is available. Meadow said, "She was on the web site." The lady picked one rabbit out of two different litters and told Meadow she could choose from them. We took one look at them and knew why she was selling them. They were not near as pretty and were over twice the size.

Now, I do understand that breeders keep the show animals and why they do this but to advertise a show bunny and try to swap out pet animals-some with severe conditions is deception.

We left not buying a bunny.

Meadow cried her heart out.

On our way home I passed a sign that said, "Dwarf Rabbits". So we pulled in. They had two tiny (and I mean tiny) white Netherland Dwarf bunnies. Meadow fell in love with the girl and they were only $25 so after all we'd been through I caved and bought her.

Meadow named her Lulu.

We got home at 6:45 pm, she was a small fragile, very pretty bunny. I could tell her ears were way to long for a Netherland but that was okay. We wanted to love her and give her a home. At 9:00 pm she started shaking and died within minutes on my tummy. It was a very horrible, traumatic experience. Meadow cried her heart out again and slept with Tony and I.

Meadow wanted to give Lulu a funeral and bury her. I called the Pet Store but the man refused to allow that and give me credit for what I'd paid for her. I had to box her and take her back to the store.

Here she is:

Lulu

Lulu

There is more to our bunny adventures and I'll share them a little later, tonight I'm exhausted and I don't to write too long of a post on here. Stay tuned for Part-2.

Rest in Peace Lulu

The Zoo

Our field trip with my dad Wednesday was great. We had a blast and I was very impressed by what the girls learned. I must be a woman of few words today. I'm on a schedule and I only had time to load pictures. Hope you enjoy.