A Visit to the Montshire

On Saturday, Wes and Wayne went to camp to spend the night. Cole has been having a rough time lately, so I thought it would be a good time to do something special for him. A couple of years ago, we went to the Montshire Museum in Norwich, and he's been asking to go again. I thought this would be a good time.

Heather experiments with pulleys and belts.

An underwater tornado, which Cole tells me is NOT the same as a whirlpool.

Heather tents herself with a giant bubble.

Cole discovers how frogs see. 

Viscosity of different liquids.

A live bee hive. There's a tube so they can go outside.

live carpenter ants

Cole participated in a Science Lab about red blood cells and was able to get a look at his own cells from the inside of his cheek.

Meanwhile, Heather compared her height to that of a dinosaur bone.

We ran into Kim Adams and her two children (apparently, the Montshire is the place to be when the hubbies are at camp) who texted a photo of this moose to Barry. It must have brought him luck because the next time we passed by her she said he had gotten one.

View from 3rd floor.

Cole defies gravity.

There are lots of things to do outside, including nature trails, but the weather was not great, so we didn't explore of the outdoors.

We did go on the planet walk

The planets are to scale, so the sun was a huge ball and Venus was a little bead.

It was a fun trip.

Just so you know, it is now Sunday afternoon and Heather just came in from outside and announced that it is snowing.

Heather Hunting

Heather just said that I should start a whole new blog that's just about her. I don't know about that, but here's a post that is all about her.

 Every year at this time, she jumps onto the hunting bandwagon along with her brother, father, and uncles.  She wanted to take the hunter safety course this fall but we said wait another year or so.

 In the meantime, she's taken over Wayne's BB gun and headed out to the forest in search of squirrels.

We had no school today because of Columbus Day. I don't think we've ever had it off before. 

 She did a lot of sitting, watching and listening, but never saw a good shot. 

 After a while she headed home.

 Squirrels are safe until next time.

Highlights of Autumn

We had amazing foliage this year.

There are lots of soccer games.

Walks in the woods.

Pumpkins in the garden.

Cole played soccer too.

We had a spooky moon.

Raking and ...

Jumping into the pile.

We picked a lot of apples and made a lot of applesauce and apple pie.

"Brace" Yourself for the VSO

The other day, Wayne and I drove to Burlington for a 2 hour orthodontist appointment. He came away with a mouth full of metal. I took this picture with my tablet. He doesn't really look this weird.

Wayne's got braces!

Last weekend, Wayne and his friends Asom and Ben participated in the Vermont Symphony Orchestra's  Green Room Program.  They got to have lunch at the Eastside with a member of the VSO.  Beforehand, they were given a CD of concert pieces to listen to. The lunch was to discuss the music, or anything that has to do with the orchestra, or anything that has anything to do with music.  The VSO has been touring with their "Made in Vermont" concert series which features a vermont composer. This year it was Beth Weiman (not pictured) and the boys got to meet her as well. All 3 of them are in the composing club so they had lots of questions for her. Cleo and I went along as chaperons.

 On the far left is music teacher Mrs Kennedy, Hilary Hatch VSO violinist, Cleo Asom's mom, Asom, Wayne, and Ben.

Here Hilary shows us her 300-year-old violin. Yes, 300.

After lunch, we all headed up to the Haskel Opera House where we were given a backstage tour, including of course, the green room where the rest of the orchestra members were getting ready for the stage. Then the concert. It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Found Part 2

Part 2 of the forgotten photos in my camera.

This is how we sent the last day of summer vacation.

 

 Wayne tried to teach Heather how to dive off the dock.

You can't hear much in this video, bit it's still cute.

Found Part 1

I forgot about these photos until I was going through my camera the other day.

Estelle and Lena's last days in Vermont.  They came over one afternoon and put on a play with Wayne and Heather on the porch.

It was about a princess who gets lost from her kingdom and joins another kingdom.

There was a bad guy in it.

 I just have to say here, that Wayne must be the best brother and cousin ever. He loved spending time with Estelle and Lena, even though it often meant participating in a dance performance or princess play. Not normally his cup of tea, but he is such a good sport. 

Bravo! Encore!