Trixie's Travels...

Open roads in Arizona

We left my sis and bro-in-law's house and started to make our way to Colorado to see my dear friend and her family. 

The weather was a lovely 80-ish degrees when we left Phoenix and as we started to get into higher elevation the clouds, the rain, and then the snow proceeded to show itself. 

Spooky picture,  eh?  Just think of what those dark clouds were bringing our way!

As we hit Flagstaff the temp was cooler and I needed to make sure that our stuff wouldn't get soaked from the snow/rain. It seemed that I was leaving with far more stuff than I had come with!  Nothing unusual - it seems to be my lot in life - always the one hauling extra stuff around (it is a family joke) and then having a life of constant purging! 

This is a random picture that I whipped of the road for - just thought the "brand" was cool.

As we went headed towards Albuquerque, we popped into the Petrified Forest National Park.  We were only able to look around in the Visitors Center as the park was closing minutes after we arrived.  The kids quickly pointed out that Arizona's State Fossil was Petrified wood. Bummer we couldn't check it out for ourselves - but gave us something to put in our "Arizona - to see" file. 

Albuquerque, New Mexico would be our 1,300 mile mark for driving "on the road".  That didn't count all the "in town" driving while we were in Phoenix. 

The clouds just went on for miles.  I love that open space feeling.  You just look and you can see for miles but things can change in an instant.  In Montana, I have heard it said that the weather changes every 10 minutes and for the times that I have been there I can attest to that - I am sure that it is no different in these parts....

We pulled into Albuquerque at night with it snowing pretty steady.  Visibility wasn't that great on the road but the kids and I had made it and we were able to rest our heads for the night before another day's drive. 

While in Albuquerque, I wanted to check out Petroglyph National Monument, we woke up to late and so this to shall be filed under "New Mexico - to see".  Pook was disappointed that we had driven over the Rio Grande at night - he wanted to see it - thanks to his geography class! Nothing like "pratical application"!

Another day down and a few more to go!

Happy Trails!

Me & the Yahoos

Well, we are off again on another leg of our trip.  Looking forward to seeing my dear friend and her family.  So the Yahoo's and I are out of here for a little bit -

You'll have to wait until we are at a computer stop to see what we have been up to next!

Happy Trails!

Trixie

Our Study of the Great State of Arizona....

We have been in Arizona for over 2 weeks now for a couple of reasons....one,  Hot Rocks has military training right now and he has been gone a significant amount of time with a number of weeks until completion and I need a distraction for the kids to take their mind off of his absence.  That is where number two comes into play, we decided to visit my sister and brother in law for a little bit. 

The great thing about homeschooling is that I can teach in ANY home whether my own, a relatives or a friend's home.  I decided to have the kids dig in a little deeper about Arizona and we have taken a number of field trips to add to their studies.

These things have been the basis or should I say the outline of their study:

A Notebooking packet about Arizona that I purchased from CurrClick and a Teacher's Resource Guide that was on-line from the Arizona State Capitol Museum.

I purchased some readers for the kids that each would find interesting...

Sis is reading the Amazing Girls of Arizona and Pook is reading And It Is Still That Way.  I also purchased Arizona Family Field Trips and this has been extremely helpful with information.  The trips that can be taken are divided up demographically.  The Arizona State book was needed for specific information about Arizona. 

The Field Trip book has been quite handy and we have taken in the following places so far....

Desert Botanical Gardens

Arizona State Capitol Museum

Phoenix Art Museum

Arizona Science Center

Heard Art Museum

I decided that I would stay local this trip and try to see things in areas instead of spreading myself so thin by driving crazy amounts of miles to see a variety of stuff.  We have been able to see a variety of things all within 30 minutes of where we are staying - that makes for a much easier learning experience (and sanity)!

I would like to tell you that we went to a few more places but we really couldn't squeeze much more in.  I still had to do laundry, run errands, schooling and what not.

I did run across a few websites that I found helpful in our study:

World Atlas

SOS for Kids

(State Songs - yes, they have two!)

State Symbols USA

50 States

Arizona State Legislature

I don't think that the kids will finish their notebooking before we leave to our next destination but they will know quite a bit more than when we first got here.

An example of that would be that we took our final tour of the Desert Botanical Gardens yesterday and Pook was pointing out a number of "State Symbols" that were around us...a Cactus Wren, the Saguaro Cactus Bloom, etc.

I did pick up a few more books along the way that have been beneficial for their studies.... 

 

 

 

Happy Studies!

Desert Botanical Gardens - Butterfly Exhibit

This was our third and final trip to the Desert Botanical Gardens this visit to Arizona.  We were able to enjoy the Butterfly Exhibit - aahhhh!!!  The kids went around identifying the butterflies that were floating about the garden.  There were not as many butterflies, as when we went a couple of years ago but the exhibit had just opened.  We found out that the butterflies are shipped from Florida for this particular exhibit.

Here are a few pictures of what you might see, should you go to the exhibit...

The Buckeye was the most elusive one - the kids searched for it EVERYWHERE - and then finally as we were about to leave....POOF! It appeared!

We decided to hunt down the last of the Chihuly pieces that we had missed before and we were not disappointed....

This was on an outside corner that we had missed on our first visit.

This piece was a little above the blue rods and next to the red rods with black pieces mixed in.  The names have escaped me so I will not be of much help.

I love the green boat - wish I had one for a planter box!

The following pictures are from the last batch that I took and they are some of my favorites....

I love the clouds behind "The Sun" on the above picture.

Sis looks so sweet here!

This gate is actually a maintenance entrance and I cut off the part that had the "Employees Only" - this is my kind of gate...I wonder if I could get my Dad to do something like this for me????  I have been gone for quite some time and it would be a great welcome home gift ..... hint hint 

What do you think about the black spikes of this cactus??? 

Mem was all over the walkways doin' crazy things like this!  Hopping up and down...singing....talking LOUDLY...zipping in and out of the "older" people.  She is just such a joy to try and keep up with! HA!

You know me and the dead stuff!

What do you think this is?



At first glance, doesn't it look like an alligator or something?  It is actually a deceased cactus.  How do you like that "deceased" cactus label???

Final photo...this is Mem and Auntie.  This pix was sooo fun to take.  The two of them kept playing "in the shadows" and it was pretty funny!

If you'll be in the Phoenix area within the next month definitely check out the gardens - we STILL didn't get through the whole thing!!!

Happy Trails!

Pucker Up! Post Giveaway Winners!!!

Yippee!  Well, it was the final evening of giveaways for awhile and "Hoo" will the owls find a new home with???  Let's see what Mr. Random Number Generator says:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

4

Timestamp: 2009-03-11 03:16:18 UTC

Hoot! Hoot!  for #4 and who might that person be?  None other than.....

What cheers me up during those crazy times is just plain 'ole quiet time with the familia. I love to have the boys jump up on my bed, pop in a good movie, pop some corn and just BE.

Posted by: Sonya Gala | March 10, 2009 at 11:38 AM

Yeah for Sonya!!! You are the proud adoptive parent of OBP's unmounted -

Theo, Jane,  Vinnie AND Eddie

Congrats and thanks to everyone who played - I will send them out before I leave the great state of Arizona! 

Happy Trails!

I'd Share My Branch With You Anyday...

I made this card for my sister - she and her husband have let me & the kids crash here for almost three weeks.  She's kinda special - I would pretty much call her my best friend. 

So I stayed up really late (mostly because I had coffee REALLY late) and whipped it up for her!

It was fun.  I started with the leaves and put them together then just went on from there.  I knew that I wanted to use the My Favorite Things Owls of the Season set.... so there you have it a card for Karrie.

Don't forget about our Odd Bird Planet unmounted stamp give-aways - so leave a comment on my blog or Karrie's blog.

Have a Great Day!!!

Pucker Up!

I just kissed my kids good-nite so it is the perfect time to post this card!  I actually made it before leaving for Arizona.  I just never got to post it and since I have 4 (FOUR, yes, FOUR!) more owls stamps by OBP to give away - I thought it would be the perfect time to post it.....

I LOVE these Odd Bird Planet goldfish!!!  I wrote the "Pucker Up!" on the card and drew the little heart in the middle of the fish because I didn't have a small enough heart stamp to go in between them.

So let's get down to the nitty gritty of this post - other than showing off another card - these little Hooters need a new home!!!

Odd Bird Planet turned out some cuties - I AM completely biased as to how cute these owls are because my sister, Karrie, drew them and Johanna rubbered them up!

Let the Hoots begin!......

Up for a new Hoot home is......

Theo, Jane,  Vinnie AND Eddie

Can you believe there are 4 unmounted OBP stamps up for grabs and all you need to do is leave a comment.  I have had a tough last couple of days so why don't you tell me something that cheers you up when things are a little crazy?

I will select the winner on Tuesday, March 10th at 6pm PST. 

Have a great day and who knows where we'll be next!

Heard Art Museum

Isn't that the truth?  We heard about the Heard Art Museum through one of my sister's co-workers.  I want to start off from the get go - if you have kids - you NEED to visit this museum!!!  It is in my top 2 of all the museums that we have visited so far in our homeschooling journey. 

Let me continue with our day....

Pook started out with a pix of the ladies at the entrance..

He had to take a couple because I was trying to show him how to zoom in a little and not have soooo much background.  He did pretty good!

On the way to the two kids galleries that they have - we went through the Underworldness Gallery by Navajo painter Tony Abeyta.  These paintings were amazing!

Pook was impressed with this picture.  The whole Art Museum is dedicated to Native Americans, their art, their history, their story. 

In the first kid's gallery, we were introduced to the 22 tribes that called/call Arizona home.  Each tribe was briefly written about in different displays.  There were readings that were done by different members of the tribes, teaching about their language and the special skills that each possesses.

There were many activities for the kids - that is an understatement! - Let me put it like this, if we had done all the activities that were available; we wouldn't have gotten out of the 1st gallery for well over 3 hours - we were in there for over an hour as it was!

We headed over to the second kid friendly gallery and this one was no different than the first one that we had just finished....

There were canoe trips,

There were crafts to be done,

Rare tender moments between the ladies of the family,

Bodies to keep warm...

Sitting on an iceberg is never easy or warm enough!

The kids made their own blankets that tell their own stories...

This one wasn't done by the kids! LOL!

These walls were in the Mothers & Daughters Exhibit - I would like a mural in my house like this one.....

I love the shadows that the beads cast upon the wall.....

There was so much more that we were not able to really appreciate.  I was amazed at these playing cards that one of tribes had made...



I never know how my kids will respond to the different museums that we visit.  It was unanimous that this museum was one of the top museums and they would definitely like to return to it. 

If you are in the Phoenix area, this is one that you need to check out with your kids - can't say enough good things about it!

We Have Another Winner!!!

Wow!  Where did the last couple days go?  I wasn't quite on top of the ole' blog posting but hey I'm here now and that is what matters....right?  Ok, you don't have to answer that.

On Friday, I was giving away these two cute little Odd Bird Planet unmounted stamps:

Karrie's Alf Owl

AND
  Karrie's Lil' Jack Owl

So let's go to the great Random Integer Number picker and see what it says ( I feel like I am going to visit Oz in The Wizard of Oz):

There were 7 that entered with comments and a drum roll please, the winner is:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

7

Timestamp: 2009-03-08 23:34:35 UTC

Who might that be?  Well none other than this sweet post....

Good luck in the MFT Idol contest!!! I love the rope accent!

K, something that was out of my comfort zone... I recently reconnected with some college friends on Facebook, including my college ex. (we are both happily married.) This week while I was visiting family in PA he asked me to go to lunch with him and I did. We actually had a good time (not terribly weird) and I was really glad I did. We were really good friends a long time ago and it was nice that we could forget the past and still be friends.

Posted by: Lara | March 07, 2009 at 10:54 AM

Yeah LARA!!! You are the winner!  Woohoo!!!  Drop me a line and let me know where I can send these cuties!

I'll be back with some posts later tonight!

Will Our Winner Please Step Forward??

We have a winner from my Thursday giveaway!!!  I had 5 people leave a comment and went to my favorite Random Integer picker place on the internet:

True Random Number Generator 

And the winner is.......  Result: 2

Who might # 2 be???   Hmmm...let's see.....

Oh I have no clue :) but I love watching your creative processes!

Posted by: Leslie | March 05, 2009 at 11:27 AM

YEAH! for Leslie!  You are the proud parent of unmounted Odd Bird Planets stamps:

Karrie's Super Fly Guy & Karrie's Sarah

Don't worry folks!  There is another giveaway ending Sunday, Monday & Tuesday - so come on back there are more possibilities!!!