Science Lab

Brian took Carter to Lowe's this morning to do the Build and Grow workshop while I stayed home with Rylan who was taking a nap. When I saw online that today's project was a science lab, I didn't think it was going to be very good.


But included with the kit were ten simple science experiments.


Brian and Carter did a few of them when they got home. The first one they did was called "Dancing Raisins".




It didn't really work. The raisins just sank instead of dancing.

But then they did "Scaredy Pepper" and it was pretty cool. You put a little pepper in some water and then when you put a drop of dish soap in the water, the pepper runs away.

Thankful for ...

When I went to pick Carter up from school today, there was a paper turkey hanging up outside of his room. On each of the feathers was a kid's name and what he or she is thankful for. I can't remember all of them, but some of the replies were "Daddy", "Me", and "God for making us". Carter's said "Food".

When I went into his classroom, I asked Carter if he made anything today. He told me he made a peacock ...


Peacock ... turkey ... they are almost the same, right?

Our Monkeys

Carter and Rylan both like throwing balls back and forth. Carter likes to fall down when you throw a ball to him instead of catching it (as if you knocked him down with the ball).

Monkey see, monkey do ...

Walker

Rylan has gotten really good at walking over the last week or two. He's now rarely crawling and definitely prefers to walk.

It's so much easier having Rylan walk rather than crawling everywhere - especially when we're outside. I'm so happy to have two walkers now. I may change my mind when they start running in opposite directions when we are somewhere that is crowded!

Pee Pee in the Potty!

When I was getting the boys undressed to get in the bathtub tonight, Carter told me he wanted to pee in the potty. He's told me this a handful of times before but he's never actually gone.

We bought a potty seat and underwear several months ago. I was planning on starting to work on potty training but then we decided to move. I didn't want to get Carter partially trained, move, and have to start over again.

So tonight I told Carter that if he peed on the potty, he'd get a piece of candy (a Smartie). This was apparently some good motivation. Carter was trying so hard to go but it just wasn't happening. He then told me to play with Rylan who was already in the bathtub (I guess he wanted a little privacy even though I was still right there).

A couple of minutes later Carter screamed, "Mama, I peed in the potty!" And he had! He was so, so, so excited. He was jumping up and down and clapping.


When Carter got out of the bath, he told me he wanted to pee on the potty again. He also said he wanted more candy.

I was getting Rylan dressed when he once again declared that he'd peed in the potty. I'm not sure if this is going anywhere yet, but I'm going to try to encourage him to try using the potty as often as I can. I've felt that he's ready for awhile now but every time I'd asked him if he wanted to sit on the potty, he had told me no. Hopefully Smarties are the key!

Cabinets!

We went out to the house at the end of last week to check on the progress. We were surprised to see that the cabinets had already been installed.


They look good except for the insides. We added roll-out trays to the base cabinets when we were picking everything out for the house. This is not what we expected.


They put roll-outs in the bottom and a half-shelf up top. The 4 cabinets in the island are 15" cabinets so the roll-outs are only about 10" across. I don't think much of our stuff will fit in these.

We went by the model home this weekend and spoke with the representative. She agreed these aren't ideal and is helping us to get them changed to roll-outs in the middle only. That is what our last house had and what is in the model home so we assumed that's what we were getting.

Carter was very proud to show off the cabinets in the kids' bathroom ...


The baseboards and a lot of trim detail had been completed.



When they poured the driveway and sidewalk, they also did the front porch. This porch isn't as big as our last one but it's still deep enough to fit some of our comfortable outdoor furniture.




With the time change and it getting dark an hour earlier, it's going to be difficult to make it out to the house when there is any light left to see anything. We may have to start bringing flashlights!

Monkey Joe's

Friday was cool and still a bit wet so I took the boys to Monkey Joe's. I had gotten some passes pretty cheap on Half Off Depot.

The boys favorite part is all the kiddie rides (even though we didn't put any money in them).



Last time we went, Rylan was a bit scared at first but got over it after about 20 minutes. This time though he pretty much hated it the entire time. I still dragged him onto all the inflatables and there were moments of happiness.

Carter is finally tall enough to get up all the steps/ladders pretty easily.



And he had fun being silly and making funny faces for the camera!

Mammoth Cave National Park

We took the boys up to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky today. The park is about 1 1/2 hours north of Nashville on I-65. Mammoth Cave is the world's longest known cave system, with more than 390 miles explored.

When we got to the park, we went to the visitor's center to buy tickets for our cave tour.


We picked the New Entrance Tour. Here is the description of the tour on the park's website:

A bus ride carries you to the New Entrance—opened in the 1920s, it provided a whole new way to see Mammoth Cave. Impressive pits, domes, and a few narrow openings soon give way to large passages and underground hills. Follow your guide to the Frozen Niagara formation, discovered in 1923. From Frozen Niagara to the cave exit you will pass through one of the most decorative and photographed areas of Mammoth Cave. •2 hours, ¾ mile. Tour limit: 114. Total stairs: 500, including 280 on initial descent. Elevation change: 250’. •Includes the complete Frozen Niagara Tour route and a portion of the Grand Avenue Tour route. If you have weak knees, think twice about taking this tour. •Meets at the Visitor Center. Difficulty: Moderate.

We were a little nervous about how the boys would do on the tour but decided to just go for it. Rylan had taken a short nap on the drive up and I had given both boys a ton of snacks in hopes they wouldn't be too tired or hungry on the tour that began at 9:45 am. You aren't allowed to bring anything on the tour other than a camera and bottle of water (which we didn't bring because we knew we'd be carrying the kids).

We had a really small group - only about 20 other people - and two park rangers. We took a bus over to the entrance of our tour which was a man-made entrance into the cave.


There were three main sections of the tour. The first section was made by large amounts of water that entered the cave and created large pits.

When we first entered the cave, we walked through a tight, flat area that reminded me of slot canyons.


Then we went down tons of steps through a maze of pits.


Brian carried Carter down all the steps and I had Rylan. By the end my legs were shaking from trying to be so careful going down the steps. It got really narrow with rocks hanging down or sticking out in some places but neither Brian nor I smacked either kid into a rock!


It was a long way down in some areas ...


The second section of the cave was wide open rooms that were horizontal instead of vertical like the pits. These were dry and not created by water flowing or dripping down from the surface. This is what most of Mammoth Cave is.


There were a couple of large rooms where the park had set up rows of wooden benches so we could sit and listen to the park ranger tell us about the history and geology of the cave. This was the only part that was really difficult for Rylan. He didn't want to sit still and wasn't content just walking up and down one bench. He fussed a lot and I know we were a bit annoying to the other people on the tour, but I tried my best to keep him entertained. It's difficult when you can't bring any snacks or toys along to distract him!

At the second stop the ranger turned off all the lights to show us how dark it truly is in the cave. Luckily neither kid freaked out! Carter even did what the ranger suggested (wave your hand in front of your face to see if you can see it).

The majority of the 3/4 mile length of the tour was through these open horizontal rooms.

The last section of the tour was were the stalagmites and stalactites are located. These are created by small amounts of water dripping into the cave. There were two or three rooms of these.





Carter was pretty interested throughout the tour and seemed to learn a lot. It's so much fun to see him learning about all the things we enjoy doing so much.


I remembered to grab the boys NPS Passports this morning and we got them cancelled. This was only Rylan's second national park (he's also been to the Smokies). Carter's been to Big South Fork and a handful of places around San Francisco as well.


We picnicked in the park and went on a couple of really short hikes (one to see the Historic Entrance to Mammoth Cave and one to see Sand Cave). Rylan fell asleep almost immediately when we started heading out but Carter held off long enough to get a picture of him by the park sign.


We had so much fun visiting this national park that we live close to now. There are several other tours in Mammoth Cave and we hope to do another one soon.

Broken Tooth

I took Rylan to his dentist today to have one of this teeth checked out. I noticed about a week ago that one of his lower front teeth appeared chipped.


Rylan did awesome at the dentist. He laid on the dental seat and I held his hands. The dentist was able to get Rylan to open his mouth and not fight him.

I thought Rylan must of fallen sometime and chipped his tooth but the dentist said the break is more consistent with Rylan having bit on something hard (like a toy).

The tooth hasn't seemed to be bothering Rylan at all and since he didn't have any sores on his tongue from the tooth rubbing, the dentist didn't want to do anything. If it starts to bother him, the dentist could try to file it. He didn't think that anything would effectively bond to it because that would require Rylan to stay very still for a long time.

So Much House Progress!

We've had a lot of people tell us that now that the bones of the house are complete, things are going to move slower. Not true so far!

We didn't go out to the house on Monday because it was Halloween. I went out there last night close to 6 pm with the boys (Brian was in Louisville yesterday and today). The molds for the driveway and sidewalk were being worked on. Also workers were still inside the house working.



The boys and I went back out to the house at 7 am this morning to try to see the interior progress but the workers were already there. It's getting difficult with the shorter days to see the house when it's light and there isn't anyone there working on it!

We got back out to the house a little after 6 pm tonight after picking up Brian from work. It was already pretty dark but with the flash on my camera, we were able to see what had been done inside the house.

The banister and spindles had been installed as well as the hardwood flooring ...


A lot of trim had been completed and doors had been hung ...


Crown molding and molding on the trey ceiling had been installed ...


All the windows now have trim around them ...


The upstairs has baseboards and trim was added to the half wall along the staircase ...


Attic access was installed ...


The driveway, sidewalk to the front door, and front porch had been poured (and covered with plastic for some reason). Also the sidewalk along the street had been poured.

Brian spoke with the builder yesterday. He said all the interior and exterior trim was to be completed this week. Next week will be more paint and cabinets and the following week will be tile and countertops.