Rebecca – Page 4 – Andelin Adventures

My Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday, and I decided that I wanted to go explore a National Park today. There is a new program this year, where fourth graders can obtain a pass to get into ANY National park, along with anyone else in their vehicle, for free, for the whole year! So I decided that we should go and get started on using that pass.

We got all the kids loaded up in the van along with their thermos’s, Kyle handed me a present (Victoria’s Secret lotion, and See’s) and we were on our way. We went to Daylight Donuts to get some donuts, but they didn’t have anything good left so we got some donuts at Macey’s instead. Then we went to the Uintah National Forest. We traded in Jeremy’s paper National Park pass, and got a more durable plastic one to use throughout the year. We drove into the forest a bit and found a place to park, and decided to go for a bit of a hike. The reservoir that we parked by was beautiful.

I didn’t really like that the hiking path was so narrow, and that it was being used by people on foot, people on bicycles, people on dirt bikes, and could even be used by people on horseback. The problem was that it was so narrow, there was really nowhere to go to get out of the way when a dirt bike or a bicycle wanted to pass us.

After awhile the kids started their complaining, “I’m tired”, “I need to go potty”, “This is boring”, “I’m thirsty and my thermos is in the van”, “Can we go back to the van and finish watching the movie?”…. Adam reached a point where he just didn’t want to go any further.

We pushed on just a little bit further.

Adam protested more.

Then we started working our way back the way we came.

We left the forest, and made a quick stop at Costco for a few things, then we went home. I made dinner and finished making my cake while the girls all took off to the neighbors house. Dinner was later than usual and we had to round up the girls and get them back home before we could eat. We didn’t have time for cake before the adult session of stake conference.

Kyle and I made sure the kids were ready for bed before we left for the adult session, and we left Ethan in charge while we were gone. Ethan was to make sure Adam stayed on his bed, Tyra was to make sure that Lydia stayed on her bed, and the others were to make sure they stayed on their own beds (Seth was in the crib so we weren’t worried about him wandering the house). We came home from the adult session to find them ALL asleep!

We served my cake tonight.

I made a Mounds cake. Chocolate cake, with coconut filling, a coconut buttercream frosting and chocolate ganosh to top it all off. It was very good, and quite rich. A little bit went a long way. 🙂

Once I was a Beehive

We went to the theater to see the movie “Once I Was A Beehive”. After the showing, the actor that played the Bishop in the movie came into the theater to tell us a little bit about the making of, and to answer questions about the movie from the audience.

The bear was real. It was a trained bear named Tank. They gave him some sort of whipped cream treat every time he did what they wanted, and he also liked applause.
The older lady was not really a motorcycle rider and the first time they came down the hill to meet up with the group she crashed right into the arc. They had to re-shoot that shot later with a stunt actor.
The red van in the movie belongs to the family of the man that played the bishop. He has 8 kids and that is their family car. “There is nothing between a minivan and a 12 passenger van, if you have more kids than will fit in a minivan you’re a circus and so the 12 passenger is your next option.”

Tyra had to ask him how old his kids are and tell him that we also have eight kids.

Ethan spoke to him as well and asked him what it was like to be in a movie. He seemed stunned that he had actually spoken to an actor.

Simulating Orbits

For science today we got to simulate the orbits of planets. To do this the book had suggested swinging a Styrofoam ball on a string in a circle or to roll marbles around in cups. I decided that we would roll marbles around in bowls, because they are bigger than cups and we could get a bigger orbit. The kids had a LOT of fun with this simulation. I got out a pile of bowls of different sizes and the jar of marbles of various sizes, and they got to play around with different combinations to see if they all went the same speed or if one size of marble was faster or slower than another. Of course, seven kids rolling glass marbles around in metal bowls….it got REALLY loud in our house this morning.

Dinah was using a white marble, so it looked more like a flash in the bowl.

Pumpkins

We took the kids to pick out pumpkins for Halloween. This year we discovered that Cook’s Greenhouse sells them, and they have a LARGE variety of sizes, colors, and types of pumpkins, squash and gourds. The kids got to pick their own pumpkins. Dinah kept trying to pick the largest pumpkin she could possibly carry. I think all of them picked and then changed their minds at least once. Once everyone had a pumpkin I looked at the ones they chose and said “So nobody picked a white one?” Instantly Dinah and Chloe decided that they had to have a white pumpkin. So they put back the orange pumpkins they picked and went to pick out white ones. Chloe chose hers first and Dinah was getting frustrated that she was last, and she wasn’t sure which one she wanted. So I pointed out some orange AND white pumpkins. It was something completely different, and so she went for one of those.

When we were done looking at the pumpkins we decided to take a walk through the rest of the greenhouses. There was a whole room full of pansies in so many different colors! The kids enjoyed seeing the different cactus varieties. The last greenhouse was FULL of what looked like poinsettia plants. I had no idea that they grew pumpkins or poinsettias! I guess it makes sense, since it is a greenhouse and they’ve got to do something to have business all year round, but I had never thought of it before.

In one of the greenhouses, Adam tried to jump up to grab a drip hose that was hanging from the top. We stopped him but one of the kids asked what it was he was trying to grab. I answered and said “One of the misters.” Then Kyle said “But where are the missus?” I turned around to look at him like that was a silly thing to say and so he kissed me and said “There she is!”

Planet Models

For science this morning the kids got to get hands on and make their own planets. I bought some modeling clay for them to use. I asked them to NOT mix the colors. They could put a color on top of another but I didn’t want them mixing them up to make new (yucky) colors.

Adam had a blast making his planet, which was just a whole bunch of balls of clay stuck together in a blob.

Dinah used the science book as a guide to lay her planets out in the proper order and she even made initials for each one out of the clay.