Russell Roundup: Preschool Week 7 (November 15-21)

Our theme this week was Oceans and Beaches.

We continued to talk about gratitude, another component of which is “Wonder and Awe” – Admiring all that God has made.
We learned Psalm 95:5 “The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry ground.

Our book list included:

The Seashore Book by Charlotte Zolotow – a mother describes the sights and sounds of the seashore to her son who lives in the mountains and has never seen the sea.
The Underwater Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallota – describes a different fish for each letter of the alphabet. Very good! It was requested a lot, and it also helped us recognize some of the fish we saw in the aquarium in Galveston (see pictures below).
The Seashore Noisy Book, by Margaret Wise Brown – A dog named Muffin goes to sea and hears all sorts of different sounds. The kids noticed that this one is by the same author as Goodnight Moon.
Harry by the Sea, by Gene Zion – I guess this has to be the favorite pick of the week. A dog named Harry gets lost trying to find a cool shady place to be on a hot summer day at the beach, but no one wants him around. Then a wave washes over him and covers him with seaweed. Now people think he is a sea monster and run away from him, till finally the seaweed falls off and his children find him. The next time the go to the beach, his family buys a bigger beach umbrella so there is room for him too.
Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain, by Edward Ardizzone – a little boy who lives by the sea wants to be a sailor, but his parents laugh and say it will be a long time before he is old enough to be a sailor. But when he gets to visit a steamer with a friend, he decides to stow away. When he is caught, he is made to work hard, but soon earns the respect of the sailors. When a storm hits, everybody escapes except Tim and the captain of the boat. They are rescued just before the ship sinks.
Time of Wonder, by Robert McCloskey – Describes life on an island through all the seasons of the year.

Activities this week:

We took a short family vacation to Galveston to see the “ocean” and the beach. It was cold and windy, but we had one nice sunny day before the rain came. Then we found indoor things to do and still had lots of fun!

We left Thursday morning – a little later than planned, partly because of just moving slow, and partly because the van wouldn’t start with a dead battery. We jumped it with the battery charger and then it worked fine the rest of the trip.

We made it to Galveston by about 11:30 am, and after a potty break we headed for the Bolivar Ferry.

We brought some bread to feed to the seagulls at the back of the boat. Jeffrey thought the bread was for him and snitched a few pieces from Ronnie when he wasn’t looking.

Travis was hoping the birds would come take it out of his hand like they did from Daddy’s.

I don’t think Heather’s bread ever made it above her head, she just kept throwing it on the ground.

Once we were on the Bolivar Peninsula, we stopped at Ft Travis Seaside Park for a picnic. The kids played while I made sandwiches. Then, since it was so windy, we ate our picnic in the van.

It is fun to see how much Travis has grown since the last time we came here in February 2008. Now he is so independent on the playground. Heather too.

After lunch, we drove around just a little while and then took a walk on the jetty (aka “the dirty beach” because it was covered with trash). We saw a lot of places where houses used to be before Hurricane Ike last year, and a few houses being rebuilt.

We took the ferry back to Galveston Island. Jeffrey took a nap while we were on the boat, and Ronnie took the others up to the top of the boat.

Then, we headed to Stewart Beach. The nice thing about going in the off-season is that it was free! This was what Travis and Heather had been waiting for all day – building a sand castle!

First, they slid on the sand dunes… (and I tried not to think too much about all the sand in their clothes and shoes!)

Then, we started digging with shovels and buckets…

Jeffrey got right down to business. He was very serious about what he was doing.

Mommy tried to help…

I don’t think Heather quite understood the concept of how to build a sandcastle (or what a sandcastle is), but she had lots of fun anyway.

Ronnie and Travis had lots of fun…

What is it about boys needing to get right in the dirt?

It was very windy, and the wind kept trying to blow our buckets away. One of them did get away, and even though we chased, it was too fast for us. Travis was very upset about that. But God was merciful to us, and the bucket stopped in a grassy area near the entrance to Stewart Beach, so we were able to recover it on our way out.

After trying to dust off as much sand as possible, we went to our hotel, checked in, changed clothes, and went out to eat at IHOP. Then back to the hotel for much needed baths and bed!

On Friday, it was cold, windy and rainy. After a leisurely breakfast, we headed to the Moody Gardens Aquarium. the kids were fascinated with all the different fish. 20091120_Aquarium02

They had a special thing for the kids… a “shark passport”. throughout the exhibit, there were different stations with a stamp for each of 10 different sharks. The kids enjoyed trying to find the sharks and stamp their passports.

Here is a Leopard Shark…

I think this is either a Swell Shark or a Japanese Wobbegong…

A Cownose Ray…

A sea turtle…

Lunch time for the penguins!

Watching the penguins swim…they are fast in the water! And bubbles stream out from air that was trapped under their feathers.

Three little divers in a shark cage!

Three scuba diver were inside this tank, cleaning the glass…

A Barracuda…

The one in the bottom of this picture is either a Sand Tiger Shark or a Blackktip Reef Shark.

An eel .. it was funny to watch them just sit there on the bottom, opening and closing their mouths like they were yawning or talking….

We also got to see a 3D IMAX movie called Wild Ocean. it was about sharks, dolphins and other creatures that follow and feed on schools of sardines off the coast of Africa. Afterwards, we found out there is just as much fun to be had going up and down stairs as there is watching the movie or the fish!

After we were done at the Aquarium, we took a drive down to San Luis Pass over to Surfside, then turned around and came back to Galveston for supper . We turned on the “vanesthesia so the kids got a good long nap while we drove, and Ronnie and I got some quiet time together. The kids got a little too much nap, I think, because they were NOT ready to go to sleep when it was time for bed.

On Saturday morning, we loaded up …and enjoyed using the hotel’s cart to carry our suitcases and precious cargo downstairs…

Then we went to Seawolf Park and took a tour of the submarine USS Cavalla and the destroyer escort USS Stewart. Both are self-guided tours, but we happened to get there just as one of the volunteers who is helping to restore the Cavalla was giving some people a tour. He served in the Navy in the 1960s and was able to tell us lots of interesting things about what it was like to live and work on a submarine.