Nature Exchange

Today we visited the Nature Exchange at the Springs Preserve.

Isabel pressed a hollyhock and wrote this report on it.

At the Nature Exchange, kids can bring in something from nature, a rock, shell, leaf, et cetera, they get extra points if they have researched and written about it.  They then can use those points to "buy" something in the store that another child has brought in.  I didn't get a picture of Luke with his, but he caught two wasps and wrote a report on them.  The volunteers there were wonderful.  One of them is a retired gate teacher.  I was a little worried that Luke and Isabel might not have done it "right" or might have been discouraged in some way but these wonderful women know how to fuel the natural curiosity and excitment in children about nature.  Luke asked so many questions and they got out scorpions, tarantulas and anything he wanted to see and talk about.  Here Luke is telling her the story about how one of the wasps he caught because it landed in Sylvia's bowl of oatmeal.

Their reports get put up on a bulletin board and later into a binder.  Isabel picked out a branch with two pinecones attached and Luke got the exoskeleton of some scorpion or spider thingy and a huge wasp.  The woman there encouraged Luke to buy an insect box to pin and store his bugs.  Anyone know where I can pick up one of those?

Here is Isabel learning that there are male and female pinecones...who knew? not me.

A fun magnifier thingy (that's the scientific word I made up for it.)

Sylvia has been planting vegetables in the yard with Joey.  Last night she was able to pick a couple for dinner.  Here are a few things that Sylvia has learned today (or at least that I've tried to explain to her.)

- You can NOT cut things longer. -  becoming a Cheerios box when you grow up is not a good career option. -You can't marry your baby sister. -No matter how much you want to wear Pull Ups again, because they have cute cartoon characters on them, you can't "grow down."

The Springs Preserve

Grandpa and Grandma Oldham came to visit.  If I don't have any handyman work for my dad to do he gets stir crazy and leaves early so this time I had a long list for him.  The first few days I had him painting, installing ceiling fans, towel racks, putting the crib together and more.  Thanks Dad!

Friday we went to The Springs Preserve.  It's really hard to explain what it is.  I think maybe it's purpose is to educate about our environment (in general and also more specifically our desert environment here) and to educate about saving and utilizing our natural resources.  There are a lot of fun things for the kids to explore and see, everything is landscaped perfectly with signs labeling the desert plants, and the buildings are beautiful.

They have an exchange store for kids.  If your child finds something in nature, for example, a leaf, a fossil, a nut, a dead bug etc., they can save it, look it up, write about it and turn it into the exchange store to get points.  With those points they can "buy" something else from the store that some other kid brought in.

Here is a picture of the flash flood room.  Before we experienced it my kids were scared, "Are we going to get wet?!"  They liked it afterward.

I love Sylvia steadying herself with grandpa's head.

I love the desert sky.

They had a Wolfgang Puck Cafe that we had lunch at.

View from the Cafe.

Saturday my parents babysat so that we could go to the Las Vegas LDS Temple to see our good friends, the Duropans, and their three children get sealed together as a family.