Out In The Field

Field trips. Last year, my first year of homeschooling, I thought we'd do all kinds of field trips. We barely did any. This year, as I'm relaxing a great deal, we are enjoying our freedom to get out and about a lot. Here are some photos of a few of our adventures.

First stop, the Renaissance Festival for a day of creative anachronism (read: some unique people who play dress-up ALL the time).

The kids are engrossed either by the weaver's presentation, or by his facial hair. I'm not sure which.

Here Joseph has been brought before a queen for some questioning. Considering how odd the whole thing was, he did a pretty good job responding to her inquiries.

Cayna attends juggling lessons in the tent of the jester.

A camel ride! I thought knights and princesses rode horses...

Next stop, the Gilcrease Orchard. Who knew there was a real live ORCHARD/farm in Las Vegas? This was better than Joe's first grade field trip to a Las Vegas dairy, sans cows.

We're corny. And to think this is Nevada, not Iowa. Imagine!

Bethanie with a just-picked apple. Last time we did this was in Oak Glen - so a shout out to my Yucaipa buddies.

Cayna searching for a good apple.

Finally, we attended the "Bridging America" event to celebrate the completion of the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge (the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge). If you've had a chance to see this thing, it is awe-inspiring. We watched it being built and marveled at the size and span of it. Yesterday, we drove out to the lake, parked, and took a double-decker bus (VERY exciting transport for the kids) to the bridge. Drove over it and parked, then walked across. It is breathtaking to see the dam from there, but I've seen the same view in photos taken from airplanes. It was hard for me to imagine that we were standing on that HUGE bridge.

So here's the dam! But the shadow in the lower part of the photo is the bridge. We were 900 feet above the Colorado River and 1,500 feet south of the dam. I took this photo, but let me see if I can find a photo of the bridge.

Here it is. This photo doesn't do it justice, though. Look at the website I linked below to see photos of the construction and give yourself a nice little case of vertigo.

You can watch a cool time-lapse video of the bridge under construction and see photos here. Or better yet, come visit me in Las Vegas and see this modern wonder of the world in person. It's less than half an hour from my house.

My girls in the front seat of the top deck of the double-decker bus. If you ask them, they'd probably tell you they were more excited about the bus than the bridge.

John and Joe (and Joe's forehead tattoo of Spiderman).

Bethanie showing off her "Bridging America" tattoo. Nothing says field trip like a temporary tattoo.