Pumpkin Carving

We seemed to be so busy this week, we had to do the pumpkin carving in shifts. One day to design and hallow it out, and another to do the actual carving. And there was a couple of days in between them that we couldn't even work on it. Luckily it didn't start molding or anything meanwhile.

Emily wanted and owl and Caitlyn did a kitty cat head. You can tell that the girls picked out the designs this year. Plus, they managed to do it mostly on their own. Christian helped transfer their designs on their pumpkins and helped cut the tops open. Emily pretty much did the rest herself and Caitlyn needed a little help with the eyes and one of the ears which got  a little tweaked.

We were so busy, that I had kind of thought to just skip it this year, but the girls would have been so disappointed. We managed to get it done eventually though and now we get to enjoy the roasted pumpkin seeds too!

Halloween Party

We went to our friends' annual Halloween party on Saturday. We got to visit with some old friends which is always nice. Christian and I dressed up in Venetian masquerade outfits, but as usual, we didn't seem to ever get a chance to take a picture of us in them.

Emily went as a princess. Caitlyn was going to go as Betsy Ross but at the last minute, ditched it in lieu of a butterfly. I don't know how that happened exactly. We stayed too late and ate too many sweets, but other than that, we had a good time!

Legoland

On Thursday, all the second graders got to go to Legoland. Christian and I are never happy about this trip as it takes the kids 2 hours away. Plus, the education value of such a trip is a bit questionable. There are so many other places they could go that is a bit more local that is more educational. But as Emily got to go, we could not help but let Caitlyn go as well. The good thing about this trip is that they actually made room on the buses for chaperones. When Emily went, they expected us to drive ourselves down to San Diego to meet them. I don't see how you can be much of a chaperone, if you don't even go together!

But I digress, I did chaperone Caitlyn's group to Legoland. It was fun for the brief time that we were there. We literally spent more time on the bus than at Legoland itself. It's a bit frustrating when you take all the effort to go all the way, only to have to leave again shortly after.

We started off with a little presentation on building from Legoland. The kids learned about gravity and friction and things of that nature. Then they got to pair up and build racecars. Then they got to try them out and see if they worked and see how fast they moved against other teams. They could then, make adjustments or rebuild according to need.

The kids had a blast. Caitlyn's first race car managed to make it to the finish line, but it was slow. They made some changes and it seemed to get worse. After the second change, it wouldn't even get down the ramp. They decided to take it apart and rebuild from ground zero. They managed to made a smaller car that was a lot faster. They won about half the races against other kids. Then they ran out of time and had to disassemble the cars for the next group of kids.

We had lunch and had some time to take a tour of some of the amazing lego structures and ride a couple of rides.

We had a fairly large class so that made it even harder to herd them around the park and through lines. We really only got to see the beginning of the park before it was time to head back.

But we got home more or less on time with no incidences and the kids had a great time so all is well.

STEP Conference

Emily had her first field trip this year, which was to the STEP (Science and Technology Education Partnership) at Bourn's Inc., which was conveniently, right down the road.

They started off with a science show. They mostly focused on magnetism, electricity and expanding gases.

Then the kids were rotated through 3 different exhibit rooms...all with interactive technology exhibits.

The kids had a lot of fun (and hopefully they learned something). There were kids from 4th through 8th grades in attendance. It was pretty crowded. It was still over a hundred degrees out (even though it is October) so the outdoor exhibits were not quite so fun. Looking at the sun through a telescope when it is beating down over your head, isn't that pleasant. Plus, my sinus' were working over time. I couldn't wait to get home to get an antihistamine!

Emily update: Emily seems to be adjusting well to her new class. Her teacher says that she fits right in so I think we made a good choice in the end to accelerate her to the fifth grade. We decided in the end, to hold off on the extracurricular activities though to make sure that she adjusts well. And if she wants to participate in more extracurricular activities, she will have to learn to be more efficient with her time to show that she can do it.