Alphabet Summer

Since Bryce was in preschool last year, I thought that we could do an Alphabet Summer (which I got the idea from the Errand of Angels blog) to help him remember and practice what he learned. And hopefully Emily will pick it up along the way. Each kid has started an Alphabet Journal to keep all their coloring pages, pictures, and momentoes from the activities we have done.

We started last week by doing the letter B and the colors Blue and Brown. We wore clothes that were either Blue or Brown and came up with as many things as we could that started with a B. The highlight of that week was the day we talked about Bugs. The kids started the day by watching "A Bug's Life" and then we went outside to catch some bugs to put in their bug houses.

We were able to catch a grasshopper for each one of them and they loved watching it jump around in their bug house. After watching the grasshoppers and looking at them through a magnifying glass we decided to let them go. Bryce was the first one to let his go, but the poor thing didn't make it very far before Bryce stepped on it. When Emily let hers go, Bryce tried to squish that one too, but it was able to get away. As the kids ate lunch we read a book about Bugs and then drew a picture of us catching the bugs. To end the day, we had a little campout in our loft and watched "Bee Movie".

This week we did the letters A and F. To start the week, we asked Bryce if he knew what the Fourth of July was. After a few minutes of Blair explaining why we celebrate the Fourth of July to Bryce, he told Blair, "Okay daddy, that's enough for right now." It was his nice way of telling Blair to shut up. It was hillarious!

For the letter A, we went to an airport that is close by on Monday to see the Wings of Freedom airplanes. They are restored WWII airplanes that tour around the U.S. They were supposed to come in at 9:45 a.m., but didn't end up getting there until 11:30 a.m. We got there around 10:00 a.m. thinking they would be there already, but since they hadn't arrived yet, we walked around and got to see the little planes that are privately owned. A really nice lady that works there took us to one of the planes and opened the cockpit so that the kids could sit in it. Well, Bryce got in with a lot of hesitance and Emily didn't want anything to do with it. After that, we went back to the main area and waited for the airplanes to come in. As the airplanes were coming in we got to be so close to them! It was the coolest thing! The kids were a little intimidated by these huge airplanes coming right for them and coming really close, but when the engines were turned off, they loved going and looking at them. They didn't want to leave!

Later this week we went to the Freedom Festival for the letter F. It was fun, but very crowded! We started by going to the car show. They had some pretty neat cars including Pres. Eisenhowers actual presidential car, an old Model T with the crank used to start it, a Lotis, an all electric hummer, and Blair's dream car - a 2010, red with black racing stripes, Chevy Camero. It was pretty cool to see all these cars from different time periods. We also got to watch a Reptile show, the kids got to jump on the big blow-up bouncers, and we went through the 1776 Freedom Village. The Freedom Village was really neat. There were people dressed in that time period type of dress (which I'm sure was awful in the heat) and they were doing and explaing things that people did back in that time. There was a blacksmith, a candle maker, a spinner (the kids got to watch her spin wool), and so forth. Bryce loved the cannons and the tent that displayed the guns and muskets. They also had a stock there, so we just HAD to get a picture of each of the kids in it (perfect for time outs back in those days! ;D). It is really amazing how these people lived and what they did so that we could have our freedoms.

To end our week we are doing a neighborhood fireworks show at our neighbors. (Pictures of the fireworks to come later. ;))