Camping and Fishing at Spencer Canyon

This weekend we had a fabulous camping trip to Spencer Canyon. This is on Mt. Lemmon, just north of Rose Canyon Lake.

We fished at Rose Canyon Lake. All three of them caught fish. Tink was first. She pretty much picked up the pole, tugged, and got a fish. Optimus' fish took a little more technique.

After a day of fishing we went back to camp. Optimus and I stayed up while Hubby and Tink napped. It was a very low key and relaxing day. While it was quite, I worked on scout "stuff" and Optimus tended the fire and took LOTS of pictures. 

When Optimus and I finally woke up Sleeping Beauty and Sleeping Beast, we were surprised by a deer!

This was the most ideal camping/fishing trip we have ever been on! Everything we could have hoped for was just right. It was great and we can't wait to get out there again. take care-Michele

October Things to Do

I haven't posted one of these since May.  Hope you can join us for something!

October
2nd - Star Wars Toy Drive

any Thursday - Flandrau Science Center. Laser Light shows are back! Thursdays are Family Fun Nights.

22nd-24th - Howloween event at Reid Park Zoo

Sea Life Aquarium in Phoenix

Yesterday while in Phoenix we went to the Sea Life Aguarium http://www.sealifeus.com/phoenix/phoenix-home .


They stamp your hand at the door, so you can go through as many times as you want until the end of day. We took two turns around. After starting out together, Optimus and Hubby went off on their own. Tink and I hung back so that she could draw in her Aquarium book.


I made simple books using my PrintShop program, cardstock paper, typing paper, and some printables I found off of www.enchantedlearning.com . Tink's book was mostly seahorses and Optimus' was about swordfish and sharks. Tink was very interested in sitting down in front of various aquariums and drawing. She had a few little girls stop and talk. Tink explained about the animals that were swimming in front of them. The girls were mostly interested in coloring.



There was this great little tide pool with water shooting out of the rocks every few minutes. There were a lot of Cortez seastars.

There were three tanks that had seastars, rock lobster, sea anemone, and sea urchins. The staff rotates the animals that people are allowed to touch. The kids were nervous as first, but got over it pretty quickly. Tink touched the rock lobster's tail. Optimus wasn't so sure about that one. We all touched the sea anemone. It was like passing your hand over water. It was just very difficult to feel it. The staff person informed us that the reason for this was due to the fact that sea anemones are made up of mostly water. Very cool!

Hubby made use of one of the many bubbles that "kids" are allowed to go in. The aquarium had a lot of little alcoves and areas where kids could explore.

For an aquarium in Arizona, this one was great. I have been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and was a bit spoiled by that one. This is no where near the scale of the MB aquarium. I would recommend going if you are in the area. The kids had a great time and there was a lot for them to explore.

take care,

Michele

I'm moving back!

After much back and forth, I have decided to move back here to blogger. I had been using www.homeschoolblogger.com , but I really don't want to maintain two personal blogs. It is proving to be too time consuming. I am maintaining Optimus' cub scout pack page and the Northwest Tucson Homeschoolers page. So from now on I will be here.

I have just spent the last two months rearranging and second guessing curriculums and methods. I will share all those things that made the cut and my reasons for ditching the other stuff.

Take care and thanks for reading!
-Michele