We did a family trip to Drumheller this year, instead of a party, for Daegan’s 7th birthday. It was a wonderful time—and much needed as things have been crazy busy here this spring. Such is the life of the self-employed family: feast or famine. And the boys did a LOT of activities this spring. We headed out Saturday afternoon, as Daegan had his final drama performance that morning. By the time we got there (about 1 1/2 hour drive) we were able to check into the hotel, which was lovely (and free! we did it on points!) Jim took...

Not sure when Daegan created his latest round of science-art. Here’s what I found on the couch and asked him about: “An 82 million year old food chain,” he told me. “See? Phytoplankton gets eaten by zooplankton [slurping sound effect],  the enchodus, an ancient fish, eats the zooplankton [slurp!], cretoxyrhina, a shark, eats the fish [slurp!] and a mosasaur eats the shark!” (Yes, I have to ask my 6-year-old how to spell these creatures!)   I also found these drawing. He must have liked the archaeopteryx quite a lot, as he taped it to his bedroom door:...

We took the boys to the bird sanctuary Sunday afternoon for some free displays and activities in honour of Earth Day later this week. We attended a presentation on composting (in which Daegan was the only child and the most vocal and engaged participant!), met a Great Horned Owl, listened to a storytime about animals and the earth, chatted with folks from the Calgary Gardening club, etc. This last was quite amusing, as while we were talking Daegan asked if he could have a nibble on some of the fresh herbs in the display pot. “Can’t get him to eat...

Gareth had his second Rainforest Safari class today, and again he came home excited and talking about it. He showed us this cute art project they did: they trace their arm for the tree trunk, and make handprints for the leaves. They then decorated their tree with their choice of animal stickers. I like how Gareth has the sloth hanging upside down, as they do in life. They also did some painting, played games, the teacher read them a story at the end, etc. And the highlight of the day was getting to try a food...

Gareth started a new class today: Rainforest Safari. Its just over an hour of games, crafts, songs and stories about the rainforest—a preschool alternative. When I picked him up at the end of class he was beaming—“I like my class!” he shouted. They did a jungle obstacle course at the beginning (beanbags as stepping stones across a river; a tunnel to crawl through like crawling through the plants, etc.). They played a boa constrictor game: the teacher was the snake and tried to catch the kids who pretended to be other animals. Gareth told me he was a “4-toed sloth”...

Daegan and Jim took a nature class yesterday, rather ironically entitled “Signs of Spring” (we’re suffering through the longest winter I recall in my 16 years in Calgary). It was held at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, for ages 6-12 with parent, and was well-attended. Daegan even met up with a boy, Alex, whom we had over to do homeschool activities from the Jr. Palaeontologist crate from Science Alberta last fall. The class began inside, with a discussion of spring, lifecycles (dragonfly, butterfly, frog…both Jim and I thought these topics more appropriate for a class of 3-6 year olds,...

And here’s a T rex skeleton drawing Daegan made today, as a gift for Gareth. Jim and I were blown away by the level of detail he is now putting in his drawings. I was in the middle of making curry for dinner, so I asked Jim to snap some pictures. At this rate, I think Daegan will be keen to enter the Royal Tyrrell museum’s Prehistoric Arts contest for 2010. You can click to see some of the best entries for 2009 here.

Here’s a very recent drawing of a T Rex by Gareth, made without any help. I was impressed to see him label it with the name—that’s “T REX” on the bottom, spelled backwards, with an extra line on the E. That is the first writing of his that recognizably matched what we has trying to write, rather than random letters / scribbles. Way to go, son!  

When I woke up this morning, Daegan had already been hard at work creating what he called a “dinosaur puzzle”. He drew the separate bones / parts of an Allosaurus, cut them out, and then put them together with a bit of tape. (Note to self: keep buying the better-quality construction paper—the cheaper stuff would have been too floppy). Over the course of the day he made several more, including a few that Gareth custom-ordered. Amazing what kids will do when you give them resources and get out of the way. :-)

This week is Spring Break / March Break for public-schooled kids in Calgary, so the Science Centre offered different day camps. Yesterday Daegan went to Bug Camp in the morning (he told me he doesn’t feel ready for a full day camp as yet). Here’s the highlights: They got a camp T-shirt to wear and keep (partly a safety thing I would think, as the Science Centre was open to the general public at the same time and this way its easier to keep track of the camp kids). Jim took Gareth down later that morning for a bit...