An Expotition

Winnie-the-Pooh Day became a two day event this year. The actual holiday was on January 18. Since Monday, January 17, was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the kids didn't have school that day so we did some of the celebrating that day.

The kids watched "Piglet's Big Movie" then we went on an "expotition." It would normally be an expedition to the North Pole (Nichole even got our Winnie-the-Pooh book out to compare the A. A. Milne stories to the mini stories in the movie). Instead of going to the North Pole, Lucky wanted to go to the South Pole because... you know... penguins.

So we bundled up, got in the van, and headed South... to Spanish Fork.

I took the kids to a place I hadn't been to in many years. Dripping Rock. You can walk along the trail and the river/stream is below. Across the river/stream there are overhanging rocks that have water dripping/pouring from them. I found out recently from Utah's Adventure Family that in the wintertime if it's been cold enough, there are icicles hanging from the rocks. I never would have thought to go there in the Winter. So that is where we went on our expedition... to see if we could find any icicles at Dripping Rock and get some "fresh" air. We've been cooped up so much with sickness and Winter and the kids had online school on Friday, we needed to get out and get some exercise.

 

It was good to get out. We had a good time. Jet was especially happy to get out... after he woke up. He's been cooped up more than anyone.

There were definitely icicles hanging from the rocks and foliage at Dripping Rock. Jr. Jr. got really excited to see them as we walked along and with his imagination, he could see shapes in them and started thinking about stories to go along with them. 

Besides the icicles there was also plenty of water dripping from the rocks. It was neat to see in some places both together.

After the Dripping Rock area, we continued on up the path, going over some bridges then up some switchbacks (all paved, though. We saw several families pushing strollers) to the end of the trail where it met up with a road and some houses next to the golf course. We definitely got exercise. We even got to see the wind turbines since we were so close to Spanish Fork Canyon. I like wind turbines.

While we were walking along we were singing, "Sing Ho for the life of a bear. Sing Ho for the expedition." Jet was even getting into it. I'd sing, "Sing Ho," and he'd sing, "For the life of a bear," in his cute little voice.

Being a toddler, he did want things to be a certain way. He wanted to be held, he wanted to hold someone's hand while walking, he wanted to look through my binoculars, he wanted to let go of our hands and run off and he would throw a tantrum if he didn't get his way. Toddler.

It was still fun, though. Some of the boys started kicking pieces of ice down the trail as we walked. Jet wanted to be like his brothers so he was kicking ice on the trail, too.

Lucky was happy to have kicked this piece of ice all the way to the van. Way to go, Lucky.

We really did have a good time out and the kids are in agreement that we should come back sometime in the Spring or Summer to see even more dripping water at Dripping Rock. Jr. Jr. suggested we come back when it's even colder to see more icicles.

Later at home the children watched "The Lorax" because January 17 was Betty White's 100th birthday and she did one of the voices in that movie. Sadly Betty White passed away just a few weeks before she would have turned 100 but she had a long life and career and we can still celebrate that.

January 17 was also National Hot Heads Chili Day so we had chili and the kids ate spinach because it was also Popeye's birthday. Good job, kids. I made lasagna for dinner the next night because we didn't have enough time Monday. And hey, if we can celebrate Winnie-the-Pooh Day both days, we can celebrate Popeye's birthday both days, too. 

On the actual Winnie-the-Pooh holiday, the kids watched more Winnie-the-Pooh movies. They had at home school that day and a couple of the kids were sick anyway.

National Bird Day 2017

National Bird Day is on January 5.  That was the day last year that really got us going with birding.  This year... we had the weather.  Cold and slippery.  And we were busy.  But we had to take Nichole to dance class this evening anyway, so after we dropped her off we headed down to Salem Pond to see if we could see some things before it got too dark (it got dark quickly).  There wasn't room to park in the parking lot because of the unplowed snow.  Someone had made a path to drive through the parking lot, though, so we parked the van in the path and took turns walking over to see what was on the pond while the other person scraped ice off the windshield wipers.  There was a lot to see.  Jeremy went out and took a few pictures then hurried back so I could go over and see what he saw before the light completely faded.  I missed a few things that he saw because of the light, but that's okay.  All the things I missed were common enough that I'll get to see them again soon.
Here are some of the things either he or both of us saw:
Bald eagle (flew right by us when Jeremy first got out of the van), Canada geese, a snow goose, an American coot, common goldeneyes, buffleheads, common mergansers, Northern shovelers, and mallards.

Not bad for losing light on National Bird Day.  Here's to another great year of birding (starting in the cold Winter- Brrr).

Ice Bottle

Jr. Jr. left his water bottle in the freezer for a few hours (overnight) and when he took it out, it looked like this.

Mommy, Look

Look.  Ta-da.

Ice Castle

4 years ago I blogged about our family visiting the ice castle in Midway, Utah.  It's become really big over the last few years- both in size and popularity (including for some youtube videos by various artists).

Today, Jeremy took the kids on an outing to the ice castle.  They stopped by Big Springs on the way for a snowball fight.

When they got to Midway, they got to see our friend, Brent.  He's the owner.  He took them into the ice castle where they got to look around.

There are quite a few new things since the last time we went, including a fountain, a slide for the kids to go on,

and lots and lots of ice.  That's not so new.

Look, it's The Piano Guys piano.

Jeremy and the kids had a good time.  It was Jr. Jr.'s first experience with an ice castle.  They came home telling me it was fun, but cold.

Impromptu Science Experiment

The day after our Batman Party, Jr. was asking about "Mr. Freeze's Iced Cubes."  I don't remember exactly what happened.  We must have been talking about what happens to the ice cubes when they melt.  All of a sudden, we were sending an ice cube into the microwave in a little bowl.  I think it was Jr.'s idea.

 It melted.

We had talked before about states of matter.  Solids, liquids, and gases.  We'd frozen ice cubes before, but this time we kind of really got going.

We melted another ice cube, this time on a plate.

This time there was still a tiny bit left to the ice cube when it came out of the microwave.

Which gave me an idea.  What if we put an ice cube in a pot on the stove?  That way, Jr. can actually watch it melt (it's harder to watch it in the microwave).  

In the pot we had a point where we were able to get all three states- solid, liquid, gas- at the same time.  After the ice cube melted completely and a lot of the steam had escaped into the air, we poured what was left of the water back into the ice cube tray.  It was half as much water as when we originally filled the ice cube tray a few days before.

Jr. wanted to try it again in the microwave, so we did with a couple more differently sized bowls, all the time talking about changing the states of matter. 

 

I love Jr.'s surprised look.  As if he hasn't already seen this several times.

I love these moments.  These spontaneous activities I am able to do with my children, all because of a little conversation we get into.