The Little Nemeceks

This week we started our next unit for Children Around the World: North and South America. We did a special focus on the Inuit, and developed our cultural celebration and art project around that focus. We were fresh out of whale or seal meat, so we made venison stew, accompanied by some Native American fry bread. The boys did a whale art project, and we tried listening to some Inuit music, which didn't sound much like music to our ears! We also had the boys try out a video game called Never Alone, which takes place in the Arctic with an Eskimo girl and her pet Arctic Fox, and includes cultural information that unlocks as you play. For science, we finished up our study of Chemistry with a homemade water filter.

Our homemade water filter

Avila enjoys being wrapped up like a cocoon during school

The boys whale art projects

Playing the Never Alone game

Native American fry bread

Venison stew

We recently decided it was time for another field trip, this time to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park for some modern art.  We did, unfortunately, make a few mistakes in the implementation of this one. First: the kids should have work their wellies, as their shoes got muddy.  Second: we needed either the Ergo baby carrier or the jogging stroller.  Avila insisted on walking, but halfway through she got worn out and then insisted on being carried, by me only.  This cut our trip short by quite a bit, as she was very whiny and carrying her on my left hip was very tiring (she refused to ride piggy-back or on Josh's shoulders).  And third: we should have brought food.  The sculpture park did have a restaurant which we had planned on eating at, but they only had soup options that were gluten free, and Josh needed a bit more substance after walking around the park.  So, hindsight being 20/20, we know what to do when we want to go back.  We did see quite a few nice sculptures in the first half of our trip, and we know that we want to go back sometime!

Family photo

This round metal sculpture had divets that showed your reflection upside down

David took a turn, too

The boys said this sculpture was their favorite

But they acted like they liked this one best while we were there

Avila thought it was interesting too

I accidentally called this rhino an elephant before I could see it properly

Campfire sculpture

Crazy octopus

The night side of the day/night sculpture

Avila really liked the animation of the horse running

This week we studied Greece, our last week in the Europe section of our Children Around the World program. This week, we made and painted Greek pots for art, listened to Greek music, and designed our own Olympics for the cultural celebration. We also cooked and ate a very yummy moussaka (I'm definitely making this recipe again, assuming I can make it faster without kid help), and ordered regular and gluten free baklava for dessert.

Nathan wins the running race!

We are starting to have the boys help cook the special meal

Here are their finished Greek pots

The finished moussaka!

And dessert!

We are now back to school after Christmas break, and finishing up with our unit on Europe.  This week we studied Italy.  The boys have been looking forward to our weeks in Italy and Greece, as they have developed a love for ancient Greek and Roman history through their online courses and reading the Percy Jackson series of books.  There were so many options for our Italian meal, but we haven't had tortellini since Josh was diagnosed with celiac, so I decided to get some gluten free tortellini, and add sausage, veggies, and alfredo sauce.  Unfortunately, the tortellini disintegrated (this can happen with gluten free things), but it still tasted fine.  I also made gluten free cannolis, which disappeared rather quickly!  For art, we attempted papercraft versions of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Colosseum.  These didn't work out - the spots for gluing things together were way too small, and the cutting and piecing way too complicated.  I probably could have done the projects myself, but they would have taken hours.

We did have some great fun with science experiments, however!  We finally got around to setting off the smoke bomb we made for learning about endo and exothermic reactions, we attempted to grow crystals (this is taking weeks in this cold and damp environment), and mixed milk, food coloring, and detergent to learn about polar and non-polar substances.  We even got an impromptu demonstration of static electricity from Avila in the papasan chair!

Avila gets a chance to make the colors swirl

The soap makes the milk swirl around, causing the colors to move

Look at that hair!

This was our gluten free tortellini

And yummy cannolis!

Our last day in Aviemore saw us return to the Highland Wildlife Park, which was open since the weather had cleared up.  They do a good job bringing in animals that are at home in cold weather, and have plenty of space for their habitats.  We saw Siberian tigers, snow leopards, polar bears, Scottish wildcats, and wolves.  Avila was rather concerned when the tigers came near the fence, and told them to go away!  Nathan and David loved the wildcats - the kittens are pretty cute!

The next day, we drove home, but we continued the vacation sightseeing by stopping at Stirling Castle on the way.  The castle has been refurbished and decorated in the style of James IV of Scotland.  The palace rooms were especially well done, as were the kitchens.  This was David's favorite part of the trip (Josh's favorite was the safari, and Nathan says he liked everything). Now we are home safe and sound, and looking forward to getting back to school next week!

snow monkeys

full on tiger fight!

Arctic fox (not enough snow for a white coat yet)

Snowy Owl

very fierce Scottish wildcat

Wolf papa

Polar bears

Prezwalski's horse

Entrance to Stirling Castle

Looking over the edge of the walls

The ceiling in the throne room

And in the king's inner chamber

The queen's bedchamber

In the queen's inner chamber

Uniform of a Highland Regimental Drum Major

The great kitchens

The weather continued to be bad through Christmas and Boxing Day.  Since both the Funicular Railway and the Highland Wildlife Park were closed, we bought some sleds for the kids and let them sled and build snowmen in the backyard of our cabin.  Avila was scared by the sledding, but the boys had a lot of fun.

The weather finally cleared up on the 27th, so we kicked the sightseeing into high gear and did both the Strathspey Steam Railway and the Funicular Railway to the top of Cairngorm Mountain in the same day.  The steam railway trip was shorter than we expected with fewer views, but we enjoyed mince pies and mulled wine, and the kids had juice and fruit tarts.

The Funicular Railway ended up being my favorite part of the trip.  The cable car pulled us to the top of the mountain, the sixth highest peak in the UK.  It is also supposedly the coldest and windiest spot in the UK, and it lived up to that reputation!  We didn't stay outside taking pictures for long, but we enjoyed the views from the car and the restaurant.

Josh and Avila sledding

Nathan went down on his tummy

Our snowman

Josh and Nathan built a second snowman and took him sledding

Family on the Strathspey Railway

View from the train

In front of the steam engine

Josh wanted a picture by the butcher

Kids posing...or not

Waiting for the funicular railway

Some of the views going up the mountain

More mountain views

View from the top

The highest post office box in the UK!