Our Quick Day Trip to Indianapolis Museums

Here we are again with another post about museums and our trip. We are afterall a homeschooling family and it is our job to share these things with you, right?

This past Monday was Martin Luther King Jr day. We continued our family tradition of visiting museums in Indianapolis.

As the kids get older it is surprisingly become harder to get them out of the house. I thought this would be easier by now. After all of us over sleeping, debating and arguing if we really wanted to go, and the actual act of getting ready to go, we finally headed out the door into the frigid 11 degrees to drive the 2.5 hours to our states Capitol. Oh golly I hope this was worth it.

Surprisingly, the kids didn't fight in the car nearly as much as I thought they would meaning they are probably saving all of their fury up for one magnificent moment. Thank the Lord.

Our first stop was the Eiteljorg Museum in downtown Indy. This is a Native American museum and while we had visited before, we’d never had a lot of time to enjoy the museum. So we stopped there. The first floor contained a special modern art exhibit by Native American artists, a large collection of wild west art, and a special exhibit of their Jingle Rails: The Great Western Experience exhibit.

We all loved the Jingle Rails section. It is incredible to see all of the landscapes they have made out of natural items! It was especially wonderful to see the places that we have visited: Yosemite, the Missions in Texas, the Rocky Mountains, the Sequoias, and more. So many details to discover and the trains are so fun to watch.

They also had a lot of fine art pieces including sculptures by Remington which were our favorites to examine and enjoy.

The second floor had a lot of art work on Native Americans and an exhibit about Indiana. In truth we didn’t spend too much time on the second floor as we were starting to get hungry for lunch!

The lower level has a fun area for the children but we determined that our kiddos are too old for it now so we decided to forego it. A wild west town, a wagon to pretend in, animal puppets to play with, and more. If you have time to go there with your kids I am sure they will love it!

Our next stop was to right next door to the Indiana State Museum. This museum is all about, surprise, Indiana!

To our shock and amazement Calvin saw a poster featuring the fossils of a Mastedon and was obsessed with it. So we all headed in that direction and I was so smitten to watch him ooh and ahh over it and just be totally enamored by all of the prehistoric artifacts they had that had been found in Indiana. This section included some pretty epic areas including Ancient Seas, Frozen Reign, Natural Regions.

After the prehistoric section (which by the way was enormous) we decided that we needed to leave because, well, LUNCH!

On our way to our next museum we stopped at Yujo which is a Ramen and Boba Tea place. It was very good! It is a counter service-style place and then you sit down and wait for them to bring them your food. Everything was made to order and everything was delicious. If you are a ramen fan and interested in what you got well, here you go:

Ramens:

Nick got the Yujo Signature which he loved because of the lemon zest broth

Emma and Calvin shared a bowl with the signature broth and just noodles

I got the Creamy Tonkutso bowl with a spice bomb on the side. It was really good.

Teas:

They were out of boba and I was not a happy camper but Emma and I still got tea. Emma got the milked Jasmine Tea and I ordered a Peach Oolong. Both were very yummy.

We all shared a large order of Potstickers and those were very good as well.

After our lunch, as we fell into yummy food comas we drove to Conner Prairie which isn’t technically in Indianapolis but is in Fishers, a northern suburb of Indy (and random fact where Nick and I lived before we had kids. Lots of good memories cruising around town).

We love Conner Prairie so much. In the cold Indiana months of winter they only have the indoor accessible (understandable!) so we perused all there was to see. As our children are older (still can’t believe they are 12 and 13!) they liked the more advanced projects. So we spent time putting electrical circuits together, assembled multi-step projects, and tried our hands in their handiwork workshop where this time it was all about sewing.

After that we started back home.

We arrived home around 7 and to our surprise Leroy had survived and hadn’t destroyed the house. I think we are slowly but surely getting this new family member to come around to our ways, ha.

It was a quick trip but a good trip. There have been years in the past when I have tried to get the kids to go to as many as 6 museums in a day and it was all just too much.

We decided that next MLK Jr. Day we will try to go to the zoo and the conservatory for the day.

But who knows if that plan will stick. After all, we have an entire year to change our minds!

Did you do anything fun on MLK Jr. Day? I’d love to know!

And finally we went home.

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The Henry Ford Museum

I’m just going to get to the point here…The Henry Ford Museum is the best museum we’ve ever been to.

Ever.

You read that right. After visiting the Smithsonian, traveling through over 30 states, and seeing God only knows how many National Parks, I am here to tell you that if you are looking for a museum that has it all then you need to go the Henry Ford museum.

Now I realize that this is a lot to say. After all, it isn’t known as a science museum or a childrens museum. If anything I would say it would be known as an auto museum. However I think you will hands down say that it is all of those once you have visited for yourself.

Also the museum has the most diverse collection of artifiacts that I have ever seen. Seriously. If you want to see the history of the toaster and how it got its beginnings then you can see that here. Or if you want to see Mr. Ford’s personal collection of violins, you can see that too.

The diversity of the museum is what blows me away each time I go there because I forget how many things that are to see.

I mean, where else can you assemble a Model T, sit in Rosa Parks’ seat on the bus, see the very chair Lincoln was shot in, the only remaining Dymaxion house, and countless other things?

See what I mean?

Not to mention the extensive automobile collection (it’s Ford, so of course!) plus the trains, the planes, and all of the machines and guns your boys can handle. Every time we go there we see something that we never noticed before plus with their ever changing exhibits there is always something to learn there. We have experienced everything from the artwork of Norman Rockwell in person to the hands on automation of Pixar at these exhibits and have loved each and every one of them.

Because we love it so much and because we love visiting over and over, I wanted to let you in on this deal I found:

This Martin Luther King Jr. Day the museum is offering free admission! Isn’t that amazing? You can visit anytime between 9:30-5 for free!

I know you and your kiddos will love going as much as we do!

They have an amazing Exhibit going, With Liberty and Justice for All, that would be perfect to visit on this historic day.

Have you ever visited the Henry Ford Museum? What was your favorite part?

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How We Travel and Why Sometimes I Don't Post About It

I know that everyone loves to travel and get away. We do too! But for me, it is truly a fun time and a vacation if we can cross a new state off our list!

We have been trying to get the kiddos to all 50 states. This trip of ours was out east and we were able to visit New York for the first time, making that our 29th State! Woo-hoo! We’re well on our way since we’ve passed the half way mark!

Our trip was already two weeks ago (I can’t believe it’s already been that long!) and we had such a relaxing time. We were able to visit New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Because we were traveling with Nick for work this wasn’t exactly an ideal route that we took that I would ever recommend it, but I’ll be posting individually about the places we went. I swear, sometimes it takes me the most time to come up with HOW to format telling everyone about our trips. Otherwise they can turn into these long-winded accounts of everywhere we went that get super confusing…nobody wants to read those and I certainly don’t want to document our wonders in that way.*

So that is why it has taken me nearly two weeks to even mention that we were away, let alone where we went. The majority of our trip was spent in Pennsylvania. The kids and I ended Classical Conversations at the beginning of the month, hallelujah! I am feeling so burnt out with it all. I’ve been trying to pinpoint if it is with CC itself, the lack of time we have to study other things outside of CC, or something totally different. While I am still completely unsure about what it is that is troubling me I did know that I was ready for a break from CC and was ready to start something new. After a lot of research we decided to embark on a unit study. Knowing that we were going to be going on this trip and would be really close to Gettysburg is what made us decide to do a unit study on the Civil War. Emma loves history and Cal loves learning about the military so this helped them go hand in hand. A perfect pair for us!

I love when I can make our trips coincide with schooling. It’s a match made in heaven for me…after all like I always say, there is nothing more educational then walking in the footsteps of those who actually made the history you study in school. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it! I love it so much. This is why we homeschool…well, that and I’m just about the nerdiest person ever but those two things, with their powers combined, are why we homeschool.

I also love when the places that we go allow us to explore more about our country or about our world in general. In case you’ve ever wondered how we pick the spots we visit, most of our travel has to align with where Nick is going on business. Then we get creative, spending weekends going around the area and discovering things that are a car ride away.

Friends, I’d love to know…how do you plan your travel? Do you look for unique adventures or do you relish going back to your favorite spots? Do you plan around your kiddos interests or around the destinations that you go to? Do you have any travel challenges (like all 50 states!) you are trying to accomplish? What do you love about traveling? I’d love to learn more about you and where you love to travel!

Comment below, kisses!

Great Kid Friendly Places to Visit in Nashville

One of my friends was going to Nashville with her friends and asked if I could give some recommendations.

Having gone to Nashville a few times with our kiddos, boy oh boy could I make some recommendations!

I was able to quickly make her a list of fun places to go and thought I would share it with you.

These are fun places to check out and offer things to see, things to do with littles. for the most part they are free or relatively inexpensive. We also have only ever gone for a few days at a time so we never are involved in anything heavy or time consuming.

Here are some of our recommendations:

Five Daughters Bakery

These donuts are like anything we’ve ever had before and they are so scrumptious! A mix of a donut and a croissant, these cronuts are divine. Some of them though are about $6 and they are huge so if you have kids I highly recommend making them share. It is hard for an adult to finish one, they are so rich and filling, so to save money our family gets a couple to share and then some of their really good coffee to enjoy them with.

The only location we’ve ever been to is the one by Draper James. It has a great outdoor eating area and a little playground which is adorable! It’s a nice place to take a break and get some fresh air.

Draper James

This is Reese Witherspoon’s store in case you didn’t know!  Super cute, super girly, and super southern, you’ll be greated with the cutest little cups of sweet tea in their signature cups with their own little straws.  There’s a super cute wall outside to get your picture in front of and our kids loved the little drink treat while I shopped. 

Lifeway Christian Store

Housed in the ground floor of the bookstore’s headquarters, this store was so nice to browse through.  We were pleasantly surprised to find lots of hard to find items, tons of steals, and activities to do in the back of the store while parents shop.  Be sure to use the space age type bathrooms and don’t miss the stained glass on the way!

Antiques Archaeology

We have been to this store twice and amazingly it is never as busy as I always thought it to be.  While most of the “picked” items were way, WAY out of our price range, it was fun to purchase shirts, coffee cups, and the iconic bumper sticker that was on our flex when we sold it  (every mother wants their daughter to pick them out a bumper sticker that says “Junk in the Trunk” and have no idea why this is not appropriate, right, lol).  Also, if you watch the show at any type of frequency you are sure to see items in the shop that were found on a show you’ve watched. 

*Side note, be sure to go IN the building that houses the store. An old factory, it houses loads of old machinery that our kids love tinkering with, turning the knobs, pushing the buttons, basically being able to mess with. This type of hands on history is our fave! There are also several other shops to check out,

Gaylord Retreat Center

Waterfalls, photo opportunities, flowers, foliage, multi levels with walking paths to wander around and explore…the Gaylord Convention and Retreat Center is something you have to see to believe. With multiple atriums to explore full of shopping and restaurants (they even have indoor boat rides, seriously, huge!) this is something that will be fun for your family to explore even if you aren’t staying there.

Tip, parking can become salty (I can’t remember for sure but I believe parking was by the amount of time you were there). I recently read on Trip Advisor that you can park in the Opry Mills parking lot and there is a nice walking path that takes you to Gaylord so you don’t have to pay for parking. Just an idea if you are trying to save some money.

Aquarium restaurant

Okay this is one of those T Rex, Rainforest type restaurants where the food is terrible but really you’re paying for the experience to sit next to a massive aquarium and eat. If you have kids who love fish and sharks then this is perfect for you. If you want to save money, find a free appetizer rack card at basically any hotel in the area. The nachos were massive so I got the nacho appetizer as my entree which at least saved us some money. Nick and I have even shared the nachos as our meal before and just paid for the kids meals. Win, win!

Grand Ole Opry

So the weirdest thing to me is that the Grand Ole Opry is now right across from a mall but it’s the mall with the Aquarium restaurant, Opry Mills. Even if you don’t take in a show it is a cool place to visit and they have a really comprehensive gift shop. It’s nice to snap photos and say you’ve been there. At any given time there could be singers, performers, and various types (country and western) of dance troups and shows in the courtyard of the Opry.

Nashville Zoo

I sometimes say this to you about certain attractions so here it goes…we have been to a boat load of zoos. The National Zoo, the iconic Fort Wayne Childrens Zoo, the Chicago zoos, zoos on the east coast, zoos out west…there have been a lot of zoo experiences.

All that to say, the Nashville zoo is the second best zoo we’ve ever been to, second only to the Indianapolis Zoo but they have the huge Dolphin show so there’s that. The Nashville Zoo houses the most amazing playground. Appropriately named “Jungle Gym” ha! It is a massive structure with so much to do. We enjoyed that there was something to do there aside from look at animals as it really helped to break up the day and gave the kids something to do on their own.

There are extra things you can pay for…we let the kids go on the Eagle Zip Line and it was so much fun! The kids were scared at first but then they were excited to go on it and then really happy they had the chance to go. It is a massive zip line experience and it is a fun ride down.

If you have a reciprocal membership from another AZA zoo then this zoo is half off for you, friend!

Adventure Science Center

This Science Center was a lot of fun. Our kids enjoyed the space exhibit the most, with their anti gravity experience, Test Bed. I really, really appreciate when the kids can experience things like this and it is included in the price of admission. On the flip side of the coin I hate when places nickel and dime you for every cotton picking thing they offer…it gets confusing and expensive. This place however did not do that and it was great.

Just a tip though, this place was a bit out of the way and was hard to find but be patient…if it seems like you are going the wrong way you are probably almost there, ha.

Other things there that the kids loved were the gigantic light bright exploring the physics of light, the indoor playground, Adventure Tower, that is multi-level structure and at the top has a Willy Wonka type experience where you can poke your head up and look over the whole city…very cool.

So there you have it, some fun things to do in the Nashville area. I know that most people think Country Music right off the bat when they think of Nashville but if you’ll notice, hardly any of my recommendations had to do with music. It is a bustling, fun city that is up and coming.

If you are interested in country music you can find a lot of hotspots on Broadway which is fondly called “Honky Tonk Row”. We’ve driven through the area but each time we decided there were too many people to get out and walk around so we just drove through. If you are going with kids just be forewarned that this is a huge party area…think bachelorette parties and large groups of people. Everyone seemed to be pretty chill and it didn’t smell of urine like Beale Street in Memphis but still, it can get crazy. I’ve included the picture below for you to catch a glimpse of the people.

Oh and really quick, 2 more places! Brentwood is a cool area south of Nashville and Biscuit Love is an amazing place to grab a bite to eat! Be sure to check those out too!

Do you have any suggestions of other places to visit? Or any questions I can help you with? Make sure to comment below! Happy Traveling!

Smoky Mountain Fun: Our Dollywood Review

Dollywood has always been one of those pie in the sky destinations for our family. This fall our family spent a few nights in the Pigeon Forge area and while we were there we had the opportunity to visit Dollywood. Having visited the area a few times before we, of course, had seen Dollywood advertised everywhere! Since the kids are getting older (funny how that happens!) and have been begging to ride roller coasters we were excited to try it out with our preteen kiddos and decided this would be the perfect trip to visit the amusement park.

We are so glad we did! Y’all if you have never been to Dollywood you are definitely missing out. I can say that we had no idea what all there was going to be to see and experience. Our kiddos were 10 and 12 when we visited and they had so much fun in the park. Truly a place made for family with fun and faith interwoven, it is a haven where you don’t have to worry about inappropriate displays or if attractions will be too scary.

We arrived pretty much first thing when they opened. I enjoyed that they do not open at dawn’s early light because this momma always feels very bad if we don’t cram in as much as earthly possible. I mean, we’re paying for it so we’ve got to get our money’s worth, right? So I am right on track with Dolly’s thinking that we all need our beauty sleep so we should all go a bit later. They opened at 10 am and it was a perfect time to set out on our day’s adventure!

The main street is very disney-esque but the thing I loved is that you didn’t get the feeling that they were trying to be Disney. We’ve been to plenty of other places that are trying to be something they are not but this was not the case at Dollywood. They are their own attraction and they own their own unique identity and flavor. The main street was a great place for our family to get out sea-legs so to speak. We could tell when we walked in that Calvin was very overwhelmed by everything there was to do so it was nice to have a bit of a stroll before we jumped right into activities.

We walked down main street and found ourselves in the Craftsman’s Valley area, an adorable area with shops and craftsman galore. We loved looking through the glassworks store before deciding that we were ready for our first ride. We sat down as a family and became acclimated with the park through the map. They also have a very immersive app that Nick and I each downloaded onto our phones. Sometimes it was handier to look at the paper map and other times it was nice to refer to the app…I would say you should definitely use both when you are there. Also, one of my homeschooling mom tricks is I make my kids use maps. Things like directions, map keys, distance…so many things are understood and learned through maps and in these days a lot of kids are not learning how to use maps. It’s fun for them to practice using the map and being in charge of helping the family find our destination. *Okay I’ll step off my little cartography soap box now, but we just love maps!

Once we walked to the ride Calvin got scared but Nick and Emma had a blast riding the Barnstormer. Calvin and I remarked how it was almost as much fun watching the rides as it was riding the ride. Maybe not. but it was fun to watch!

I will spare you the joy of reading every.single.blessed.thing we did as you would be here until doomsday reading everything we did. Suffice it to say…we had an amazing time! To break it down for you there were three categories of things we enjoyed: the sights, the food, and the rides!

The Sights

Dollywood is for everyone which I love! I remember my grandparents visiting when Dollywood first opened back in the ‘80s and I can understand why now. Tons of seating including droves of lovely rocking chairs to rest and relax in. Older people were there, families, young adults, seriously…everyone. I’m guessing one of the reasons so many retired folks love this place is because there is so much to do outside of amusement park rides.

To be truthful, on a Dolly Parton fan-level we were pretty much non existent fans upon arrival. Then we came across her museum, Chasing Rainbows, which tells The Dolly Parton Story. It was so amazing to see her actual momentos and treasures from her journey to success, to see her story unfold from where she started to where she is now. Such an amazing story of God’s provision. And now we are huge fans of hers. If you want to see all of her awards, her gowns, her shoes, her purses, her magazine covers, then be sure to go spend time in Chasing Rainbows.

Another one of our favorite things was the train! A coal powered train from Alaska that was used during WWII, the beast has been at Dollywood since it opened and is so iconic to the park. It was so much fun to ride and see all of the sights around the park. A must-do if you visit.

Other fun things included a drum garden to make music, and statuettes like this axe to try to get out of the ground. Calvin insists he got it to wiggle ;). There were animals to see, shows to attend, concerts to listen to, you name it.. So many things to do!

In the Craftsman’s Valley area they had so many hands on projects and shopping to do. Seeing as we visited in the fall there were lots of Christmas ornament options. There were woodworkers to watch, iron forgers to get lost in their process watching, and you could even blow your own glass. The kids went to the candlemaker and dipped their own candles.

The buildings are amazing to see too! So many building are designed to look like historic Smoky Mountain buildings…the chapel and the mill were some of our favorites.

Something super surprising to find in an amusement park…Towards the tip of the park you will find an incredible sight…the Nation’s largest Bald Eagle Sanctuary. We’ve seen eagles several times….we have a family of eagles that live outside of our lake cottage but this was absolutely awe inspiring. This National Parks caliber sanctuary gives you a chance to watch multiple eagles soaring in their own environment. You simply must check this out!

Another aspect of Dollywood I would like to add is that they always seem to have a fun theme or something going on, on top of the already amazing selection of attractions. While we were there the Harvest Festival was going on. Craftsman from around the country were all around to watch and there were Southern Gospel Singers, Country and Western Acts with concerts every few minutes. Even comedy and dance based musical shows. The extra sights were so much fun to take in and enjoy as we walked along.

The Food

You guys all have to try the cinnamon bread from the Grist Mill! I’m looking at you. That was the number one thing people told us whenever we would mention that we were planning on visiting Dollywood. And it is as good as everyone told us it would be. A sort of monkey bread loaf, this pull apart treat was enough to feed our family of 4 as a snack. I believe it was $7.99 so it was a bargain for a snack for all of us!

Beyond the cinnamon bread, all of the food we had was amazing. We didn’t do any of the sit down restaurants but we did sample quite a bit of food throughout the day. Fried Green Tomatoes, Jumbalaya, Funnel Cake, Ice cream…incredible. My favorite though were the fresh made pork rinds. People like them so much you can buy them by the bucket. A large bag was enough for our family to snack on through the day. You can see Nick in the photo beside eating the said pork rinds because we aren’t a proud people…we can post our eating photos.

The Rides

I am not a ride person. I can’t say I’ve ever been a huge ride person, but I do remember being young and experiencing the thrill of going on rides for the first time.

It was such a blast to be able to experience that with our kiddos and to see the looks on their faces when they got off of rides. For the most part they absolutely loved them!

Emma started off the excitement because after riding her first ride with Nick I talked about earlier, she was really wanting to go on more rides. Calvin however, still was not having any of it.

We all decided to go on an indoor ride and we all had a blast…it was fun and thrilling but not too scary.

After that Emma found a fire ride that she wanted to go on. This is the face of a girl who went on her first official roller coaster. She was so cute talking all about it and being flushed at how exciting it was! After seeing Emma’s excitement Cal started to warm up to the idea of going on a coaster but still wasn’t sure. Which is why having smaller rides is just perfect! They rode a smaller “tween ride” (as they called it) and had a blast together. I love when they have fun together.

Another ride they loved doing together was this lumber jack ride where they had to pull themselves up to the top and then the ride would lower them in unexpected intervals before they would repeat the process all over again. If your kids somehow have pent up energy to get out after walking miles and miles around the park then this is the ride you need for them!

If you have kiddos who are younger or do not like roller coasters, there is still so much to do! It’s basically an amusement park where the roller coasters are not the center of things to do.

Calvin’s very favorite area was the carnival area. There were lots of games and rides for younger children. We enjoyed the bumper cars collectively as a family. Be warned though that these are not bumper cars where you smash into people going every which way, there is a track and you have to go the way they tell you. I wish I had known that in advance as it was a little bit of a different idea for Calvin to understand, but after the first go round, he was a pro.

The kids loved the carousel! I love that our kids seek our carousel’s to ride wherever we go. It is always such a sweet memory and fun to pick a certain horse to ride on.

We feel so blessed that we had the chance to visit. The special needs accommodations they offered were so helpful for our family (I’ll be writing about that in another post). In short, Dollywood has taken the sanctity of our great nation and somehow combined that with thrills and fun for an idyllic theme park experience.

Our Wonder Collective’s Summary

Pros:

• There really is something for everyone. They don’t just say that…it’s true.

• There’s lots to do…you won’t be able to experience everything in one day. You won’t get bored.

• It’s a foodies dream. Seriously, so much food. Good food, for good people. Southern down home food with culinary twists thrown in.

• I don’t know how they do it but it is the best taken care of, cleanest, most peaceful place. It’s amazing.

• The best value is found with their multi-day tickets that cut the price of each day way down.

Cons:

• The ticket prices are very expensive. Once we were in and experienced it I felt that the cost of the ticket was justified and makes sense. But when you haven’t gone before it seems like a lot of money. Plus it is a lot of money to pay if you are taking your entire family.

• You cannot bring your own food into the park. You can leave the park and re-enter with your hand stamped but seriously, the place is huge and the parking lot is massive. If you plan on leaving make sure you are ready for a trek (even with the tram) to get to your car and get something to eat.

• Perhaps we are a bit directionally challenged but even my husband who has a degree in planning out cities admitted that the layout seemed a bit wonky. It took most of the day for us to get our bearings and feel that we knew where we were going.

Our Wonder Collective Suggestions:

• Drink water and lots of it. Iced water is free at all food vendors. Make sure you ask for lots. Lots and lots and lots.

• Wear comfortable shoes (of course!)

• Make a note of where you are parked. The parking lots (mulitple!) are massive and you’ll take a tram from the lot into the park .

• They have a service to have all of your purchases waiting for you at the front…use that service! It was so nice to not have to keep track of who has what bag and to make sure Sue Ellen (there’s no Sue Ellen) still has her bag and on and on. The less you have to carry the better, right? I will also say that keeping your receipts all together instead of shoving them into the depths of your purse makes retrieving your items a lot easier…not that I would ever do that but you know, just in case, don’t do that.

• If you are thinking of going make sure you get on their website and sign up for their email list. I did and I am not constantly alerted of deals they are having!

• When you get the cinnamon bread from the Grist Mill, just go ahead and get more than you need. You’ll want to take some home or to snack on later on in the day. The later in the day it gets, the longer the line becomes so go ahead and only wait once.

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Enjoy Dollywood! Comment below with your suggestions or questions. I’d be happy to help!

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Welcome to Our New Project...Our Wonder Collective!

It has been so hard to not let the cat out of the bag about our new name…Our Wonder Collective!

Welcome to this new place. This new landing place for us to inspire and encourage you along your journey through our journey. We are so happy to be in this new space and to take the world by storm with wonder. I thought I would start this blog off with a brief description of our new site’s name because, you guys, I am in love! I’ll then answer some questions I’ve gotten about the blog.

“noun: a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.
verb: desire or be curious to know something.”

— Wonder

We were talking as a family way back when about what binds our homeschooling and our adventures through travel together and the word wonder came sputtering out suddenly. It is so dead on it was surprising because wonder is what we are always after. We’re always looking for beautiful and unexpected things that will surprise us, cause admiration, and basically knock our socks off. And in it’s verb sense we always have a desire to be curious to know something. We’re always learning, always searching.

So Our Wonder Collective is our big bag of wonders we have collected. We can’t wait to share them with you along the way!

But why wonder?

I had a session with my friends where I asked them things about my blog (plying your friends with food and drinks is an excellent way for a panel discussion, btw!). Two of my best friends pointed out that the main thing that sets us apart from other people is that we are living life, homeschooling and traveling, and making it look normal while having to make adjustments and modifications for our autism family. See, our son has autism. Our son and daughter do things drastically different. To me that is just life but as I am realizing, sometimes things I see as easy or normal are talents God has given me that set me apart.

What happened to Super Busy at Home?

Eep! I have to geek out fangirl style because I had a chance for Crystal Paine from Money Saving Mom to critique my blog. Eep! It was beyond an incredible experience and an incredible learning experience. The biggest thing she said was an issue was our website’s name. And she was right. It was just the push we needed to take the jump and start a new site. The truth is that I am not the busiest person in the world and it is hard having a site about being at home when you are traveling. It was a bit weird.

What will this site be about?

The wonder that we find along the way! If you love exploring, traveling, and a lifetime love of learning than you are going to feel right at home here. We love sharing new finds with our friends and can’t wait to share them with all of you. We exist to inspire and encourage others to find wonder in whatever is around, wherever they find themselves.

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We hope our search for wonder will inspire you to look into your everyday to see God’s wonder that is all around. Welcome to Our Wonder Collective!

Quick Travel Update: Tennessee, Indy, and Beyond!

Hi sweet friends!

We have been around the big blue yonder! This post is unlike my normal posts because I am just dishing about my life. Which by the way, feels so nice!

The last few weeks have been crazy!

We ended October traveling together to Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia. We landed home just in time for some good old trick or treating through our neighborhood and then it was back out for more fun on the go.

Last week we found ourselves tourists in Indianapolis…we had a blast and it was fun being touristy as that was where Nick and I first lived when we got married. It was fun to check out new places and to reminisce about the old.

Now we are back home and I feel that I am trying as hard as I can to get my bearings before the fun of the holidays kicks in. I find that this is the time of year that makes or breaks the holiday season. Not having a clean and organized home before everything picks up can turn the fun into chaos in a heart beat. Trust me, I know from experience!

So I am here sifting through the piles of laundry, organizing our attic area to make way for a gift wrapping station, and purging toys and clothes that we no longer need in an effort to make room for the new we know will be coming from friends and family.

It is so easy to become overwhelmed or even bitter through all of this…I’ve been there. But I just want you to know, we are all so blessed! Me, you, everyone! This time of year with the leaves colored gem colors it is so obvious how God give way above and beyond what we need. He gives to us so we will be happy and content and joy-filled!

I hope this leaves you inspired to find contentment in your chaos, to be grateful for the grunge your kiddos bring in, and to seek out the serenity of the every day!

I love you all!

April Adventures

As I mentioned in this earlier post, we've had some rough times homeschooling lately. 

So we've been getting out and about town to shake things up.

I have a hard time with finding the right balance in terms of school work and going out and doing fun activities.  Does anyone struggle with this?

When I start to pay attention to all of the cool things going on in the area it seems like we are always on the go, go, go.  Forget math, we've got butter to churn.

On the other hand I often times get so bogged down with focus strategies and lesson plans that we are often cooped up in the classroom for so long that there isn't time for anything outside of it to go on. 

Well this month I've tried to strike a good balance.  I think I have!

We went to the University of Notre Dame during Robotics week to check out all of the cool things their students were doing.  They had a ton of interactive booths set up and the kids had a blast checking things out. Above is Calvin telling the robot to do the sprinkler.

This robot was ginormous!  I think it kind of scared Calvin at first!  But it was amazing to watch it in action and to see all of the things the students could have it do.

We also went to ag-days at the local fair grounds.  It's something we've done every year.  Sad to say I think the kids are getting a bit too old for it, but it was something fun to do anyway. The event works that the kids get a basket at the beginning.  They then make their way around to different stations to learn about crops and animals.  They put something from each station in their basket that relates to what they learned. At the end they turn their basket in and they earn a cookie and milk.  It's a good old fashioned family time.

In pictures I wonder if Calvin will ever stop making this murdery face.  I mean, what in the world is this silly face???

If you had witnessed this in action you would know that we are clearly city slickers.  We have no idea what we are doing.  But it was fun and the kids enjoyed trying to lasso a bucket with a sheep head on it :)

As you read here in this previous post we had a complete revitalization of our homeschooling last week.  Out with the old and in with the old or whatever I've been trying to say. 

So we pounded out a great week of school and so I decided it was high time we throw a little fun into the mix.  So Friday as a treat we went to the Kalamazoo Valley Museum in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  It is one of our favorite museums.  And it's free so it has that going for it.

Above is a picture of Calvin racing a car he built. They have a really fun motion area.  We've been studying force in Science so this was a great area for us to spend some time and reading about what we were doing.

Emma loved working on refracting light.  And isn't she a fashion plate?  As she is getting ready to ten I can see that she's definitely starting to get in that Tween stage.  She only wants to wear skinny jeans however I am occasionally able to get her to wear some cute Mustard Pie pieces with them as I did in this case.  Thank goodness :)

They also have a fun health area.  The kids love exploring everything that there was. Emma puts the x-ray skeleton together every time.  So much fun to watch her learn and grow with each passing year she does it. 

So those were some of our April Adventures.  This weekend Emma is having her first slumber party and the boys are going camping with Cal's Boy Scout troop. 

What adventures have you been on this month?

The Art Institute

Emma and Baby Grace...isn't she an adorable Momma?

Thoroughly enjoying smores!

Emma and I making smores...somehow we slaved away while the boys enjoyed the fruits of our labor...teehee!

I think he has too many marshmallows in that cute mouth

My cuties in the museum

Here we are!

Daddy and Emma

Today we visited the Art Institute and had such a wonderful time! We truly are blessed by our family and we always have such a great time together. It amazes me how funny our children are. We have such well behaved children, it always amazes me!

We also ate at a restaurant which served smores you could make at the table and had a great time! Afterwards we did a bit of shopping where Emma took Baby Grace with her...so cute!

All in all it was a wonderful day of beginning cultural experiences for the children. While at the museum we discussed which colors make us feel happy and the textures of the paintings...how Vangogh used a skinny brush and monet used a lot of oil paint and it looks very chunky...who knows if they wull ever use this info but at least I will know it is in their cute little brains somewhere!