skating the oval.

Yesterday we had such a fun day. We visited the Pettit Center in Milwaukee, one of only 11 indoor 400-meter ovals in the world. Yep, ice skating!


The boys have been looking forward to this for awhile. One of the teens in our homeschool group trains at the Pettit Center, and we have been wanting to check out the oval. After a tour the boys hit the ice...first on one of the skating rinks, and then everyone got to skate on the oval! Very fun.


As you can imagine, Wisconsin is a big winter sport state. And speed skating in particular has produced many Olympians - like Eric and Beth Heiden, Chris Witty and many others. Even Bonnie Blair, who was born in IL, moved to Wisconsin after high school to skate and still lives here. Almost half of the 2006 United States Olympic speed skating team were born and raised in Wisconsin. And of the 18 skaters who were on the 2010 U.S.Winter Olympic long track team, 7 of those skaters train at the Pettit Center and call Milwaukee home!



In fact, we watched Brian Hansen, a 2010 Olympic medalist, skate on the track for a bit when we were there. Of course we also watched the local favorite who is in our HS group - a long track skater who has his own hopes for the 2014 Olympics. We always hear about his skating, but this is the first time my boys have seen him on track - and they now plan on being a part of his cheering section at some competitions this winter. :)


As this was the first ice skating of the year, the boys started out holding onto the walls and sliding across the ice on their booties, but after a bit of practice, they were up and zipping around - and A even was trying to limbo!


After a great day of skating and visiting with friends at the ice rink, we headed home...exhausted and happy boys. Of course A now wants to know more about things - how do they lay the ice and keep it cold? Why do the long track skates make noise?


Did you know speed skating has earned the U.S. the most Olympic medals of any winter sport? At least one speedskater from Wisconsin has been on each winter U.S. Olympic Team since 1932. Speed skating is a human's fastest means of travel without mechanical aid or gravity. All very interesting!


What a great day! We will definitely be skating there again.

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living history.

We are lucky to live only 50 miles from the largest living history museum in the US (and one of the largest in the world). Old World Wisconsin is a favorite fall day trip - we like to go when school starts, as we get almost 600 acres pretty much all to ourselves, with full re-enactment staff!


We love to explore - not only visiting each farm and finding out what traditions, crafts, and architecture people brought to Wisconsin in the 1800's from their 'home' countries, but also to have a day out in the sunshine, walking the trails, just being outside in the woods all day long. This time of year we can also see the leaves starting to turn.


This museum has many traditional farms setup - spread out over hundreds of acres. So each farm you visit is a whole experience. Wisconsin was settled by many people - Danish, German, Norwegian, and Finnish, to name a few.


Each farm has a real historical home that has been re-located to this outdoor museum, with stories of the original families who lived there, and each home has someone 'living' there who is busy on the farm...milking the cow, doing the wash, baking pies, working in the full garden, cooking dinner, spinning or weaving, and of course chatting with visitors. My guys love finding out about who lived there, what they slept on, what they ate, and what 'chores' the kids had back then (kids had to work!). ;)


The fun part is of course it is a living history museum - so we get to participate in many things, and not just watch...both boys especially love the blacksmith where they get to fan the flames.


The farms also have animals to visit - cows, chickens, oxen, horses, sheep, and one very big friendly pig.



The museum also has a one room schoolhouse, a town with several shops and a blacksmith, and a town hall full of vintage games and toys. Our favorite there has always been the tops and of course stilts and hoop and stick. We always spend a long time there, so do that last.


This visit we were in the kids activity area at closing time, and the boys were asked to help retire the flag for the day (oh, such excitement!). They took their job very seriously, and helped bring it down, fold, and put away.


While we love love love to walk most of the time, there is a tram to ride between areas - it is almost 600 acres after all - which is always a nice way to chill out and let the boys sit for a few.


One thing that was very different this trip is that in June this museum was hit by a tornado. The tornado flattened hundreds (thousands?) of trees, wiping out big swaths of forest, and damaging some buildings.


While it is amazing that the tornado primarily hit the parking and entrance areas and left most of the historical buildings in tact (and all farm animals survived), it is still quite shocking to drive in and see the damage, even a few months later. We did see photos and video of the damage after the tornado (and the aerial views, wow), but it of course isn't the same as seeing it in person. There were times we just stood with our mouths open at the mountains of broken trees which are still being trucked out - and the boys hugged and climbed on the stump remaining from their favorite tree, where we used to sit and have lunch.


We always learn so much, and not just about the past...

What a wonderful day!

weekend adventures.

We went on an adventure yesterday, to a (not too) far away place that the boys had never been before. We needed to add to our camping supplies for the summer, and knew the boys would find the 165,000 square feet of Cabela's pretty interesting.

The boys had a fun day strolling through the aquarium and checking out tents, boats, fishing poles, ATVs, camping supplies and so much more. I think the two most exciting things included a) both boys getting their own new fishing poles, and b) both boys getting turns in the archery range where they were able to use a bow. They did not want to leave, and A definitely wants to take an archery class this summer.


Of course the first thing they wanted to do today was practice casting with their fishing rods. They both had a quick 'how to' with us, and then got started. They spent a lot of time outside today casting over and over and over - they even put out some markers so they had a spot to aim for. Fun!


I only got bonked in the head with a practice weight once (and that was because I thought I should rake the beds while the boys were casting). Not bad!!!  ;)

Field Trip!

When A and I discussed if there were any special things he wanted to do this fall, "field trips" came up as a big request. Each week we try to have one special outing that we designate a "field trip" which the boys select. We went to the kids museum in Rockford a few weeks back, last week we did a raspberry u-pick, and this week we went on a tour of a local creamery!

For our creamery tour several other homeschooling families joined us (hi!) - it was fun to get out with many kids in the 6 & under set. The creamery we visited (Sassy Cow) gave us a tour of the equipment and tanks, chatted about how the milk is processed (they have both organic and conventional milk), and where it goes from there to be made into ice cream, bottled on site or sold to local cheese producers. The kids also got to see a truck hooked up getting milk from a large tank. Cool!


We took a break and the kids ate some ice cream and rode pedal tractors outside. Yep. Pedal tractors!


After a bit we went back in to watch the bottling through a window. All of those kids were very energetic for the entire time, but when that bottling machine started, they were mesmerized!


The people at the creamery were all really nice (hi!) and the weather was gorgeous. Definitely a fun field trip!

Field Trip!

Today we had a fun trip to a children's science museum in Illinois. The boys have been wanting to go for awhile, but summer tourists streaming by on the highway and the inevitable construction has meant we have stayed away. Last week I promised the boys that once the kids went back to school, we would take a trip down. Today was the day. It was nice and quiet, AND since it was over 20 degrees cooler than yesterday we could play in the outside section too!


We played with electricity, learned all about fingerprints, inserted internal organs into a model, flew a jet, tested our strength, played with levers and pulleys, experimented with magnets, read about and played with gears, created waterways, assembled water bypass systems, learned about batteries and circuit boards, and cranked to create enough power to turn on lights and appliances...and much more. What fun!

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1. plasma ball., 2. Testing it., 3. circuit boards, batteries., 4. Water., 5. Generator., 6. drain., 7. Organs., 8. fingerprints., 9. bells., 10. water play., 11. Digging., 12. playing., 13. boats.