Showing posts with label field trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label field trip. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Crazy Summer

Wow!  I can't believe it has been over a month since I posted last.  It has been a crazy summer.  I am taking classes to complete my bachelor's degree.  I took my final last Tuesday, and turned in my 7 page term paper just a week before that.  All the kids went to at least one camp.  We had swimming lessons and lots of trips to the pool.  My oldest took his SAT and ACT in June.  We've had day camps and driving lessons (again my oldest).  We've had very few days of doing nothing--especially on the weekend when my husband is home.  I'm not allowed to sleep in, even on Saturday, that's when my husband does all the yard work with the older boys before the heat gets here. 

http://www.gwpark.org/

But summer hasn't been without its high points.  My daughter and I went on a girl's only weekend this past weekend.  We spent too much money but boy did we have a good time.  We stayed in a "cottage" in Sulphur, OK a little over an hour and a half drive away.  She wanted to visit the Little Niagara falls.  Swim, have fun, goof off.  That's kind of hard when the "falls" are a tiny, stagnate green pool.  The falls were a bust.  We found other things to delight.  We went to the lake there but my daughter was freaked out by all the fish that were curious and poked her legs.  So, we didn't do much swimming. We spent some time at the local museum.  Saturday night we enjoyed a movie on the "plaza" in town.  They showed "Remember the Titans" a movie you wouldn't think would appeal much to a 10 yo girl, but we had a terrific time watching and munching popcorn outdoors.  The stars were beautiful.  We went to church on Sunday morning but what an odd church.  They had the tabernacle veiled still, flanked by seraphim, so I thought there was hope of an orthodox Mass.  Everything was okay except for the altar girls and one of THEM preparing the altar--which is the PRIEST'S (or deacon's) job, not the altar girl's.  I was truly disappointed by that.  During Mass I tried hard not to think about it.  Then I used their restroom...guess what, another pet peeve of mine.  They had the WRONG ten commandments posted on the wall.  Why are Catholics so ignorant of the history of the protestant ten commandments?  That will be my next post.  Despite the faults of St. Francis Xavier parish we did get to receive the Body and Blood of our Lord, so it was worth the unorthodoxys in their church.  Anyway, we took another route home and stopped at G.W. Exotic Animal Park.  I guess they just want to get some revenue that day so only charged the two of us $20 to get in.  If it wasn't soooo darned hot out (around 105 degrees) it would have been the highlight of our trip.  It was amusing to see several tigers laying in the tin tubs provided for them--several with bubbles.  My youngest is obsessed with bowling.  He would have enjoyed seeing the many bowling balls and pins in the cages for the tigers' amusement.  I felt sorriest for the bears.  This Oklahoma hot spell has to be torture for a creature with dark thick fur, who belongs on a mountain somewhere far North of here.  We didn't stay as long cooing and ahing over the animals as we would have liked because we were both melting--like in that Perrier commercial.  It was pleasant, though.  I really didn't want to come home.  I would have enjoyed another couple of days in that cottage and exploring more of Oklahoma on the way home. 

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Field Trip

Today St. Walburga's Academy went on a field trip. My five students and I went to the art museum downtown OKC and saw Roman Art for the Louvre. You can view their website here: http://okcmoa.com/romanartfromthelouvre/ We had such a great time. It was better than I expected.

1- The three year old did not fuss--much.
2- Very few incidents of running.
3- We only set off one alarm.
4- I actually got to read about 1/2 the material posted for the exhibit.
5- I actually got to look at things up close.
6- One of the curators was happy to give us a lot of information about items in the exhibit without '3 weeks notice' posted for group tours.
7- The art was bigger and more detailed then expected from the pictures. Of course, a 2 inch picture on a screen does not prepare one for an enormous 5 foot tall bust of Lucilla. Just trying to imagine a full sized statue with that 5 foot head is awsome. And...there were statues MUCH bigger than that in Rome. Wow!
8- It was great to see these portraits (mostly) in marble. You can picture the historical people in a more realistic light.

All the students had a good time despite the late lunch afterward. I look forward to more, interesting field trips. The best part was that on the initiative of one of the homeschool mothers we got a group rate. The admission was only $12 (plus $1.50 for parking) as opposed to the $52 for the regular rates.
Whoo, hoo! Thanks Nici!

Praise God for a WONDERFUL DAY!!