Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!!!

The kids had a great time trick or treating. Connor's friend Evan came to spend the night and our cousin Clara and her friend Sara Kate came to trick or treat. Connor always likes to dress up as something scary, but this year Ella decided she wanted to be scary too. At first she wanted to be a shadow, but then decided she wanted to be a skeleton...princess by day, skeleton by night! Connor's mask was really creepy looking but it was really hot. At the end of the night he took it off and Ella decided she liked it better than hers. The kids made a good haul on candy and they all had fun trading it back and forth for their favorites.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Ella's Preschool Halloween Party

Ella had her first party at school today. Here she is with her friends Bridget, Brooks, and Kenlee.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Swim Lessons

Ella started swim lessons at the YMCA this month. She loves her instructor, Mr. Blake. During the first class it took him about 10 minutes to get her off the steps, but by the end of class she was jumping off the side (to him) and going under the water. She's still really hesitant, but she's getting more comfortable. I have a feeling we'll be taking lessons throughout the winter.

Camping at the Farm

This past weekend almost the whole Bullard clan (my mom's family) went to 'the Farm" to camp. My uncle, David, owns the land and it's in Gadsden where my grandad grew up...it's actually his old home place. We had 15 people in 4 campers along with 4 motorcycles, 3 four wheelers, and two golf carts to keep us entertained. We also celebrated my cousin Clara's 10th birthday over the weekend.
Connor recently got a new motorcycle and enjoyed getting the feel of it. This bike is a "real" bike with a clutch and a kick start. He's really gotten the hang of changing gears with a clutch. We thought it would take him a while to get use to it, but he took right off. I don't have many good pictures of him because he was never still. Between the motorcycle, 4-wheeler, and golf carts he was always riding or driving something. He had a blast riding with all the other kids (and adults) while we were there.

Ella LOVED riding the 4-wheeler and the golf carts. Someone had to ride her almost constantly. She liked riding with her uncle David and uncle Keith the most because they would ride her fast. She had such a good time and stayed covered in dirt most of the weekend. I did manage to get her to let me take a few pictures of her on the old front steps of my grandad's house that he grew up in. I also took some of her in the old fireplace. All that is left of the house is the front steps, the fireplace/chimney and the old well.

Almost everyone took a turn on the motorcycles. Clara learned to ride Connor's old bike (center-right). Paige learned to ride my bike (Bottom-left, bottom-center). Of course, David (center-center) rode his bike and Keith and Andrew did as well. My aunt also rode my bike (bottom-right) and Connor's original tiny bike too. I have some great pictures of Jamie on the kiddie bike with a little kids helmet perched on top of her head, but she threatened me so I wouldn't put them on here. All in all it was a GREAT weekend!!!



Sunday, October 5, 2008

Dauphin Island Sea Lab Field Trip

Connor's RLC class took a field trip to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab down on the Gulf Coast. Dauphin Island is a barrier island at the mouth of Mobile Bay. We spent 3 days there and the kids got to do a lot of really neat things! We toured the Estuarium where we saw all kinds of different fish as well as a nurse shark and an octopus. During our beach walk we learned about different kinds of jellyfish...the one pictured above is called a moon jelly and doesn't have much of a sting. The kids touched it and even picked it up! We also took a hike through the maritime forest and visited Indian Mound Park and searched for pieces of pottery.
The next day we got to visit Fort Gaines, which helped guard the mouth of Mobile Bay during the Civil War. We had a really informative tour guide who taught us all about the fort...he even shot a musket and a cannon for us. During one of our labs the kids got to inspect lots of different sea creatures that had been preserved. Notice the picture of Connor with this shirt over his nose. The room reeked of formaldehyde, but he got over it pretty quickly after he got to "play" with a couple of different kinds of sharks. Next, the kids got to dissect a squid. They cut it open and learned how to tell if it was male or female, locate its gills and heart, and even got to extract its "spine" and use its ink sac to write their name. After the dissecting was over our guide fried up some squid (no, not the one we dissected) and the kids got to try a piece. Connor wasn't sure if he wanted to try it or not, but decided that he liked it...what isn't good fried???
The next day we went to the salt marsh and searched for crabs in what can only be described as a mud bog. The kids had a mud race and had a lot of fun getting filthy. The mud smelled SOOOO bad! It smelled like sulphur. After they got good and dirty, we headed over to the oyster beds and the kids practiced dragging seines to catch more crabs, fish, shrimp, etc. Connor and I took advantage of my aunt and uncles house on the island and stayed a couple of extra nights to enjoy the beach. Connor actually caught a puffer fish while we were swimming. We had fun touching it and watching it puff up. On Sunday, we took the ferry across the bay to Fort Morgan and headed back home. It was an awesome trip and we both really learned a lot.