Field Trip to the Kalamazoo Institute of Art

On Tuesday afternoon I took the punks to Kalamazoo to visit the Institute of Art which was hosting a National Geographic Exhibit. Here's our trip in pictures.

I believe they are actually reading the informational plaques. Whodda thunk?






Many of you probably recognize this famous photo. Well, the one hanging on the wall.


Cool, there's interactive stuff for the punks. Putting together a puzzle of a famous painting.


Boy wonder enjoys computer art.


The bed of nails...always a hit with kids.




Of course he had to try his face.


Here's the side view and the front of his face.


Here you're supposed to draw the owl.


Notice the tongue-in-cheek...always helps with form.


Budding artists.




Can't go to Kalamazoo without stopping for dinner at Red Robin.






That is one big burger. Good thing the mouth's big enough to handle it.


A great afternoon was had by all. We stopped at Barnes and Noble in Battle Creek on the way home. I'm thankful for a year of homeschooling that allows us to take off on educational adventures at a moment's notice.

Somewhere a dog barks....

Crafts on a Monday Night

Monday night was craft night at the Chili's. Cold night + no cable + craftie kids = Christmas coloring pages and.....SNOWFLAKE MAKING!! My girls are expert snowflake makers. Me? Well I just can't see it...the image in my head beforehand I mean. The girls on the other hand, seem to have this idea in their head and then they just start cutting and before you know it, they've created this beautiful masterpiece of a snowflake.

First we colored.










And then the kids made snowflakes. Here's what my patio window looks like.


And here's what my front window looks like.


It's quite festive and makes the house oh so cozy. So even if there's not much snow on the ground (which I might add is causing punk #3 a great deal of misery), I feel we have made up for it in a plethora of paper snowflakes.

Somewhere a dog barks....at the moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
which gives the luster of mid-day to objects below.