Happy Birthday Jared!

What a handsome young man you've become; strong, courageous, intelligent, caring, friendly, creative and imaginative.

I remember how you impressed Coach Hanif the other day.  He was explaining to you why squids were such fast swimmers and how you could use their techniques to swim faster.  You listened carefully and then commented that "Sperm Whales must be even better swimmers since they eat giant squid."  You are intelligent and have learned the art of logic.

When you had to have a bunch of blood drawn the other day you were very positive.  You walked in with a smile, never flinched and kept up a friendly conversation the whole time and kept that beautiful smile on your face.  You are courageous.

Daddy asked you the other day what you would do with $100, you said you'd split it with Lance.  Daddy asked why and you said "because he's my brother."  Daddy then asked "What about Titus?", you said you and Lance would get $40 each and Titus $20. Then Daddy asked why Titus would get less you said "because he has a really tiny piggy bank!".  You are such a good brother.

Your imagination knows no bounds.  I love the creative way you play out all the different things you'd like to be some day, especially because each one represents a way you can help people; fireman, doctor, teacher, cook, etc. You are so caring and thoughtful.

You've got BIG PLANS for your future: Lego creator, Navy flight deck personnel, and equestrian rider/mounty to name a few.  You are imaginative.

You woke up early the other morning and excitedly explained to us about how you found this "magic button" on the "Amazon Instant View" that let you watch any show you wanted.  I smiled and explained it wasn't "magic", it charged money to my account each time.  I smiled because its nice to know though you are growing up fast you still are my innocent and beautiful boy!

We LOVE you more than you can ever imagine.  We are so thankful that God gave us you to have as our son.  We pray you will always walk in His path.  We look forward to seeing all that He has planned for you.

Happy Melting!

After a stressful night of dealing with one of Jared's cardiac conditions we all needed a nice quiet day.  Thankfully our friend Christina was coming over.  Christina is one of those people that brings sunshine with her where ever she goes.  You always feel better after she leaves.  Yesterday she brought with her the supplies to do this really neat art project.

Here's what you need.

1. Elmer's Glue
2. Elmer's Poster Board (or you could use canvas but this was cheaper)
3. Lots of Crayons (we used 85 on our project)
4. Hair Dryer (one you don't care if it gets some crayon splatter on)

STEP ONE:

 

Glue the crayons on the top of the board, close together, tip facing down.  We dumped all the crayons out on the table and took turns choosing a crayon and gluing it on, so that it was truly a team effort/creation. The process is so simple and mistake proof that Titus had no trouble participating.

 STEP TWO:

Give the glue about 30 minutes to dry completely.

STEP THREE:

Lift the board on end and start melting the crayons with the hair dryer.  We found you needed to be pretty close to melt the crayons.  We also learned if you heat them from the bottom they create more of splatter look and if you heat them from the top they drip down.  As you can see, we did a variety of heating angles. I was worried the hair dryer would melt the glue and the crayons would fall off, but though we saw the glue come down in some areas, we didn't have a single crayon fall.

The end result was absolutely beautiful!  I could see someone selling these easily, it's so fun and colorful.  Next time, Chris suggested we put glue randomly all over the board and then press into it broken pieces of crayon.  Then use the hair dryer with the board flat to melt the random pieces in different spray patterns.

Happy Melting!  Seems like a good summer motto in Florida.

Ancients Timeline

A couple years ago I spent some time reconciling the Veritas Press Timeline used by Classical Conversations with the historical timeline of James Ussher (Click for PDF) and recent archaeological evidence presented in Down's book "Unwrapping the Pharaohs" (A definite must have book).  I contacted the leaders of CC about my finds and then posted this spreadsheet on C3. 

I recently read this article discussing the Biblical Timeline and the traditional secular timeline of the Egyptians. It is definitely worth reading:  http://creation.com/the-pyramids-of-ancient-egypt

Here is also an article explaining the validity of Ussher's timeline:  http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v1/n1/world-born-4004-bc

Since we are coming around to the Ancients again I thought I'd take a moment and point out the discrepancies I found with the Veritas Press Timeline and their historical significance. 

• SECOND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD IN EGYPT -  Veritas has this coming right after "The Twelve Tribes of Israel".  If you change the dates to 1479-1445 BC, this card falls in just after "Moses' Birth".  This leads way to the big change.
• HYKSOS INVASION OF EGYPT - Veritas positions this after the "Code of Hammurabi", closer to the time of Joseph than Moses.  If you change the date on this card to 1445-1021 it explains a lot.  A record of a conflict has not been found between the Hyksos and Egyptians, which is strange considering the Egyptians were known to exaggerate and pose their losses as wins.  But when you change the date to the time of "Plagues in Egypt" it makes perfect sense.  There wasn't a battle because the Egyptian army was at the bottom of the Red Sea.  Further evidence in support of this theory, is that it would make the Pharaoh at the time of Moses, Khasehkemre-Neferhoteph 1, which is significant because his mummy has never been found (can't mummify someone located at the bottom of the Red Sea).  As an aside, here is a  computer simulation showing how winds could make a clear path for crossing.
• CODE OF HAMMURABI - Date changes to 1792-1750 BC putting this card after "Birth and Sacrifice of Issac".
• EARLY NEW KINGDOM IS EGYPT -  Date Changes to 1021-776 BC, moving the card to after "Phoenician Civilization and the Alphabet"
• AMENHOTEP IV AND MONOTHEISM(824-802BC), REIGN OF TUTANKHAMON (802-792BC), LATER NEW KINGDOM IN EGYPT (776-686 BC) - These date changes put these three cards right before "The Olympics" instead of "The Trojan War".  Think of the significance of this - King Tut living after Homer.  How it could explain Amenhotep switching to Monotheism? Perhaps in opposition to the many Greek gods?

Personally I have found theses discrepancies significant enough that I have not worked with the boys on memorizing the Veritas Press timeline prior to the Olympics. I will continue to work this summer to create a bulkier "Ancient Timeline".  I have ordered the new CC timeline cards and look forward to seeing the dates they include from the orient and the Americas and working them into our timeline.  When I have it all finalized I will post an updated and complete timeline.

Summer Reading

For many families, reading over the summer is a tradition through the ages.  I just returned 24 books to the library today, so I'd say reading is a year round tradition in our family.  However, summer does have a special pull.  

My oldest son, Lance (9) and his best friend Matthew (10) usually read a book together each summer. Some of their favorites from years past have been "The Trumpet of the Swan" by E. B. White and "The Wheel on the School" by Meindert De Jong.

This year they are going to read "Sign of the Beaver" by Elizabeth George Speare.  However, instead of just reading a book together this summer, we are going to incorporate some of the ideas from my friend Brandy's "Sign of the Beaver" Book Club. 

For my younger son, Jared (7),  I think we are going to read "The Courage of Sarah Noble". He was pretty young when I read it aloud to Lance.  We are going to try and do some of the activities Brandy posted a while back for him also. 

My friend Cheryl posted an interesting list of "Inventor" books that would finish off CC Cycle 3 nicely.

As a family, we have started reading "Hurlbut's Story of the Bible".  I got it as part of a bundle of 225 EPUB/Kindle books from Yesterday's Classics about a year ago (the collection is full of Ancient Books) and just got around to looking at it.  It's just what I've been looking for family Bible time.  The introduction explains that the author wrote the book for children about age 10.  It takes the Bible and breaks it into 160 continuous stories.  The author has taken care not to add to the Bible any fictional aspects.  He said he didn't want the readers to someday read the Bible and find it was totally different from what he'd been read as a child.  The boys are really enjoying these readings.  Lance summarized it with "I like it because its more of a story and not so authoritative".  If it makes them love to read the Bible I couldn't ask for more.

For more ideas of what to read this summer, check out these two books:

The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease

Books Children Love by Elizabeth Wilson

These are more than book lists, they categorize the books by genre and reading level and provide a nice synopsis with pros and cons to reading each book.  I found myself checking them out so much from the library I just bought them both.

Final Week of Everything!

This past week was a whirl wind of activity, and a lot of fun to boot.

First on the agenda was the Year-End Cub Scouts banquet on Tuesday.  Lance received a medal for "Best Looks" with his Pinewood Derby Car and then was decorated with a new neckerchief for his promotion to "WeBeLoS".  He's growing up way too fast.

Jared also got a medal for his Pinewood Derby car but his was for Speed!  He is proud to now be a Wolf Cub.

Titus kept busy by running around the room at mach two. Amber fell asleep on the drive and woke up while I was in line for food. Chris and I decided to throw caution to the wind and were rewarded with some of the best tasting pulled pork BBQ sandwiches we have ever had. Our friend Shelly volunteered to carry her around during dinner and give us a chance to eat in relative peace, which was a nice treat.  Shelly's husband also took Lance and Jared home for us allowing them to stay and watch the end of year video. Thankfully, neither of us suffered any real ill effects from our food adventure.

Next on the schedule was a baseball game Wednesday night.  Fortunately/Unfortunately depending on your perspective, the game was rained out.  It turned into a silly game night. I bought "Where's the Water" for the iPads and we all sat on the couch playing together.  This is a great game of deductive reasoning and physics, similar to "Cut the Rope" and "Issac Newton Gravity".

Thursday, we hosted the Year-End Baseball Party for Lance's team, coached by Chris.  This was a huge success with all 15 players and their families attending the event.  

We had a potluck, medals for the kids, pictures for the parents, and gifts for the coaches.   The weather was perfect, allowing the kids to play outside on the playground. The rain kindly held off until we were home and unpacked.  Chris had such a great time coaching this spring and was blessed to have a great group of kids and parents.  In the fall its on to Minors! Oh boy!

Saturday was the final baseball game of the season.  The other team only had seven players, so Chris sent three of his players (including) Lance to the other team, which gave each team 10 players. It was a really fun game for everyone and a great way to end the season.

The week was finished off Saturday evening at a birthday party in which Chris, Lance, and Matthew played Laser Tag and all sorts of other games. The two of them were so exhausted on the drive home, Chris caught them nodding off.


Now its time to start a relaxing summer break of swim lessons, piano lessons, horse back riding lessons/camp and oh yes, can't forget the school work!  Hmmm.... doesn't sound like much of a break does it??? :-)

Legoland

Woohoo!!!

This post is way, way past due.  In February, Chris and the boys were able to go to the new "Legoland" park on a "school" field trip. Amber and I stayed home, so I'm going to let him tell you about their awesome day.

We miss you Mom and Amber!

The trip to LegoLand took over an hour and until we exited I-4 onto US27, there was little signage indicating where we were headed. Tina and I managed to keep this trip a secret from the boys. We attempt to do this as a habit for day trips as it serves two purposes: if the trip is canceled, there is no disappointment for them and secondly, we parents are able to experience the excitement through them when they see their destination for the first time. Once onto US27, there seemed to be signs and billboards for LegoLand every mile, so my talents at diversion and distraction were severely tested for an excruciating 30 minutes.

And I almost made it ... by 30 seconds.

The main LegoLand sign (which is huge) was directly in front of us and could be seen plainly from the road we were driving on. I was just about tell the boys to look out the front window, when Lance, who was looking out the side window, noticed "LegoLand" written on a road sign. He said "Dad, that sign says LegoLand!". I announced to the boys to look out the front window. All at once and in perfect unison, they exclaimed with their arms raised triumphantly - "We are going to LegoLand! Yaaaaaaay!"

"Mission Accomplished" and the day was just beginning.

This was a "school trip" organized by the Classical Conversations group the boys were attending at the time. We were the second family to arrive and we waited near the entrance for the other families to gather.  This gave Lance and Jared time to inspect the map and mark out things of interest, which was.... everything.

All in good time....

First on our list was the driving school. There are two tracks, one for kids Titus' age and one for the older kids. Titus was THRILLED to be able to drive his own car. He was the only kid on the track and had a personal assistant. Later in the day, the track was at full capacity.

How fast can I take this corner?

Jared leads the pack, with the pedal to the metal.

Vroooooooommmmm!!

Next door to the driving school was the marina and Lance and his friend Calvin had a great time ramming other boats. Titus was even able to drive his own boat on this course, with me as his faithful Captain.

Ramming Speed!!

I like the little touches around the park that allow for great photo ops...

Gulp...... Buuuuurrrrpppp....Ahhhhhh!!

The silly firehouse show was a riot and gave the boys little ditties to sing for the rest of the day and many, many days to follow. "Use the cold stuff on the hot stuff, use the wet stuff on the hot stuff". This show was wild with lots of acrobatics (some high flying) and just a bit of water thrown around.

Silly Volunteer Fireman

The ski show played a large part in the history of Cypress Gardens and I was pleased to see LegoLand kept the skiing area.

Yes, boys the not-so-mini figures can ski

MiniLand. Wow. That about sums it up. For my Lego obsessed boys, this was by far the main attraction of our day. The level of detail was absolutely amazing. It captures scenes from around the USA, including Washington DC, New York City, San Fransisco, Cape Canaveral, and Las Vegas. Be sure to spend some time here, there is quite a bit to see and some hidden gems, if you look close enough.

There is so much to see and do, that a blog post cannot do LegoLand justice. I could post dozens of pictures and still not portray the depth that the park offers. MiniLand alone offers such detail, that one could spend hours there and still not catch all the little details put into such a large display. There are, of course, Lego creations EVERYWHERE, including "wild" animals placed around the park. Keep an eye out for them.

Tina and I never imagined the boys and I would come close to closing out the park and we nearly did. There is so much to do and see, and we never even rode a roller-coaster nor some of the larger, gentler rides. The park held our attention all day. There was never a time we were "bored" and looking for something to do or were ready to leave. Titus just turned 3, Jared was 6, and Lance almost 9 and there are things to do for all ages. There was only one ride Titus was not allowed to ride that we went to, it had a minimum age of 4 (He's been asking to "ride a horse" ever since).

Tina sent me a text message towards the close of the day saying she and Amber were bored. Knowing what happens when my wife is bored, I quickly gathered the boys and high-tailed it home and set some land-speed records for a minivan. Well, not really. We were already a little tired and slowly heading in the direction of the exit. Just over an hour later, we were home and telling exciting stories from our adventures.

The entire day was a success and the boys were well behaved and enjoyed their day tremendously, as did I. I would not hesitate to go back again. With the water park opening this summer, there is definitely enough to do for a family for a couple of days.

Grocery Shopping 101 - Be "Free"

I have a few more AVOID-at-all-cost items to add to the list we started. I also want to offer a simple starting point for products to look for when you are shopping and don't have the time or bandwidth to look into all the ingredients. "No Artificial ...." or "Free of ..." are great indicators on a package that it will be at least somewhat "good for you".

So here's the AVOID it list in total:

• ALL ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS (Click here for the post on why)
• MSG and it Aliases (Click her for the post on why)
• HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP - I will do a whole article about "Sugar" soon but this is one form you want to avoid for two reasons:  1) It's a corn product and therefore is likely to come from GMO Corn (Click here for why GMO is bad) and its processed in a way that it can become contaminated with Mercury.  There are plenty of products that do not use it, therefore its easy to avoid and best to do so.
• ARTIFICIAL PRESERVATIVES BHT, BHA, and TBHQ - These ingredients are totally unnecessary and there are much better alternatives, but these are the cheapest for the manufactures so they use them.  In addition to being a petroleum product, they are a carcinogen and are documented to cause hyper-activity.  Kids have plenty of energy and don't need any more.  There are many people out there who believe that ADHD and ADD are frequently caused by a poor diet which are high in chemicals and sugar.  These are ingredients that are easy to avoid and alternative products are widely available.
• ARTIFICIAL COLORS AND FLAVORS - These products are linked to a variety of health issues - tumors in the digestive track and sometimes cancer.  In addition, these products have long been known to cause behavioral issues, including hyper-activity.  These are also easy to avoid, as the European Union's push to eliminate them has caused manufacturers to be creative in how to dye foods naturally.  For instance, "Goldfish" have been dyed with beets and other natural ingredients for awhile. Colorful food can be had naturally in the house, it just takes a little time to read the labels and make sure it comes from natural sources, not Yellow 5 & 6 (especially when combined with Sodium Benzoate), Blue 1, Red 40 etc.

There is enormous evidence linking these five categories of food additives to autism, allergies, asthma and a wide variety of other health issues.  By eliminating these five things, the path to eating a much healthier diet will be easier.  Best part is it's not too difficult, as the alternatives are many and easy to find, it just takes a little label reading. So just BE FREE!