Red Wings vs. Bulls

The only person I know who's a bigger baseball fan than my boys, would be their Great Uncle Wayne.  Earlier this Spring, Uncle Wayne surprised us by sending us a bunch of baseball paraphernalia, most of which was related to his favorite and home team - the Rochester Red Wings.  It turned out to be very useful for Chris as assistant coach and us fans when Jared was drafted to the Red Wings in the spring.

Then a couple months ago, Uncle Wayne surprised us again by treating us to a real Red Wings game when they came to the area to play the Durham Bulls.  The event was much anticipated by my boys and finally came yesterday.

The seats were excellent and the stadium clean and beautiful.  They say its the nicest stadium in the minor leagues and Chris said he wouldn't doubt it.  Boys were tickled by the peanut vendor that was quite vocal in his enthusiasm for his job; apparently he's an infamous fixture at the stadium.  Chris used it as a teaching moment to remind the boys how we should enjoy everything we do and do it well.

Uncle Wayne had coached the boys over the phone in different techniques to assure that they would get a game ball.  Lance listened well.  The third inning ended in a strike out.  Lance ran down to the railings as the Red Wing catcher was running off the field, he saw Lance in his Red Wings hat and tossed him the game ball.  Lance had a perma-grin for the rest of the game.

Next came Jared's turn to shine.  A stadium representative came up to Jared and started asking him questions.  When she asked if he'd like to go on the field, Jared paused confused and Chris interjected telling him: "Just say 'Yes' Jared", so he did.   She took him behind the scenes to rehearse a skit with Wool E. Bully at the end of the next inning.  The video is after the picture below.

I've always said Jared was my thespian and now I have proof.  He was truly in his element acting out on the field.

The night couldn't have been a greater success.  Chris and the boys had an absolutely fantastic time!

Rainforest Field Trip

Today we ventured out to the NC Natural Science Museum downtown.  This was my first time driving downtown by myself.  In fact, my apprehension over driving myself had kept me from checking out the any of the museums downtown.  What got me to conquer my fear today was a friend organizing a field trip to see their new "Rainforest" exhibit.  As it turned out, the drive was easy, parking a breeze and the downtown safe and clean.

We gathered as a large group in the main lobby (probably about 30).  The museum itself is free so the kids immediately started to explore the exhibits on the first floor while we waited.  It is a first class museum rivaling the natural science museum in other large cities I've seen.  The museum comprises two buildings one with four floors and other with three, connected by a walk way on the second floor.  We were only able to see the first building today.

The special exhibit on the Rainforest was up a couple floors up.  The kids were anxious to stop and explore each floor but we needed to stay with the group till we were done with the exhibit. The exhibit itself was a simple maze designed to teach kids about the Rainforest.  For the most part it was below the age of my oldest and above the learning interest of my youngest.  However, the hands on activities kept Amber and her cohort Lily quite happy and busy; such as the "web", rope forest and spinning the wheel of life.  Lily's mom, Lauren, and I were kept busy keeping track of them.  Lily and Amber are a great rough and tumble duo.  When the pumped heads at one point this was the conversation "You O.K?" "Yeah I OK, You OK?" "Yeah" and off they went again.  

After the group had had its fill of the special exhibit we went off to explore the museum.

On the fourth floor was a beautiful dry forest exhibit with beautiful butterflies from Costa Rica.  They had hanging between the floors skeletons of various whales which led to a discussion about Jonah and which whales/ sharks we thought most probable to have swallowed him.  Another favorite part of the museum was the dinosaur models.  Lauren and I particularly like this one because it was behind a glass door with only one way in and out.  So when Amber and Lily went in we could relax for a moment and talk, without worrying about where they had teleported to next.

We ended up staying longer than I expected about three hours.  By the time we left everyone was exhausted.  In fact, Amber fell asleep on the way home.  I look forward to returning and seeing all that we missed.  Why not? It's FREE!

Fireworks!

We really didn't plan on doing anything for the Fourth of July.  We had been spoiled in Florida being able to walk to fireworks and we didn't care to deal withe traditional traffic in order to go to them here.  Then came a surprise.  Friends of ours invited us to a cook-out at their home and then to join them WALKING to the fireworks from their house.

Yay!  Who could say "No" to such a great offer.

The best part of the offer was the chance to spend the evening with friends getting to them better.  A close second could have be the food, Yum!, or the boys might say the trampoline but in the end I think we'd all really have to say the fireworks.

Our friend had gone in the morning and laid out a tarp to claim our space, so all we had to do was walk over shortly before the show, say "excuse me", and wiggle our way through the crowd to sit down.  Our seats were perfect.  

The fireworks were top notch and the convenience and company could not be beat.  The only ones who didn't seem to enjoy the show were the poor geese that were scared over to our side of the lake and were voicing their displeasure.  The other funny of the evening, was two police officers laughing at Chris when he walked by with Titus on his shoulders and pushing Amber in the stroller that was piled with lawn chairs and coolers.  Chris joked back, "I make a great pack mule."

They're Flying!

On the night of Jared's birthday, we had left the garage man door-open.  To be precise, it was off the hinges because grandpa was fixing the bottom of it.  During that night, two industrious little Carolina Wrens built this nest on top of our camping chairs.

So naturally, we then had to leave the windows open so that the wrens could get safely to their nest.  If we simply left the door open, the local feral cats may have seen it as an invitation. 

About 20 days later, Lance heard chirping in the garage.  Sure enough, our five eggs had hatched (yes, I know I used the possessive but we all felt a part of the event).  The mom and dad kept busy flying in various insects for food.  The boys, Lance particularly, enjoyed hanging out quietly in the garage and watching the activity.  Sometimes he would notice them bringing in rather large spiders, which explains the drop in spiders around the outside of our house (much to my pleasure).  I understand spiders are the wolves of the garden and great at keeping other insects away, so I leave them alone outside but at the same time, I can't say that I miss them.

Then yesterday morning, we woke up to something wonderful.  Our little birds were trying out their wings.  Poor mom and dad, they were twice as busy feeding the five little ones; as now they had to look all over the garage for them.  The two having the most difficulty the boys named "Floor Hopper" and "Bike Hopper".  The boys guess they were the last to be laid and therefore a bit behind their siblings developmentally.  Lance tried a couple times to put "Floor Hopper" back in the nest to keep him safe but he refused to miss out on the fun.  We were afraid for their safety so we didn't take the car out at all during the day yesterday.  Then at night when we were sure we knew where they ALL were (perched on different parts of the bikes), we quietly moved the car out of the garage so we could use it today.

When we woke up this morning, we were surprised that they were all gone.  We thought they would need to practice their flying more than one day but apparently we were wrong.  We will miss our little friends but hope to see them soon.  Maybe they'll come back and nest again next year.  Chris would prefer they not do so in his garage, so he and the boys have plans to make Wren houses over the winter.

UPDATE:  I'm happy to report that we have seen all five since they left.  The two youngest are still hanging around being fed by mom and dad.  We see them at our bird feeder with their mouths wide open having their parents shove food in them.  We have also seen the two youngest huddled up on the inside eaves of our front porch to sleep at night.  Holly said she thinks the others sleep on her front porch.  Can't wait for them all have nests around our house next spring!

Rabbit Day Book Review - June

June is our transition month for school.  As a result, the boys didn't have as much parent directed reading.  They actually spent most of their reading time picking books from our abundant collection at home.  If I was to try to track what they read from our collection at home I would go crazy, so this post will be a little shorter.

Our Family Read Aloud this month was the White Stag by Kate Seredy.  This is unique story about Attila the Hun.  A perfect was to start our study of the transition period from the end of the Roman Empire.  What's unique about this book is its perspective.  The author is Hungarian and many people believe (including the author) that they are descended from the Huns.  The author therefore steps away from the encyclopedia story of Attila and writes a beautiful almost mythical story of Attila handed down through the generations.  Most interesting is the frequent references to Biblical events and people.  If that was enough reason to read the book her method of writing would be.  It is an absolutely beautiful book to read, and unlike most tails of Attila it minimizes the gruesome violence, focusing on the people not the fights.  All this also made it perfect as a read aloud, there was so much to discuss.

For Lance's Independent Reading he read Heidi by Johanna Spyri.  I was so excited to share this book with Lance.  The main character has such a gentle soul, just like him.  I wish I had read this as a young girl but I only read it a few months ago.  The key with this book is making sure you have an unabridged version.  Some publishers try to remove any references to God in the book and doing so you miss so much of the beauty of the book.  I was very pleased that he liked the book as well, we had nice discussions about Grandpa and all the characters in the book.  Don't be fooled into thinking this book is only for girls.

The only other book of note was one that Titus found at the library called The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein.  Its the true story about a managed to string a line between the Trade Towers during construction and walk between them.  The boys marveled at the book and read it many times.  The location opened up discussions about the 9/11 terrorist attacks that took the towers down. 

Since I'm a little light this post I decided this was a good place to put my timeline (2200BC to 1970) of the "You Wouldn't Want to...." book series.  I can not take credit for putting this all together, I started from a well formed list at Teach Them With Picture Books blog.

2200 You Wouldn't Want To Be A Sumerian Slave

2100 You Wouldn't Want To Be An Egyptian Mummy!

2100 You Wouldn't Want To Be A Pyramid Builder!

1300 You Wouldn't Want To Be An Assyrian Soldier 800 You Wouldn't Want to Be Tutankhammen

770 You Wouldn't Want To Be a Greek Athlete

750 You Wouldn't Want To Be A Slave In Ancient Greece!

330 You Wouldn't Want To Be in Alexander the Great's Army!

220 You Wouldn't Want to Work on the Great Wall of China!

120 You Wouldn't Want To Be A Roman Soldier!

55 You Wouldn't Want To Be A Roman Gladiator!  50 You Wouldn't Want To Be Cleopatra

Switch from BC to AD

79 You Wouldn't Want To Live In Pompeii!

You Wouldn't Want To Be A Mayan Soothsayer! (AD250-900)

1000 You Wouldn't Want To Be A Viking Explorer!

1095 You Wouldn't Want To Be A Crusader!

1100 You Wouldn't Want To Live In A Medieval Castle!

1100 You Wouldn't Want to Be a Medieval Knight!

1100 You Wouldn't Want To Be In A Medieval Dungeon! 1200 You Wouldn't Want to Work in a Medieval Cathedral!

1200 You Wouldn't Want To Be An Aztec Sacrifice!  1300 You Wouldn't Want to Explore with Marco Polo!

1410 You Wouldn't Want To Be In The Forbidden City! (built 1406-1420) 1420 You Wouldn't Want to Be Joan of Arc!

1450 You Wouldn't Want To Be An Inca Mummy!

1492 You Wouldn't Want To Sail With Christopher Columbus!

1500 You Wouldn't Want To Be Married To Henry VIII! (1491 - 1547)

1500 You wouldn't want to be a Samurai (1185-1868)

1550 You wouldn't want to be a ninja warrior

1550 You Wouldn't Want to be Sick in the 16th Century ("Ill" is used in older titles)

1550 You Wouldn't Want To Be Mary, Queen Of Scots! (1542-1587)

1570 You Wouldn't Want to Explore With Sir Francis Drake!

1575 You Wouldn't Want To Sail In The Spanish Armada!

1585 You Wouldn't Want To Be An American Colonist! 1600 You Wouldn't Want To Be A Shakespearean Actor!

1620 You Wouldn't Want To Sail On The Mayflower!

1660 You Wouldn't Want To Be A Pirate's Prisoner!

1700 You wouldn't want to be Sir Issac Newton

1750 You Wouldn't Want To Be An 18th-Century British Convict!

1760 You Wouldn't Want To Travel With Captain Cook! (1760s)

You Wouldn't Want To Be An American Pioneer (18th Century)

1773 You Wouldn't Want to Be at the Boston Tea Party!

1790 You Wouldn't Want To Be An Aristocrat In The French Revolution (1789-1799)

1790 You Wouldn't Want To Be In The First Submarine! (19th Century)

1805 You wouldn't want to explore with Lewis & Clark

1840 You Wouldn't Want To Sail On An Irish Famine Ship! (19th Century)

1850 You Wouldn't Want To Be A 19th-Century Coal Miner in England!

You Wouldn't Want Sail On A 19th-Century Whaling Ship!

1860 You Wouldn't Want To Work On The Railroads! (1860s)

You wouldn't want to be a Pony Express rider!

You Wouldn't Want To Live In A Wild West Town!

1865 You Wouldn't Want to Be a Civil War Soldier!

1865 You wouldn't want to Be a Nurse during the American Civil War

1880 You Wouldn't Want To Be A Victorian Schoolchild!

1880 You Wouldn't Want To Be A Victorian Miner!

1880 You Wouldn't Want To Be A Victorian Servant!

1880 You Wouldn't Want to Be A Victorian Mill Worker!

1880 You Wouldn’t Want To Be A Worker On The Statue of Liberty! 1880 You Wouldn't Want to Work on the Brooklyn Bridge!

1905 You wouldn't want to be on the first flying machine

1905 You wouldn't want to meet Typhoid Mary

1912 You Wouldn't Want to Sail on the Titanic!

1914 You Wouldn't Want To Be A Polar Explorer! (Ernest Shackleton: 1914-1917)

1920 You Wouldn't Want to be a Chicago Gangster! 1930 You Wouldn't Want to be Skyscrapper Builder

1936 You wouldn't want to work on the Hover Dam

1937 You wouldn't want to be on the Hindenburg

1940 You wouldn't want to be a secret Agent during World War II

1940 You wouldn't want to be a World War II pilot! 1953 You Wouldn't Want to Climb Mount Everest!

1970 You Wouldn't Want To Be On Apollo 13! (April 1970)

 

Boys First Piano Recital

Though the boys have been taking lessons for a number of years, last Saturday was the boys very first piano recital.  It was held at a charming log cabin called King's Cabin.  The boys even had a dress rehearsal Friday night to get used to the Baby Grand Piano and how things were going work the following day at the recital.  As a treat we did a pre-recital celebration at Panera Bread.

I think this is most dressed up boys have been in a long time.  There were 18 students at the recital and according to their teacher our boys were the stars of the show, people were even talking about them by name afterward.  Of course to their mother and father they were awesome, we couldn't have been more proud.  However, it was the joy the boys had in performing that was most important to us.  Lucky for you we got it all on tape so enjoy!

Titus was first to perform:

Then it was Jared's turn:

Lance was the final performer of the Otto Clan:

After everyone performed there were drinks and appetizers but Titus kept performing :-)

 Miss Kathy is an awesome teacher and has a wonderful group of performers.

Major League Baseball

Lance was thrilled to finally be playing baseball again; missing the fall season was tough.  Thankfully he landed on a really good team.  Good in the important sense, good coaches and nice kids with great time spirit. Chris was also an assistant coach on Lance's team which believe it or not only led to two conflicts the whole season, where he had to choose which game to miss.

After the first game, Lance played catcher every inning of every game.  No one else wanted the job and Lance didn't want to play any other position so it was a perfect arrangement.  With all that practice it's no surprise he really improved as catcher over the season.  He had a great out a home and some other great plays but the best for him was being part of an awesome triple play.

Chris had video taped Lance batting about mid-season and worked out some tweaks in his swing.  Then, on evening of June 3rd, they went to a three hour USA baseball camp.  Here Chris was able to really study his swing, after the camp Chris made one more tweak to Lance's swing.  At the next game, Lance hit a line drive past the short stop, almost all the way to the fence. After the hit the other team mom's jokingly asked what I fed Lance that day (LOL).

The Marlins record of wins and losses doesn't really give the team the credit they deserve for really improving over the season.  Given a few more weeks and I think they could have really done well in the tournament.  As it was they fought it out to the very last play, only loosing by one run.

Our other favorite major league player had a great season as well.  Matthew's incredibly fast legs served his team splendidly in the Right Field and his team went on to win their Spring Season Tournament.

Rabbit Day Book Reviews

We finally graduated this month to being the people that bring a basket to check books out from the library.  That said I am certainly not going to review all that the boys checked out but stick to the few that stand out.


Good Master by Kate Seredy.  Kate is one of my new favorite authors.  She writes in a manner understandable but elevated; that is to say her sentences are well structured and abounding in wonderful vocabulary.  Her plots and character development are excellent as well.  This particular book is the first in a two book series.  I had Lance read this for his independent reading this month.  Lance said he loved it because it was based on the authors own life and he found it amazing that she had really gone through all that growth; "from monkey to normal country girl". The second book centers around her experiences in World War II "The Singing Tree".

Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty G. Birney.  This was the second book Lance read this month for independent reading.  The story is about a boy learning to appreciate the people his community and place in the world.  I had pre-read the book and there was one chapter I made had him skip (regarding the story of the pesky girl's uncle and the ship in the glass bottle) and I penciled brackets around a section of a paragraph in another chapter talking about the nightmares the boy had from the story; to be skipped as well.  Lance liked that the book was very unpredictable and how the writer described the different characters in the book.

Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry.  I can't believe I never read this as a girl; I thought I'd read every book of horse fiction on the market.  It would be a nice story on its own but the fact that is based on real people and real events really brought the book alive for Jared.  This was Jared's book for independent reading this month.  The author writes in a simple manner easy for younger children to understand but certainly not dumbed down in any way.  Jared liked that end the best, that the boy did the right thing and thought of what was best for his horse.


Titus had an uncanny ability to pick really cool books randomly off the shelves of the library.  Here are our favorites illustrated books we found at library this month:

True story about how a community came together to save a baby hippo and the tortoise that adopted him.

Civil War book, safe for young children, beautifully illustrated with neat twist at the end.

Beautifully illustrated book focusing on Babe Ruth's career and skipping his poor behavior.

This is a grammar book that uses a complete story to drive home its point.  The boys and girls wanted to read this one over and over again.

Jared too this book to heart and created "Jaredstine".

Nice historical fiction, hidden message about how being queen isn't always fun.

Enoyable for parents as well, stressing the importance of not always taking life so seriously.