Passport Fun

Wednesday's are library day for us. We drop baby sister off at my parents (Grandpa and Grandma B) for her morning nap and then 5 and I go play and sing and read with other kids and their moms/dads/grandmas. We always have fun. This morning, my mom called to ask if 5 could stay with them for the rest of the day when we came back to pick up the baby. Mommy and Daddy both said yes and 5 was really happy about the idea so she is playing and napping there today. How many people in the 80's ask to hang out with a 2 1/2 year old for the day? My children and grandchildren are so rich! 

But Monday and Tuesday were travel days for the girls and me. Last week we learned about things we might find at a world market, beautiful carpets, lanterns, masks, etc. This week we are learning about natural wonders around the world. On Monday we got out our day 11 supplies from Mother Goose Time and found a passport for each girl. I cut their faces out of extra photos I have (why do I print up so many?) and 5 was in charge of glueing them in place since her 8 month old sister eats everything within reach. 

Then the girls prepared to board the plane for their trip to the Grand Canyon. I checked and stamped their passports and showed them to their seats. 

While enjoying their in flight snacks, the girls watched a YouTube video by National Geographic. 

Then we looked up the Grand Canyon to learn about what plants and animals live there. We found a lot of cool stuff here. When 5 found out bats live there she remembered the hibernation unit from Mother Goose Time and asked to hang upside down. 

Next she asked to play with the supplies from Day 8, She loves to wear the the loom loops as braclets. On Monday she wanted me to wear them too. We decide against sharing them with 7 because in spite of what she may believe, they are not food.

5 wanted to finish the carpet on the loom because she thought the doll house needed a make over.

And apparently the Grandpa doll is either in the dog house or he's having back trouble. 

On Tuesday it was a trip to see Ayers Rock. Back to YouTube since I had no idea where that was. Australia! We looked at the world map and decided we should travel by boat this time. Once again, passports were checked and stamped and 5 grabbed a paddle and off they went to the tune of, "Row, Row, Row You Boat"

Upon arrival they watched the video I found, we looked at Ayers Rock pictures, and learned about it from Wikipedia. Did you know the people who live there recognize 5 seasons? 

1. Wanitjunkupai (April/May) – Cooler weather
2. Wari (June/July) – Cold season bringing morning frosts
3. Piriyakutu (August/September/October) – Animals breed and food plants flower
4. Mai Wiyaringkupai (November/December) – The hot season when food becomes scarce
5. Itjanu (January/February/March) – Sporadic storms can roll in suddenly

Thanks Wiki.
Next was craft time. Yipee!

MGT had a really cool project for us. They provided this light blue card stock and red sand for 5 to make her own version of this beautiful sandstone formation. This was a great sensory and fine motor activity. 

 A perfect match.

Sometimes Mondays are hard...

Weekends are fun for our two granddaughters who play at our house during the week. They have two days of Mommy and Daddy all day long and they love it. I'm so thankful for this and not at all offended when I walk into their house early every Monday morning and the baby, now 8 months old takes one look at me, closes her eyes and buries her face in her mommy's neck. I'm pretty sure she realizes that seeing me in the morning means mommy is leaving. And every Monday morning when I open the door to her big sister's room to get her up for the day, the first words out of 5's mouth are, "I want my mommy." Before long though we are laughing and playing and our week begins.

Today was a little different. 5 expressed the feeling for both girls when before we had even left their house for mine she said,"Grandma, I need to hold you." She's in that phase of speech right now. And for whatever reason they both needed to hold me today, usually at the same time. I remember how overwhelming days like this were as a young mom with three little kids. But it's true, with age comes wisdom and I know that in about a week and a half these two will be busy teenagers with friends and lots of stuff to do and it will never cross their minds to "hold me." And that might be weird if they did. But today it is perfectly normal and I've learned the truth of that old poem, "Cleaning and scrubbing can wait for tomorrow, for babies grow up as we've learned to our sorrow. So fly away cobwebs, dust go to sleep. I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep."

So we took it pretty easy today. 

5 asked to watch and episode of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood while she ate breakfast. It's her new favorite thanks to a recommendation from Aunt Elyse. I've recorded a few and the one we watched today showed Daniel using a box for pretend travel play. I had already brought a box up from the basement to be used as a boat for our Mother Goose Time fun this month. The theme for this month is, "Its A Small World" and we are learning about traveling around the world. 5 climbed inside to finish watching this episode and wanted her sister to join her.

Then we played a game of Travel Bingo but she wasn't interested in a game so we only played one round.

We tried a new Minnie Mouse puzzle but to be honest, I did most of it and she is a puzzle fiend. 

She always loves the things Mother Goose Time gives her to make and she loves playing with money so I thought this project would be a home run. But it is a Monday...

The last trick up my sleeve was the heart hunt, an idea I took from Aunt Elyse's blog, the blue elephant. I printed up the hearts from Not Consumed and hide them for her to find every day leading up to Valentines day. Each heart has a statement about God's love and a scripture reference. 

Valentines Day will be a new concept for her and this is a great way to reinforce what real love is. 

As always, she grabbed her magnifying glass and set off on a hunt. She found the heart from Saturday and the one from yesterday but soon ran out of enthusiasm for it. I think the one for today is still sitting in the same place I put it. 

Most of the day we read books, colored, and rocked in the chair. 

I'm glad tomorrow will be Tuesday but I'll take all the Mondays I can get. They will be gone way too soon.