Field trip to Arruda's Dairy Farm

A friend called and said she arraigned a field trip to the dairy farm would I like to join them.  SURE.  We are always up for a fun field trip and this was free!

We learned many new things like, when you buy local you can ask the farmer as many questions as you like and he will answer them.  At Arruda's they do it all themselves.  They grow their own feed for the cows.  They raise the cows from birth.  Some cows become used for beef, some for breeding and some for milk.  


Our tour started at the barn with the calves.  They are so cute.  A one week old one tried sucking on Sam's shirt, hands, face what ever she could get in her mouth.  So funny.

 Then we went outside and learned about the teenagers- aka the trouble makers.  They are beautiful creatures.

 Then we learned about how they grow their own feed for the cows.  How it is stored and the equipment they use to plant the crops and harvest the crops.

They no longer use silo's to store the feed they use a very expensive equipment to put the feed into these huge bags and store it like that, It keeps out all the bacteria and is much easier to use.  

Then we learned about the dairy cows, and how they are milked.  We were happy to find that they do not use hormones or antibiotics in their milk.  

We had a very fun tour of the dairy farm.  I hope we can go back again one day.

This is so exciting....

watching our caterpillars form their chrysalis'.  I find Samantha and myself often walking over to the cup of caterpillars watching them.  We have 2 now in the pupa stage.  I am still hopeful that tiny will turn into a beautiful butterfly.

Volcanoes!

playing and learning all about volcanoes is so much fun.

First she learned about the tectonic plate and we did a fun messy experiment learning about how they move... take a soft boiled egg crack it a bit, draw with marker over the cracks push together and see what happens......

She wasn't expecting the yolk to come out like that just like a volcano blows its lava out. 

She learned the different types of volcanoes, how they erupt differently and what the inside of one looks like.

We then painted a fake one and experimented with different things to make it erupt   She enjoyed this so much.  We erupted the volcano many times.  

We really are having so much fun with the Magic School Bus science kits.

I am hoping this link works.  I will try it and hopefully you will get to see Samantha in action

Samantha and the Erupting Volcano

Samantha and the erupting volcano take 2

We have Caterpillars

They arrived in the mail about 2 weeks ago.  We have 6 caterpillars.  We were supposed to get only 5.

 Samantha has been recording their growth. As of today we have 5 huge hungry caterpillars and one runt.  He is only slightly bigger then when the arrived.  The others are close to being 2 inches.  This little runt is lucky if he is 1 inch long.  I wonder if he will change into a butterfly. Only time will tell.


We are at the second week mark and that is when they start entering the second stage the pupa stage.  I think one is just beginning.  I am hoping the runt or tiny as Samantha calls him will also change we are wondering if he will just be a tiny butterfly.

the runt bottom right 

I think they are starting to go into the pupa stage I think. Well the one hanging on the left he has done that all afternoon.  Wiggling here and there.  

Its exciting to watch and wait.  

New classes...

Samantha has started a few new things this winter... ice skating lessons, wiggle kids gym class and a co-op.

The skating lessons are going awesome.  She will continue this until the summer and start back up in the fall.

Wiggle kids gym class has been so much fun. Its a 6 week class not sure if we will continue this.  She loves it but its falls on her dance class day and by time she starts ballet class she is so tired that she begs me to let her just go home to bed.  Not a good thing when they are practicing for the recital.  

The co-op. A friend convinced me not to wait until the fall to start her in the co-op. Mostly so she wouldn't be there alone.   So we caved to peer pressure. (thats ok I do the same to her from time to time) and I signed Sam up for the co-op.  She is taking a pre-chemistry class and history class.  She loves both of them. She came home excited that she had homework.  My silly kid.  

The science teacher gave me a book to catch her up since they started the first half of the class in the fall.  So Allicia and I have been teaching Samantha and Isabell the first 5 lessons.  They enjoyed it and learned so much.  Here is a picture of Samantha's understanding of atoms and how they become molecules.  H2O.

Some winter time fun...

This winter is really dragging on.  Here is a small peak into some of the fun things we did this winter.

Fall River rec center sponsored an outside week long skating rink during Feb vacation.  It was fake ice.  We met a few friends there.  The kids had fun

 She turned 8 and had a fun old fashioned party at home and said it was her best birthday party yet! It was American girl themed.

 We had a new addition to our family. Here is Willy trying to hid from all the giggling girls at Sam's party

 Samantha completed the youth 2 program and advanced onto preskating.  This is the step before figure skating.

 We had a blizzard.  Oh what fun that was.  No that wasn't sarcastic I actually enjoyed the forced home/family time this gave us.

 Went to a few Providence Bruins game. Here she is posing with the free give away's at the ticket gate.  

 Here we are longing for summer.. yes we are at the beach.  Actually we were looking for a snow free playground and got sidetracked at the playground/ beach in Somerset.  

On stage performing in Seusical 

 Samantha at youth 2 lessons 

 Valentines day gift for Daddy a home made scratch ticket. He won hugs and kisses from Samantha.

 Sam in the Christmas parade for ballet & jazz class

Now that we have had this much fun can spring please come!!!  We enjoyed the snow now we want to enjoy the warmth.  

Dr Seuss

March 2 was Dr Seuss' birthday.  We celebrated by doing a Dr Seuss week.  

Our week started with reading a few Dr Seuss books we have each day.  Doing some activities to go along with them.  I kept the week light because she was having practice every night for the musical she was in,  Seussical.  She had so much fun doing it.

We had green eggs and sausage. We didn't have any ham. Samantha didn't like the green eggs said they tasted funny.  HMM they tasted the same to me.  

She made a Dr Seuss hat fruit treat.

We read about who Dr Seuss was. About his life, his real name and where he grew up.  It was very interesting to read about him. 

Samantha and I really enjoyed reading and learning all about Dr Seuss and his books.  Can't wait to celebrate reading again next year.  

This is Sam getting turned into a who. 

 The Cat in the Hat

 Our yummy treat

 The art and writing to go along with There is a Wocket in my Pocket. 

 Sam and her BFF Bristel.