Eggs and roller coasters...

 While at Dollywood this weekend, we discovered Joe could ride the newest roller coaster.  He was all for it.  It was a 2 hour wait...but he was patient and got more and more excited.  The above picture is before.  And the below picture is taken after...    He LOVED it and said..."It made my belly tickle!"

   Chicken update...
A fourth chicken is laying.  We are pretty sure that it is Joe's chicken (East---that Mama and Papa gave him for Easter).  The first egg was tiny...as you can see below.  But the other laying chickens are producing eggs too big to fit in the store bought cartons easily. 

Pottery

 We went back to the pottery place so we could glaze the items after they have been fired in the kiln.  So, when we arrived, this is how they looked.

Joe's work (not sure why this pic uploaded upside down)

And Jake's work...

Ron taught us about glazing...how chemicals are transformed through heat to adhere to the chemicals in the clay (unlike paint...which just covers the top of the clay).  

 And we set to work glazing...
  Joe is working on covering his with a glaze that will end up green.

And Jake is glazing his with an end result of purple...

In order to be able to remove the pottery from the kiln...you wax the bottom...so glaze doesn't cause the pottery to become one with the kiln.  (Thus, the waxed/dark bottom to all pottery.)

State Parks

 We have enjoyed a couple state parks lately.  The first contained various mounds from Indians. We found it interesting to learn how they used the circular area (that the boys are standing in front of...you can see it beyond the brown fence in the background).  Standing there we could understand the way you would be able to judge seasons and time based on what you can see within the circular area.  The yellow flowers against the rich green colors were pretty as well.

 On Mother's Day we headed to a park with waterfalls since we have had enough spring rain to guarantee some water on the falls.  The hikes in this park were pretty good ups and downs...rugged...! So we enjoyed the time invested there.

In motion

As you can see from this video, a couple of the high school girls are working with Joe's age. And they have him working on diving off the block.  He has been afraid to dive off the block. (He belly flopped the last time.) So, it's nice that "other people" are working with him on that.

Joe is proud that he is swimming all the way down the pool ! :) It's fun to hear the delight in his voice as he talks about swimming...b/c (as I have to remember) he is finally a part of what we all have been doing in the family.  So, he talks as a participant now...instead of having to be an observer! :)  (big difference...especially in his excitement!!!)


In other news...Jake's baseball team is now 3-0.  Jake continues to improve in all his skills.  He is a good listener...when you tell him to be aware of something...he immediately incorporates that into his game.  So, that's fun to watch.  (And --although it seems minor, I find it important-- he remains obedient in his listening...The coaches have asked the boys to sit on the bench when not batting. When I look in the dugout...Jake is the only one sitting on the bench...legs crossed at the ankles, swinging his legs! :)

He has been hitting well.  Last night, he had a good hit that allowed a double by hitting the ball just over the infield players.  Then he had a few other really solid grounders.  He is starting to be confident in waiting for a pitch (even though they only get 5 pitches).  Needless to say, the constant huge smile on his face at the ball diamonds shows just how much he is loving playing baseball. 

The last week of life...

 We have had various adventures this last week.  Here's a glimpse...

A rainbow...followed by a double rainbow...
                                 the left side                                                                  the right side

                                                            the start of the double rainbow

looking toward the Miller Farm

Jake had his first baseball game.  His team is the Cardinals (which gets an echoing boo frequently in our house).  He played right field (after only practicing short stop/left field); batted 3 times...making contact each time and getting on base twice; and his team made a come-back victory...11-9! 

 Then...in the nature world...
We have been "growing" caterpillars...watching the process to butterflies.  So, we decided to release the butterflies on Sunday.  We started with 6 caterpillars.  Five of them changed to their crysallis stage, but one seemed to get eaten by the other as it started this stage.  Then, we had four butterflies successfully hatch...one only made it halfway out of its crysallis.    When Joe carried the butterfly house outside, the feeder must have crushed the wing of one of the butterflies when it shifted. 

Thus...we released 3 butterflies. 

And with Cub Scouts...Jake participated in an egg drop.  The kids had to figure out a way to drop an egg 102 ft and keep it in tact.  After talking through his initial ideas and explaining some science concepts, Jake came up with putting package peanuts in a sock with the egg in the middle of the sock.  Then, he wrapped another sock from the other end to hold everything in.  This was then placed in the oats container where he had more package peanuts to surround it.

Here is his practice attempt...

After thinking a little more (because we practiced with a plastic Easter egg filled with gravel...to see if it would open), Jake added a "parachute" using a large Target bag.  The bag seemed to slow the container enough.  So, he felt it might work.

So, Monday night was the big test.  

waiting for his to be taken up

waiting for his to be dropped

checking the egg after the drop

       And the result...a perfect egg.  (They had to crack it in a bowl to be sure it wasn't hard boiled!)
Jake was very excited to watch the other eggs dropped and to see how his idea measured up.  He had a smile on his face the whole time...and later stated he LOVED doing it!


    After days of counting down, this excited boy finally engaged on his newest adventure.  He has been so excited about starting the swim team.  So, after practice I asked if he had fun.  "Yes"  Did you get tired (his biggest stated concern...probably after always watching the big kids practice)?  "Nope"  And, was there anything you didn't like?  "I loved EVERYTHING the whole time!"  :)   Now that he survived the first day...his new focus is on getting a ribbon at his first swim meet in 5 weeks!  :)