Aquatica

We got a season pass to Aquatica, and Levi really enjoys it. They have a bunch of rides he can go on, as some don't have a height limit, they just have a 'must be able to hold the handles' requirement (which he can hardly do, but he is a strong swimmer, AND they require kids his height to wear a lifejacket anyway!)

While we were there, we learned about commissary dolphins, which are beautiful black and white dolphins. Levi asked the lady working there all sorts of questions about their names, what they eat, why they are black and white, how to tell them apart etc.

Butterfly Lifecycle

He wanted to hold it, but changed his mind once it was on his arm!

We were able to watch the lifecycle of a butterfly from caterpillar to butterfly! Much better than just reading a book, we watched the process from start to finish.

County Fair

First of all, I won FIRST PLACE for my muffins! I randomly decided to enter, and won! I also won 2nd place for my brownies, and 3rd for my pasta sauce. Next year I want to enter the sewing competition as well, I KNOW I could beat the items I saw on display! Here is the recipe for you to enjoy!

Blueberry lemon muffins with Crumble Topping

Makes 12 regular muffins

Ingredients

Lemon Curd (you can also just buy a jar kind)
• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 TBS lemon zest
• ¾ Cup white sugar
• 4 TBS butter (we use earth’s balance)
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Muffins (this is a great base recipe, you can add whatever you want to it, berries, cut up apple and cinnamon, raisins, etc)
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup almond milk (or whatever kind of milk you like)
• 1 cup fresh organic blueberries

Topping
• 1/4 cup white sugar + ¼ cup organic brown sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed (again, we use earth’s balance)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions
Lemon curd: In double boiler wisk eggs sugar and lemon juice and zest until thick, cool slightly and strain. Allow to cool to room temperature. Can be stored in a jar in the fridge for up to 3months

Muffins: Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups ½ way, add a teaspoon of lemon curd and top with more batter, fill nearly to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes in preheated oven until done.

At the County Fair, Levi got to meet some animals! 4-H was there, and he got to pet a chicken, goats (including cute babies!), and milk a pretend cow (which had water in it, not real milk!). They also had eggs there that were just hatching. Levi loves animals so it was great to be able to see them up close and ask questions to the 4-H club kids.

The zoo with Grammy

Grammy really enjoys taking Levi to Brevard Zoo. This time though, they both got seperated from me because Levi was on a quest to show Grammy his favorite animal (for now), the fox. They never did find it, but they did see just about every other animal they have until I finally got tired of hunting for them and put out a Code Adam to find them!

Heads and Butts matching game, and Introducing the Montessori mat

In Montessori, children use a rug to define their space during activities. It helps to keep the activity contained, and allows the child to focus on one activity at a time.

I chose a lightweight mat that Levi could carry on his own, that was also easy to roll up. I started by brining the mat to the workspace and unrolling it. Next, an activity is chosen and brought to the mat. Once it is complete, all of the pieces are put back on the tray, and it is returned to the shelf. When ‘school time’ is over, the mat is rolled back up and put away.


The following activity is one of the first that Levi tried on the mat. He was careful not to let any of his cards escape from his defined area.

Materials needed:
Pictures of animals, all the same size, cut in half so their heads are on one side, and the back end is on the other – it’s a good idea to laminate these, which I haven’t done yet!

What to do:
Sort the cards and lay out all of the ‘butts’ on the mat with space in-between each one.
Have the child use one ‘head’ card at a time to make matching pairs.

You can start with any number of sets, you may want to start with just a few and move on to more sets. Once they get the hang of it, you can just give them all of the cards mixed up and let them lay them out themselves.
This game can be made with other themes as well, using anything that has 2 identifiable halves.