I am late getting pictures up, but we had a great time at Beth Slater’s last week watching Paint get new shoes. I learned so much!
Farrier and homeschooling mom Lori McBride taught us all about a horse’s feet and showed us how she trims and shoes them. We even got to watch her forgework as she hammered shoes into shape. Great trip! Thanks, Beth and Lori!
Our family missed this trip due to illness, but it looks like the kids all had a great time. If you have never visited a fire station, I highly recommend it!
Thanks to Tonya Captstick for sharing her photos.
Our afternoon started out overcast and windy, but the skies cleared to sunshine, making it the perfect fall day to visit Kingsway Pumpkin Farm. We spent over three hours there but could easily have stayed longer. There is a lot to do!
First, can I say how very much I appreciate a business celebrating the beautiful autumn season without including any of the creepy, gory, death-glorifying yuck that comes with that fall holiday I abhor? Not once did I have to tell my little ones to “look away” for fear of some dreadful scene etching horrifying images into their minds or giving them nightmares. Thank you, Kingsway, for the truly family-friendly atmosphere!
Our group sure seemed to enjoy itself. First, we enjoyed a wagon ride to the pumpkin and gourd patches where each child tried to select just the perfect sized and shaped squash items to take home.
Then we were turned loose to try not to get lost in navigate the challenging corn maze and win some prizes,
play on all the unique playground equipment,
round up a band of gnarly outlaws,
get a workout and pump our way to victory at the wacky ducky dash,
and play in the gigantic corn box.
I can’t be the only mom who kept finding corn that had fallen out of the little ones’ shoes, pockets and underwear after we got home—can I?
There were more activities too—a petting zoo, straw tunnel, mini maze and “train” ride. What a fun day!
Today we enjoyed a performance of my favorite musical, The Sound of Music, produced by Crown Theater Productions and performed at Columbiana’s Main Street Theater.
Thank you Sister Berthe Janet Trapp for making us aware of this opportunity! It’s extra fun when you know someone in the cast!
The theater was fabulous to work with in making arrangements for our group, the performance was wonderful, and I have heard nothing but kudos from the attendees I’ve spoken with.
Anyone else’s young ones sing the whole way home?
A number of you mentioned that your children now have a keen interest in learning more about the family, and I wanted to share two resources I highly recommend. The first is The Story of the Trapp Family Singers: The Story That Inspired The Sound of Music, by Maria Augusta Trapp. The author’s name says it all. If you want the real story, the true story, go to a primary source—and you won’t get more primary than Maria herself!
Another book we love is The World of the Trapp Family by Anderson and Wade. The main appeal of this book is that it is absolutely loaded with color photos of the family, memorabilia, maps, and stunning views of the region. It also contains plenty of history of the family’s lives, both pre-war and post-war.
Happy reading (and singing)!
Yesterday we toured Alliance’s most famous landmark, the Glamorgan Castle. The great marble mansion, now valued at over $8 million, was built between 1901 and 1905 at at cost of $400,000. Built by the Col. William Henry Morgan, it was named after Glamorganshire, Wales, his father’s birthplace.
Model of Col. Morgan's most famous invention---"the overhead traveling crane, which made it possible for the steel industry to operate on a large tonnage basis."
The Castle has changed hands several times throughout its history and is now home to the Alliance City School District’s administrative offices.
Constructed from blue and white Vermont marble, the castle is impressively castle-like on the outside, although the inside tells another story. The labyrinth of the interior is a combination of various styles and hand-carved exotic woods, and sections of the three floors and basement have also been renovated over the years.
One could truly lose their way on the inside. In fact, I half-seriously asked our docent if he got lost the first time he gave a tour, and with a laugh, he confessed that he indeed had.
While office space and storage now occupies a good part of the building, the Castle retains much of its artistic charm and architectural detail, and efforts remain underway to restore it as much as possible to its original glory.
the beautiful rotunda
A thorough history of Glamorgan Castle may be found here. Guided tours are available on Fridays at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.
Thanks to Tonya Capstick for providing the photos.
Unfortunately, I missed this trip, so many thanks to Angela Sprague for guest posting about it.
Today we had the opportunity to visit the Akron Fossils and Science Center where we not only heard about fossils but actually held some!
Josiah Detwiler, the museum’s outreach director, gave a detailed and interesting presentation in the museum’s lecture hall about dinosaur bones, fossils, and eating habits, incorporating the museum’s hands-on relics for each of the audience members to hold and examine. We held a tooth, claw nail, dinosaur egg, a very heavy mastodon bone plus a “unique” fossil of dinosaur . . . ahem.
At the end of his presentation, we made paper airplanes for test flights outside after the rest of the tour. Our pilots hooked their plane (via unbent paper clip on the plane’s nose) to a large rubber band stretched a couple feet across a platform, pulled the band back sling shot style, then let go and watched their plane soar – some planes spiraled – across the museum grounds!
Before we went outside though, we split into two groups to tour the Days of Creation and geological displays, including information about the Grand Canyon. After the tours and flights, we had a bonus power point presentation on rocks – sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous – and how water both erodes and forms new rock formations, giving us a glimpse at the powerfulness of the flood!
The time wasn’t enough to see all the displays and absorb all the details of God’s creation, so another trip to this Gospel-centered museum is a must!
We had an interesting tour yesterday of P. Graham Dunn, manufacturer of beautiful wooden inspirational art, gifts and home decor.
When you first enter the lobby, there are a number of gargantuan plaques adorning the walls, such as the one below. It may appear to be a normal-size in the picture, but to get an idea of its scale, note the smaller, “normal-size” plaque in the the lower right corner.
WOW. Now, wouldn’t this look grand on my still-bare foyer wall? Unfortunately, I’m about $3K short. But the good news is that there are many, many affordable gifts and decor items for sale.
It was our first time visiting, and I just loved the store. Check out their website or facebook page to see what I mean.
Our tour was led by an enthusiastic guide, Harry, who showed us all the equipment around the factory. We watched as this laser machine burned away wood to create Christmas ornaments . . .
. . . such as this "JOY" ornament he is holding.
Pallets and pallets of "blank slates" just waiting for some inspiration to be decoupaged on.
Some finished products ready for shipping.
We made a day of it by visiting Lehman’s and Smuckers too. How about everyone else? Did you make any other stops before heading home?
We had to exercise our brains a bit on this tour, didn’t we?
First we had some fun with spectrum tubes and diffraction grating slides, as we tried to determine which gases we could “see” via their emission lines. Then we learned that astronomers can determine what stars are made of using this same principle. Pretty interesting.
Later we went up to the roof to learn about the two observatories—a new one and an old one. The original one houses a telescope which was donated to Mt. Union in 1919 and is over 100 years old. It’s not in perfect working order due to aging lenses, but it’s still functional, though lacking modern convenience in its use, not the least of which is manual maneuvering.
More information on the history of Clarke Observatory may be found here.
The newer observatory has two reflecting telescopes, and we got to check out the multiple mirrors within. Unfortunately, it was quite overcast today and although the moon was in good position for daytime viewing, we were unable to see it.
We learned that there are three main components of a telescope. Magnifying power, which is over-rated in importance, is actually secondary to light-gathering power (it’s dark out there, and you want as much light as possible) and resolution (how much detail you can see), and these latter two are determined by the telescope’s diameter.
So if you’re in the market for a quality home telescope, consider diameter first.
For those interested in seeing more, Clarke Observatory hosts periodic community nights where the public is welcome to view the stars and planets.
What a perfect autumn day for a field trip, and this morning we had a tour of the Berlin Dam.
We walked atop the dam and had a beautiful view all around, as you can see.
Northward, downstream view of the Mahoning River
View on the opposite side---Berlin Lake
Berlin Lake was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1938 and completed in 1943.
Then we descended into the dam itself—all 140 steps down. Due to security, I have no pictures of the inside, but I can tell you it was a unique experience.
Because of condensation, it grew increasingly damp the lower we stepped. And for the same reason, there are a number of 2-3″ long stalactites which have formed and are still forming in various places along the ceiling. There is also a distinct sulfur smell, which we were told is infinitely more intense during the summer months. Cavelike? Yes, there were certainly similarities.
See the water shooting out? There are two such places on the dam, and we had gone so low we were practically standing on top of those pipes!
Then we all got a workout as we hiked back up those 140 steps, which is a bit more taxing if you happen to be pregnant, old or carrying a little one. Thankfully, I only qualified for one of those categories—okay, maybe two. 😉
Definite thumbs-up for this trip. Thank you, Greg, Matt, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers!
The tour is the same year after year, but it’s one everyone always enjoys.
First we learn about apples and some of the vegetable crops grown at the farm. Then we each grab and apple to munch on as we walk through the orchard, stopping occasionally to learn something interesting about the trees.
The corn maze is also a big hit, and nobody got lost. 🙂
Eagerly awaiting our next stop on a warm day---the refreshing cold storage.
Here's where they store the apples and produce---"fresh" for months and months. Don't remember enormous puddles on the floor before, but we've always visited earlier in the season too. We learned that the puddles are for humidity; otherwise the apples dry out. A few of my kiddos had wet shoes on purpose; how about you?
Hooray for the cider and donuts! (but not the yellow jackets!)
After our treats, it’s fun fun fun in the playhouse or down by the lake feeding the fish.
Beautiful scenery and beautiful families.
Thanks, Erin, for these great pictures of our afternoon!
Homeschoolers' Adventures 