Saturday morning 4:23am

"Mom? Why aren't there any volcanoes in our neighborhood? Oh wait, I know. It's because we live in the middle of one of those plate thingies, right? Let's go look for toads. They're nocturnal, you know."

Jelly Fever

We spent almost a solid month recently studying jellyfish!

Cannonball Jellies




Lagoon Jellies




We've turned the kitchen wall into a little display space for the Chipmunk's work. This is our "Wall O Jellies"




We learned all about different types of jellyfish, studied the life cycle, traced the gastrovascular system, watched videos, learned all about their anatomy, consulted experts to figure out how jellyfish digest their food, and painted and drew jellyfish!  The strings on the map show in which ocean each type of jellyfish is found.




And we played LOTS of Jellyfish Bingo!!



It was quite an adventure!  It was a wonderful study for us and one that inspired lots of questions, research, and adventure.  When we were just about ready to move on, we tried to put what we learned into a lapbook - it's our first one :)

He walks on water

"MAMA!  I'm a basilisk and I can run on water.  Will you be a predator and I can run from you?!"

Summer at the beach

The only thing better than summer at the beach is summer at the beach with your cousin. And an animal ID project!




A juvenile tree frog rescued from a rest stop bathroom in northern Florida.  He was about the size of a quarter!




Learning to body board!






Cane toad (we think)




Fighting the waves





Anoles :)




They found Bahamian curly tailed lizards, live sand dollars, augers, snails, anoles, house geckos, toads, ghost crabs, pelicans, sea gulls, sandpipers, egrets, osprey, and of course, fish!

Rain.

Finally!  It's been a dry couple of weeks around here.

Of course, we went out to enjoy it :)

The Doctor is In

The Chipmunk has decided that he's a veterinarian.  I'm all for it, of course, so we set up a clinic upstairs so that he could give check ups as needed.

Checking Sophie's legs and joints.
 


You're going to need some medication, ma'am.
 


woah...this medicine is TASTY!




Uh-Oh! It's a free for all!!!







Poor Sophie.
 


Next patient, please!!

Butterfly Boy

We spent a beautiful afternoon at our favorite Nature Center today. They have a butterfly aviary up right now for their yearly butterfly festival - it's such a beautiful thing! Little Man and I spent close to an hour just hanging out and watching.

 

Then this conversation happened:

M:  Hey!  Look at this...can you see his tongue curl up and uncurl into the flower.

Chipmunk:  Mom. (you'll have to imagine the voice of disdain)  That is NOT a tongue.  It's a sboscis.

M:  A sboscis?

C.  (irritated)  YES.  Bees have them too.

M:  A proboscis??

C:  THAT'S WHAT I SAID!   You have to LISTEN.

M:  *somewhat speechless*



Later in the day, I ran in to the most enthusiastic butterfly.  EVER.