Natural Gas Plant Field Trip in Evanston, Wyoming

Day 26 in Wyoming = Friday, June 1, which is the official start of summer in my world. Let's start summer out with a funny:

Summer started with Michael loving on the kitty. This is Pepe. This is Michael's kitty. Michael isn't big on dogs, but he loves these kittens.

We hung out at the pond for a little while, and Sam insisted on wearing his lifejacket for hours. Cool shades, too!

Joel and Michael went kayaking. Later, we met our Overland Park homeschooler neighbor mom, and I like her a lot! She let her youngest daughter, Callie's age, play at our pad for a while. They are fast friends.

Later we went to town for groceries at ... you guessed it ... WalMart! Then we had an impromptu field trip when Daddy invited us to where he's working. After about 20 minutes of driving north, we encountered this going up the mountain. We like to make fart jokes about Daddy working on a natural gas project. Look, all I'm saying is my man is in a dangerous job right now and I don't think he makes NEARLY enough cash for being so smart that he doesn't blow up the plant/mountain. Just sayin'.

A gorgeous sunset going up the mountain.

Here we are. Aron works in one of those buildings down there. I can't tell you which one. Highly secure information. Plus I can't pick it out. See those greenish pipes? Those will go into the ground and hold natural gas. My man makes sure that stuff is automated.

Hardhats required, plus super cool glowy vests.

Playing on the equipment is a MUST.

Then we took a drive to see the DRILLING RIG. Drilling for natural gas, not black gold, Texas tea. Aron gave the kids quite the informational little talk about what he does. There will be a test.

The plant is almost an hour from where we are staying so we got home super late and hit the hay. Come back to see what the heck we did Saturday, as our trip comes to an end. Really, I mean it this time!

If you missed any installments of the Real World: Wyoming series, head to the right-hand side of this here blog, look for Categories, then click on Wyoming. And if you aren't following The Kerrie Show on Facebook, you are missing out on some cool stuff every now and then!

Overland Park Homeschoolers (Day 25)

Thursday morning we found out there were some Overland Park homeschoolers staying in a cabin down the road at Kingfisher Bend Ranch.

WE ARE FROM OVERLAND PARK!

WE HOMESCHOOL!

How cool is that? We were going to walk down to meet them but I was busy with household junk and before we could go we saw them drive by, leaving the ranch. Darnit. Later when I was struggling with a rowboat filled with 3 kidlets, the grandma of the homeschooled kids came to help me and meet me. She's very cool! Later we met the 2 girls when the kids all had a kitten love fest.

Kids on the dock.

After some kayaking and row-boating, the kids caught some crawdads. 

Sam and Eva got up on the counter to see our new pets.

Eva dressing in her brothers' clothing ... with attitude.

Joel came down the stairs too fast and broke a glass all over the place. Thankfully, he was not hurt.

What a way to end the day ... holding a sleeping  baby who just nursed himself into Dreamland.

Highlights of the day:

• Callie learned about symmetry in math
• Kittens were loved upon
• Joel learned about decimals
• Michael learned about odds/evens and writing addition sentences
• The kids caught crawdads and wanted us to cook and eat them.
• We Skyped my dad while he's on our family vacation. I cried because we are supposed to be there, but I got over it ... I just want to hug and hold my family and friends; Skype is so sterile. Let's just say Skype is not satisfying like a Snickers.
• Went into town at dusk to get Wendy's ice cream treats.
• On the way home we heard Bicycle by Queen and I told the kids Aron and I used to bicycle Michael's legs and sing "Mikecycle" and the boys died laughing.
• Aron got home before 10
• I Skyped my pal Andrea

Thus ends the month of May ... now we get to start a new homeschooling logbook in a nifty spiral with pockets I got here. This homeschooling logbook will be called "Summer 2012". No, we don't need to keep records in Kansas, but I like to look back on what we did during our all-too-short time together.

If you missed any installments of the Real World: Wyoming series, head to the right-hand side of this here blog, look for Categories, then click on Wyoming. And if you aren't following The Kerrie Show on Facebook, you are missing out on some cool stuff every now and then!

Wyoming Big Bear River Rats (Day 24)

I swear we will soon turn into loaves of bread the way we LOAF around the house! We play, color, explore, bake, cook, do dishes and laundry, do stuff on the computer ... somehow our days get filled. Oh, and since we discovered Skype, we did some of that with friends and then I got to see my dad's face on Skype and it was so cool! Then we play with the kittens:

He's not hurting el kitten ... just leashing it a little bit.

We grabbed Wendy's for dinner. I have a friend named Wendy and DANG I wish we were at her house for dinner instead. I don't even care if she serves us vegetarian porridge; just to be in the presence of our friends would be AMAH-ZING! Then we headed to the Riverwalk to eat. We had to fend off all the birds that wanted our food.

Can you spot the elk?

Can you find all 5 kids?

Then we went down by the river, where Joel was up for the challenge of getting everyone across this shallow part while I was on a couple of emotional phone calls home.

I want to cry when I see these pictures. Joel helped Sam and Eva across the river like the best big brother around.

Here's what we learned today in homeschooling:

• Elk spotting
• Buffalo spotting
• Bird chasing
• River forging
• Rock throwing into rivers
• Kitten loving and wrangling
• Skyping (Dad, Andrea, Matt, Wendy, Julia)
• Loafing
• Town-going
• Grass tossing into river
• Dollar Tree shopping
• River walking

Aron didn't get home until 10-ish. I've asked him to please work as much as possible so Scout Camp is not an issue and going home next Thursday isn't an issue. I just pray for peace at his job and for this project to end. Again I say he loves his company, just not this particular project. I think his boss thinks Aron is not happy at work, but it's just this one thing. I mean, I'm sure when his boss was on a job where he was working 80 hours a week, he probably got a little pissy, too.

I feel guilty relaxing and recharging, but it is so nice. I'm ready to take on the world when we get home!

If you missed any installments of the Real World: Wyoming series, head to the right-hand side of this here blog, look for Categories, then click on Wyoming. And if you aren't following The Kerrie Show on Facebook, you are missing out on some cool stuff every now and then!

Discovering Skype (Day 23 Wyoming)

We are officially the laziest people I know. We loafed and loafed and got showers and baths then finally went to town in the afternoon. We had to get more cash for our lodging (and pay ridiculous fees to take cash out on our credit card; probably unreimbursed). Then I had to hit the church where I left my steno pad ... YIKES! I can't be without my steno pad ... it's with me all the time and I keep all sorts of juicy notes on it. I let Eva write on it and she left it at church last Saturday. Whoever read it is probably praying for my soul as we speak. Thank you, because I need it!

I'm pretty sure we got ice cream cones in there somewhere because that's how we roll. Then we went to a playground. For those of you Evanstonians, it was close to Don Pedro's Mexican Restaurant and across the street. How's that for an address? The kids played while I talked on the phone with my dad forever about Aron's job situation. He's very understanding and helpful. He listens then offers helpful advice. He gave me a lot to think about.

Can you spot the kids?

Can you find the 2 little Macs in the trees?

After we got home we messed around some more, then around 9 p.m., just after Aron got home, we heard the laptop making strange little bubbly noises. I opened it up to see that my friend was calling on Skype! Our connection stinks ... we don't see a great picture, and the sound cuts out, but everyone can hear and see us just fine. We messed with that for a while like a new toy and it felt like the Jetsons! I like to answer the video phone  like this, "Kerrie isn't here right now." Or put up a cardboard photo of my family like George Jetson used to do when his boss called him.

If you missed any installments of the Real World: Wyoming series, head to the right-hand side of this here blog, look for Categories, then click on Wyoming. And if you aren't following The Kerrie Show on Facebook, you are missing out on some cool stuff every now and then!

Sam Toot Video Day 21