A Science Lesson!

Yesterday afternoon, the boys were insistant that we come outside right away!! They had found this incredible moth. It was so still, only moving a bit in the breeze. So still that it looked just like a leaf. Here's how big it was - the size of Jonathan's hand. It stayed around for quite away, finally flying away. We couldn't believe how big its body was.
Well, later that night we found out why. This moth is not the most intelligent - it layed its eggs right under our car!!! We watched them come out - incredible. We didn't use the car all weekend, but will have to tomorrow. I went outside and took the eggs. I'm going to take them to my classroom so hopefully we can see the whole cycle. Right now we have tadpoles that have been there since the second week of school. They STILL don't have legs. Here's hoping the butterfly will be more of a success.


Last night, Jonathan finally pulled out his wiggly tooth. Isn't he cute? One of my facebook friends suggested simply paint his face orange and he can be a jack-o-lantern for Halloween. That idea didn't go over too well with him, though.

Vote for Alexander's Teacher!

Photo book!!

Here is a link to the photo book Chris made. I've been so overwhelmed with work, so he took over my usual job of scrapbooking. The book is fabulous, and is filled with more facts than I remember!!

http://www1.snapfish.com/snapfish/projectshareewelcome/l=6431040015/p=872251285466182426/g=1283235/cobrandOid=1000/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/otsc=SYE/otsi=SPBKlink/

Rhodes

Rhodes was probably Benjamin's favorite island. We docked early in the morning, and being the early risers we are, we were some of the first ones off the boat. It treated us to an uncrowded town.
The old town was filled with tourist shops. We had fun walking through them. Jonathan especially loves to shop and was eager to go in all the stores. I bought a Greek shirt here that I just love.

We were able to find a playground for the boys.

Fountain in the center of town The buildings in the old town were beautiful. The boys were eager to get to the beach, though.

Walking down the street toward the beach

The two pillars were the base for the Colossus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. We can only begin to image how colossal it was!

When we got to the beach, we were shocked! It looked like this all the way down the shore. You had to pay to rent the umbrellas and chairs!

It was worth it, though, for this high dive out in the middle of the ocean! Benjamin LOVED it and went off of it at least 50 times!!! Alexander and I settled for once, just so we could say we did it.

A close up of the dive. There was a small, medium, and high platform.

We bought a beautiful icon of Jesus made by this woman's husband. When she found out his name was Jon, she gave Jonathan his own St. John's icon. The Greeks LOVE children, and she was no exception.

While the big boys and I went to the beach after lunch, Jonathan and Chris explored the old town some more.

The mosaic inside the temple

Back aboard, we pose with the old town wall behind us. What an incredible day!

It was formal evening that night, and we posed for a family picture before eating.

Ephesus

We were so excited to visit another continent when we docked in Turkey for 4 hours. We quickly boarded a bus for our excursion, driving through beautiful mountain. We loved the clouds in this picture that masquraded as mountains!

Had a good laugh over this sign!

Our first stop was at the house of the Virgin Mary. Jonathan lit a prayer candle.

This is the house where the Virgin Mary lived out her last years. They do not know exactly where her remains are, but they suspect they are within a 5 mile radius of the home.
Like I said, it was a beautiful country.,

Our next stop was Ephesus, the town where Paul preached. His letters to the Ephesians were directed here. We started at the top of the hill/mountain, and weren't very impressed. Just a few remains here and there.

As we walked further down, we saw more and more of the town.

Then we rounded the corner and saw this sight! Wow. It's amazing how well-preserved it is! We were there early in the morning and it was very hot and crowded. Lots of detail still remains. It was a gorgeous town, that's for sure.

Alexander is sitting on one of the public toilets. No kidding. They had an advanced water system that flowed from the top of the city down the hill. The water flowed under these toilets and washed away what was deposited there. AND there were musicians that stood in the middle playing music for those who were sitting.

Jonathan is standing in front of the library, which was a gigantic building. What is left is still impressive.

The ampitheater, where St. Paul preached.

Pompeii

We visited Pompeii on our way from Rome to Greece. The city of Pompeii is HUGE, and we only had about two hours there. It was a highlight of our trip. We had an excellent tour guide who took us through the city (with our whisper sets) and explained everything. Pompeii was buried under ash over 2000 years ago, and they are still excavating it. The ash preserved everything very well, so you can see just what the city looked like. This first picture was taken at the brothel. Men would come in, look at the pictures, and choose the room under the position they preferred.

The theater was still fairly well preserved.

We went inside one house where you could still see the paintings on the wall and the mosiac tiles on the floor. It was incredible.

Here Alexander is listening (through his whisper set) to the guide explain the water system of Pompeii, which was incredibly advanced. Water flowed throughout the city. Jonathan in the background is standing in what would have been sewer water. The rich people paid extra taxes to have sewers flowing, which swept everything away.

A fast-food take out store...the food was made, then kept warm in these bowls.

Walking down some of the narrow streets

Since the sewers were flowing throughout the city, they built these taller steps to cross the streets and avoid the muck.

The center of town, with Mt. Vesuvius in the background. It would have been much taller before the top blew off.

Benjamin

Athens Highlights

It's still amazing to believe we were actually there. Here's a really cool view of the acropolis. The Greeks are crazy drivers. You have to really watch when you cross the street. Plus, they'll park anywhere they can squeeze their tiny cars into!

We saw so many ruins, but this was one of our favorites. You could tell how tall all of the buildings were.

Eating his first Gyro...they put fries in it!!!

We stayed in the town of Glyfada, an upscale suburb of Athens. Here Chris and Jonathan are walking back to the hotel. I stayed with the other two to see Toy Story 3.

It's been awhile!!

Well, I've let the blog fall by the wayside. It has just been a crazy two months. We returned from a whirlwind Europe trip, unpacked, then headed to PA a week later. Drove Benjamin to camp, and then a week later got a job offer. Drove home the next day to get started on my classroom. Boys came back the next week with mom and dad.

Now, 4 weeks into school, I can finally breathe. I've been teaching a kindergarten/first combo, and it's been challenging. The kids are great, but the planning is killing me. Relief is on the way when we hire a new teacher next week.

All of our other activities have also started. Benjamin is again taking tap, jazz, ballet, and modern. Alexander opted for modern and acro, and Jonathan is taking acro class, as well. I'm trying just to keep my head above water at school and sneak in an occasional run. Oh, did I mention Chris and I are running the Daytona Beach Half Marathon in a month and a half?? The fun never ends.

Seriously, though, we have been blessed. We took an amazing trip with great high-schoolers. I was a bit worried to travel with 75% boys, but they were awesome. Then I got a job at a wonderful school with a great team of kindergarten teachers. I've also been saving our "disney dollars" from our credit card and we were able to use them (and our "give-a-day" volunteer credits) to purchase annual passes for the first time in 3 years. AND I'm back in the public schools, where the pay and benefits are way better. Life is good.

Rome (552 photos), by Karen Weinrich

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