The Night Sky

For his birthday Jack got a telescope.

Our first observation didn't go so well. We set up in the front of the house as the sun was going down. Even when it got dark, there was too much light to see well.

Matt also happened to point out a bat flying above the driveway, which sent Mattie shrieking. She was so freaked out by the time it got dark that I had to come inside and sit with her.

Our second observation we at least located some stars.

The third, we saw an awesome glimpse of the quarter moon.

I wish I could say we've used it more than the three times we have, but it seems like every time there is something to see, like the recent lunar eclipse super moon, the sky is cloudy.

A few days ago when I let a new puppy out at an incredibly early hour, I decided that was likely the best time to look through the telescope. I'm fairly certain I observed the star, Sirius, shining in the east. I say this because my husband had recently read an article about Sirius being observable in the early morning hours - more like the witching hours - in October. What was most amazing is that when I went back out 45 minutes later, what had previously been a large and bright spot in the sky had faded so much it was barely visible.

I was only half teasing when I told everyone I was going to wake them up one morning at 5 am for our next telescope observation.

New York Was Calling

And I answered the call.

It's a place that has drawn me in since I was 13, and everytime I'm there I feel at home. I try to make it a priority to go once a year, but there was a point where it didn't look like it was going to happen this year. Then I found an early morning departure flight and late-night return flight through Southwest on the cheap and booked it.

There's so much to love about New York - the air, the smell, the energy, the feeling.

It's a city my son now calls his favorite place, and this New York loving momma couldn't be happier.

We made most of our usual stops - The American Museum of Natural History and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which are inexpensive because you can pay whatever you want to enter. We usually pay $10 at each stop.

We stayed at our favorite west side hotel - The Lucerne. All the bellmen and hotel staff are the same people each year. I love seeing how many are still there, even though they don't remember us.

We ate at some of favorite places:

Nice Matin, which is connected to the hotel and offers a 15 percent discount at breakfast for being hotel guests.

 Sarabeth's, another great breakfast joint.

Eataly, which was much less intimidating the second time around.

Sweet & Plumm, where we ordered ice cream even though it was 40 degrees outside and ate it in our hotel lobby because the place was so crowded we couldn't find a seat.

This time around we ventured to other places like:

The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), which we visited on Friday night because it is free then.

I should add that a blogpost on Cupcakes and Commentary linking to an article about Picasso's sculptures was my primary motivation for the MOMA stop.

The Statue of Liberty, need I say more.

The Empire State Building, which was great, but may not ever happen again because it is pricey.

Madison Square Park, just to see the artwork Fata Morgana profiled on CBS Sunday morning a few months back. You walk along in the park and look up at the mirrored sculpture hanging above.

And we discovered some new eateries that will be on our list next time:

Jacob's Pickles, a total hipster joint about 5 blocks from our hotel that serves food with a southern flair. We all shared the pancakes and fried chicken. We also ordered shrimp and grits and black-eyed peas with collard greens. I ordered a house-made Bloody Mary, complete with bacon and a pickled egg. The entire meal was a delight for this southerner's palette.

Voila, a chocolatier on the same block as our hotel, offers truffles and a chance to make your own chocolate. We went for the small pack of nine truffles, which included a hand-picked assortment of creme brulee, pralines, pumpkin spice and raspberry.

We also ventured into one of the small pizza shops directly across the street from our hotel. Matt and I figure we should eat there a bit more on our next trip because it was by far the least expensive option. Maybe we'll opt out of the $45-$60 museum cafe lunches to go for the $18 bill at the pizza joint.

Good Neighbors

There's something absolutely delightful in having good neighbors.

On Saturday we walked across the street to visit with ours.

Ms. Betty and Mr Charles, a couple in their late 70s, moved to our neighborhood two years ago. In the time since, they have become some of my children's favorite people. Case in point: Jack once told me, when he was mad at me one afternoon, that he was going to pack his suitcase and go spend the night with Ms. Betty and Mr. Charles - HA!

When we arrived on their doorstop on Saturday Ms. Betty was ready with brownies and ice cream. The week before she'd called me over to offer a pink trunk that Mattie now uses as a toy box and an old portable DVD player for Jack.

I can't even begin to recount how many boxes of vanilla wafers, bottles of ketchup and jars of peanut butter she brings us on a regular basis.

When the builder first began constructing their home a few years ago I was holding my breath. We had been used to a vacant lot that Jack used for playing, and, well, you just never know what kind of neighbors you're going to get.

We hit the jackpot with them!

They have a cozy back patio outfitted with wrought iron seating and rocking chairs. The creek running behind their property is the kids new place for trying to spot tadpoles. And Ms. Betty is already talking about us all coming over to roast marshmallows when the night air turns crisp.

Ah, good neighbors are a delightful thing indeed.

Swimming Through September

It's one of those things about living in the deep south. 

The temperature outside has been high enough to justify a few trips to my grandmother's pool. The temperature of the water, however, begs to differ. To say it is "ice cold" to my old bones is no exaggeration.

Guess it doesn't feel that way to the little ones. They get right in.

Ancient Civilizations

This year we've begun a whole new adventure.

We are learning about ancient civilizations. Tomorrow we will end our month-long study of Mesopotamia, and will begin on the Indus civilization next week.

For two years Jack has been fascinated with ancient Egypt, and I think he knows about all there is to know about that culture. It was only after reading "The Well Trained Mind" that I figured out how to put together a year-long study, done one day a week, on ancient civilization.

I'm finding this delve into ancient history just as exciting as he does!

While Mattie is in her ballet class, he and I use that hour to read through different books on the subject. These books are geared toward young children, so more often than not it's the pictures that tell much of the story.

We even went so far as to read a modern translation of "The Epic of Gilgamesh," which is considered by many to be the earliest work of literature ever found. I must say that this was the first book I found myself skipping over whole lines because it was, at times, a bit too erotic for 8-year-old ears.

Here is a list of the 10 civilizations we plan to cover this year:
1. Mesopotamia
2. Indus
3. Egyptian
4. Mayan
5. Chinese
6. Greek
7. Persian
8. Roman
9. Aztecs
10. Incas.

We will likely combine nine and ten.

In addition, I'm making my way through the lectures of a Yale course on ancient Greece, and Jack is taking an archaeology class offered through a local homeschool co-op.

And so the years of history study officially begin!

The Fernbank

The Fernbank, a natural history museum in Atlanta, is what Jack refers to as his third favorite museum. His first being the natural history museum in New York and his second The Field Museum in Chicago.

Jack had been to The Fernbank before, on two other occasions with my mother-in-law, and is always asking to go back. So for his 8th birthday we made the quick drive to Atlanta where we met my mother-in-law and her stepdaughter's son for a fun-filled day.

The three-story museum, filled with dinosaur replicas and other pre-historic fossils and creatures that once dominated Georgia's landscape, has enough exhibits to keep you intrigued, but few enough so that you are able to walk through them more than once. It also has an indoor nature play area as well as a hands-on experiment station.

And because Jack requested a hot dog for his birthday meal, we drove to the world famous Varsity restaurant. The place was packed,  and this picture doesn't even begin to show the extent of it.

But it was SO worth it!

Chili dogs, onion rings, cheeseburgers, apple pies and ice cream were just part of our order.

And there was no way we could leave without the hats!

On The Nightstand

We've been reading, reading, reading around here lately.

For the Kids:
I have a 1960 copy of a folk and fairytale edition Childcraft book. It includes everything from Aesop's fables to classics like "Jack and the Beanstalk," "Rumpelstiltskin" and "The Princess and the Pea." Three of my favorites ended up being stories I'd never heard before: "Salt" (an old Russian folk tale), "The Fisherman and His Wife" and "Snow White and Rose Red" (who knew Snow White had a sister?). We finished this book just last night, and Jack is already asking to start it again. I'm so glad he's gotten into fairy tales. I had tried reading this book before, but gave up quickly when it was apparent he had no interest in the stories. I was beginning to think he was going to grow up and never have heard things like "Hansel and Gretel" and "The Three Billy Goats Gruff." This will serve him well this fall because fairy tales is the theme for his clay class this October.

We are also on the last chapter of "Robinson Crusoe." This read through with the children is my first time reading the classic novel. I put it on my list a couple of years ago when I read an article in which the author claimed to be forever changed by the adventurous story when his father read it to him when he was eight. Since Jack is fast approaching this milestone, I figured it was time to give it a try. How do I know he's taking it all in? Case in point: last night he was talking to someone about going on an adventure. His story was complete with a cave and a foot print, and he looked at me and said, "Like Robinson Crusoe mom!".

My Reading:
Anthony Trollope. Never heard of this Victorian author? Don't feel bad. I hadn't either until this summer. I came across an article about him and would have felt like a complete moron for not knowing about his work if the author hadn't made it clear that the name Trollope, unlike his counterpart Dickens, is a widely unknown name for such a popular novelist. I read "The Way We Live Now" and am looking forward to spending more time with his works this fall.

"The Well-Trained Mind" had been on my list since spring. As a homeschooling mom I'm always looking for solid content related to both practical and rigorous study and the ways to go about presenting content with my own children. I was initially intimidated by some of the suggestions, then I sat down and looked through some of the material recommended in the book and realized it was exactly the direction I wanted to go. The book is broken into grades 1-4, 5-8 and 9-12. I stopped at the end of the 1-4 section, because let me tell you, that was a whole lot to absorb. I'll make my way to the later grades once we get there.