Baseball & Softball

Fall ball has began. We had several of our first games cancelled due to rain so now the season is in full swing! Caleb had two at bats and had runs with both at bats. He played 2nd base. Abigail had two at bats with a double and a single. She played catcher the whole game! Everyone went home happy!

Kids on the Camel Farm

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Today the kids had the unique opportunity to visit a camel farm! We joined some of our homeschool friends at Texas Camel Corps. The Texas Camel Corps is a crowd favorite at Texas frontier forts' Living History Days and 19th century reenactments.

Our group enjoyed lunch together at the farm; the children enjoyed the simplicity of tree climbing, the tire swing and a trampoline. Following lunch we joined owner Doug Baum and his nine camels.

He currently has six Dromedary (one-hump) camels. This type of camel is common to Africa and the Middle East. Mr. Baum also has three Bactrian (two hump) camels. They are native to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.

Texas Camel Corps camels have appeared in movies and commercials, and carried the Wise Men to Bethlehem in countless Christmas re-enactments. Mr. Baum also leads camel treks in Egypt and three-day treks through Arizona’s Coronado National Forest.

All three children got to ride Richard, a 13 year old Dromedary camel! The farm is also home to about a half dozen donkeys.

Cowboy Stadium

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For those of you who don’t homeschool, most cities have homeschool groups. These groups can be everything from a support group, a class co-op, or just a way to get together with other homeschool families. Our homeschool group in Plano, PEACH has 220+ families, and with that come a lot of great opportunities. Today was one of those fabulous opportunities.
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We went with 40+ PEACH families and toured the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. The stadium is huge!!! The retractable dome is large enough to bring the Statue of Liberty into the building and close the dome!! One of the arched beams if stood straight up, would be taller than the Eifel Tower. Or, you could take that beam and bend it and it would stand taller than the St. Louis Arch!
.Our tour included the Pro Shop; Press Box; Scoreboard Control Room, Silver Level Platform; Visitor Locker Room; A Suite; and the Player Interview Room. So fun! Lots of fun information, including the Cowboys locker room has huge flat screen TV’s to review tapes at half time, but the Visitors locker room has a white board.
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We also got to meet three of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders in the Pro Shop! Caleb did not want his picture taken with one of them, but I’m pretty sure he will appreciate it later!

Fall Ball

Fall ball is upon us! That time of the year when the kids play baseball/softball to improve their skills for the Spring season. The weather is cooler, moms come to the fields with blankets and hot cocoa. The kids try to play ball in warm-up pants and parkas, you would never guess it is only sixty-nine degrees! But that thirty degree drop from our normal temperatures sure makes a difference. Caleb and Abigail have both had their first games rained out, so tonight both teams practiced for their make-up games this weekend. Caleb had announced his plans to retire after this season, but had so much fun tonight, he has decided to take a 'wait and see' approach before making that announcement. Abigail LOVES softball, she loves running, she loves playing catcher, she enjoys everything about the game!

Old Red Museum Downtown Detectives

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With Bible and Math completed this morning, we headed to the Old Red Museum in Dallas. During the hour car ride the kids completed two more subjects on their laptops. Old Red hosted a class for homeschoolers called Downtown Detectives. Old Red is a beautiful 117 year old court house across the street from the book depository where Lee Harvey Oswald shot John F. Kennedy.

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The kids learned much of the history and architecture of the old building. They also learned great terminology including turrets and wyverns. As a hands on project, each student created lunettes similar to the ones in the victorian inspired courthouse.

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Following our 2 and 1/2 hour class we walked down the street and grabbed some lunch and then returned to the museum. We took a docent lead tour through the museum. We had visited before but new exhibits have been added.

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The museum has a wonderful kid-friendly area. It includes time period games that children would have enjoyed at the time the museum was constructed. Frankie always loved playing with the hula hoop, she and Abigail had a ball!

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On the ride home the kids completed their other two subjects! Whew, another tough day of schooling completed!

Central Market

Today's field trip was to the Dallas Central Market, what a fun place. One of their 'foodies' gave the kids a great tour, explaining the differences in organic foods etc. The kids also sampled different exotic foods. They saw baby octopus, large groupers and blue shrimp!