Explorers, Lewis Carroll and the Doeschers

 The kids and I took advantage of the "cool" morning hours and went to the Dallas arboretum on Thursday morning. We also took advantage of the August Dollar Days, which made me cringe less when paying admission. The kids and I had a blast, and as usual, our adventure also served the purpose of learning, this time not just about nature, but also about history and literature.

 This is the cockscomb, or coselia cristata. The kids loved the colors, shape, size and texture of this beautiful flower that can reach up to two feet across.

Verbena  'Lanai Candy Cane'

Yellow Candle Flower

Babywing Begonia, white

The arboretum does a wonderful job bringing history, art, literature and music to life in a fun way by making giant displays with the help of plants. Above and below is Juan Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth and a map of his travels.

This is a tiki hut, honoring Captain James Cook. Katharine figured out why sandwiches are called sandwiches, which is a question she had this week. Who knew a trip to the arboretum would answer that question, without using the internet!

Incidentally, all the explorers on exhibit, we had already learned about in school, well, at least Katharine did. Below is a picture of Marco Polo.

An Aztec pyramid was transformed into a wooden slide. Don't know if Cortes would have approved.

This Spring and Summer's special exhibit was dedicated to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland

The kids always love to sit by the koi pond for a while before heading down the big meadow at full speed.

Recently the kids have been wondering where all the bees went. I told them that scientists are working trying to figure out what is happening to bees around the world and why they are disappearing. So they were very happy to see bees collecting pollen from the moss roses!

It seems like everytime we are at the arboretum, there are hispanic girls there to get their Quinceanera pictures taken. The girls are all dressed up in gorgeous dresses that look like giant flowers. I captured one hitching a ride on the tram.

Now look who did all the work!

Having a Blast

I don't know what they are doing or where they are going, but this is the kind of random text message that will put a smile on any Dad's face.

Crafty

The girls were playing MineCraft on two laptops when I picked Katharine up from her sleepover last week.

Yes, mark your calendars- Katharine is now finally going out on sleepovers :)

The Kassidy Squat

Our other kids used to sit like this when they were babies, but gave it up pretty early.

Kassidy is still going at it.

Monday Lunch

The kids and I had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen today. 

They all had a sundae for dessert:

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A Night at the Stadium

We watched FC Dallas play the LA Galaxy to a draw tonight, 3-3.

Despite the tie score, it was a pretty exciting game.

FC Dallas tied it in the 86th minute, and almost won it in stoppage time when a 40 yard bullet bounced off the post.

Landon Donovan scored all 3 goals for LA, and it was really cool to see him in action after watching him dominate on the US Team during the Gold Cup.

And the no-tax weekend plus 30 dollars off all home jerseys made it a great souvenir night for the boys!

They have been bugging me for one of these jerseys forever...

Found Photos

I found these pictures on my iPad.

So busted, yet so fun at the same time!

Birthday Party Fun

Katharine is at her dance friend Cassie's birthday party tonight. The girls rode in style to go bowling and have ice cream sundaes, followed by a movie and a sleep over at Cassie's.



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