And to think.....having a Ph.D. isn't near enough education!!!!!

For Christmas Santa delivered this huge box with 1,000 lego peices in it.  The box stated on the outside "children 5 and up."   Santa knew that Caleb was 5 1/2 years old so this should be an appropiate age toy.  So on Monday we didn't hold school (MLK day) and decided it was time to open the big box and see what we could do with the contents.

The plan was to take all of this:

and make this:

So we pulled out the directions and started putting it together,

wait, I mean I started putting it together ~ then I took it apart

and started over.

Finally we got to a point where I could direct Caleb

on where to put the pieces:

Notice the laundry on the sofa waiting to be folded....

A long time ago someone told me the laundry will always be there -

the opportunity to play with your child won't -

I choose play instead of laundry - good choice!

Three hours later (YES, 3 HOURS LATER)  this is what we built:

And we were extremely proud of ourselves!!!
When I started working the project with Caleb I wasn't aware
that "5 and up" actually  meant "engineering degree."  I know that now.

Now the firetruck is waiting on the police car, motorcycle, fire station,
police station, etc. to be built so that there is a cute little "city" of  made by legos.
I still need to work on that Engineering degree - then we might construct the remaining peices.

For now the doctor is out......thinking seriously about obtaining that engineering degree!!!!

Oh, the places you will go.....

When I was a little girl my parents made it a priority for us to travel all through our home state of Arkansas - mainly visiting historical sites. Then my parents extended these road trips to include other states. Our vacations were not like other people's vacations. We didn't go to Florida to visit Disney World....no, my parents took us to Florida to visit St. Augustine - the oldest city in Florida where we also visited the Castillo de San Marcos and the Fountain of Youth. However, we did get to go to the beach for an afternoon - such frivolity when there is so much history to see and things to learn (this according to my mom!). Then later it was a trip to Illinois to visit sites for all things Abraham Lincoln and then to historical Nauvoo. When we were in Hawaii, we spent exactly one full day on the beach and the remainder of the time visiting historical Hawaii. When we finally made it to Disney World my dad loaded us up and we went to visit historic Church Street area of downtown Orlando and then on to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. On many of our journeys we saw presidential libraries, all types of monuments as well as historical church sites. Learning vacations became very much a part of my life to the point that I can't visit a place without exploring the historical heritage. I have since made learning vacations very much a part of my own children's lives. We have added visiting universities to our agenda as well. When I took Sarah on her first big road trip to the Northeastern part of the US, we included a visit to Yale University and Harvard University on the agenda. What a wonderful country we live in with so much to offer us in it's beautiful, rich, history.

I got this off of a friends blog and decided to put it on mine. The red states indicate all the states that I have traveled to.....and yes, I have been to all including Hawaii and Alaska. I have been to some states several times and will probably visit them many times again in the future. I love a good road trip and visiting places in my beautiful country!!!

create your own personalized map of the USA

Until next time the doctor is out....planning the next history trip for her family.....thinking maybe close to home - Natches, MS and the Antebellum homes...maybe!!!