Labor Day Weekend, Part 1: Science Theater

For Labor Day Weekend, or at least on the Friday and Saturday, we headed for Chattanooga, Tennessee. Friday morning we met with our GRACE homeschool group at the News Channel 9 Science Theater.
We spent some time in the theater, where 40 kids and probably 25 parents learned about electricity. Above you see a chain of conductors (also know as our children) interlocking arms so the current can pass through them. And, yes, our enthusiastic lecture leader was more than happy to shock the kids!
She cranked away on the device above to let the kids see if the electricity would pass through them when various materials were inserted in the chain (glass, plastic, wood, leather, and finally metal).
She later put moms in a cage and directed a mega-volt contraption at the cage. Above you can actually see the electricity arcing towards the cage. Don't worry - they all survived as the charge passed through the cage into the grounded floor. Whew!
She then directed the charge at some balloons. These balloons were filled with helium, hydrogen, and finally oxygen. For the oxygen-filled balloon, she was insisting that everyone cover his ears. Well, I couldn't because...
...I was too busy trying to time my snap perfectly to catch this cool explosion on camera! I got it, as you can see above. I also had a ringing in my ears for several minutes. I guarantee I lost some years on my ears with that bang.
Julia took it all in stride, not whining a wink, let alone crying. Our other three participated in everything. Even though Stephen was technically not involved, he was there every step of the way, craning to see what Syndi and Junior were doing, and trying things out himself.
Junior enjoyed this contraption. He loves to go his own way.
Here we are at a table, trying to see what types of materials conduct electricity (a penny, a washer, fabric, foil, plastic, wood, etc.).
One of the employees helped our tykes with their potato- and apple-powered clocks. Pretty fascinating.
Syndi worked hard to assemble this little music player at a different station. She did well. She also learned a lot about electricity. After the science theater, we at lunch in the mall, then headed to The Creative Discovery museum. We'll post pictures from that next time.

Michigan Loss Equals More Free Time

Unbelievable! That is what I had to say.

Michigan opened its season with a pathetic loss to Appalachian State.

Appalachian State...they're in...uh...where are they from?

So much for a "tune-up game." So much for building on last season's momentum. So much for bringing back three potential NFL stars and an historic coach to get one more shot at the championship.
Michigan lost to Appalachian State.
Michigan lost to Appalachian State!!

Michigan deserves to fall from #5 to completely off the polls!
Lloyd Carr deserves to be fired.

Michigan football deserves all the ridicule it gets this season. There's no getting by this one, guys. This was pathetic.

But I must look on the bright side. This just opened up about 24 to 30 hours of my time on Saturdays over the next 3 months. Yes, I no longer have any reason to watch NCAA football this year. At least not until the Bowl games. Maybe. Thank you, Michigan Wolverines. If you were going to lose one, I guess you might as well do it week one, and against an I-AA team (two-time champion or not). Save me the heartache of losing to Ohio state in late November. Now I'll be able to enjoy my Thanksgiving without wondering what could have been. Now I can knock a chunk off my project list on the weekends instead of wasting my time in front of the boob tube.
GO BLUE! Hail to the Losers!

Jules Weighs In

Our dearest little Julia went to the doctor just the other day. She had her 6-week check-up, and we got some new statistics. Her current weight is 10 pounds, 10.6 ounces (at the 75th percentile for her age). Her length was 24-1/2 inches, which is off the charts. 23 inches would have put her at the 100th percentile, but this was - quite literally - off the chart. Our pediatrician went on about how girls may outgrow their mothers, but almost never outgrow their fathers. (OK now, she's only 6 weeks old! No need to be looking that far ahead! Syl was the tallest girl in her class for many years until she stopped growing.)
Julia is quite loved by her brothers and sister. If you called our house now and managed to get the answering machine, you'd hear a cute message with everyone arguing over "my Julia."
She's an eye contact girl. That would make her like her father.
We had a garage sale just over a week ago. It went well, especially for Syndi and Junior. Syndi had a lemonade stand and also sold mini loaves of zucchini bread and banana bread. Junior sold chocolate chip cookies at 10 cents each.
Syndi made her own sign, as you can see above. She made it on the back of last year's sign, as you can see below.
Syndi sold $16.80 worth of her lemonade and bread, and Junior sold $5.25 worth of his cookies. It was a fun day for them.

Rome Olive Garden Finally Opens

As we noted in our fourth post way back in January, we've been waiting for an Olive Garden here in Rome, Georgia for 3 years. And August has finally arrived, so the new Olive Garden finally opened. It opened on Sunday, August 12th at 4PM. Was it a popular opening. Well, let's just say I haven't seen an open parking spot at the restaurant since it opened...except occasionally one of the handicap spots, but usually it's filled, too. The cars spill into the Starbucks lot area. The place has been packed every time we pass it.

My coworker, Jason, loves Olive Garden, too. So he was excited about the new Rome site as well. His wife went there the Tuesday after it opened. Apparently they only waited 30 minutes to be seated. But then it took another 1-1/2 hours to get their salad and breadsticks. Yah. I've heard similar stories from others. Seems like many Romans were excited about the grand opening.
I think Syl and I will wait a couple of months until they have an open parking space. And until they work out the service kinks. But we're really looking forward to going. We're plotting how we can get away without the kids to get there. (It feels like old days of plotting pranks at college.) Of course, the kids are just as anxious to go as we are. Every time I pass the place without Sylvia in the car, Syndi and Junior are asking if we can eat there. Right. Our day will come.

A Day on The Road

Some art from this past week, courtesy of SyndiLu Caruvana. No, we didn't make any long trips recently. She did this while Mommy was in her Bible study this past week. A couple of cars making a trip down the road, passing a pond (lily pad and frog included). Pretty neat.

Can I Hold Julia?

Julia has been a joyous addition to our household! Stephen likes to call her "my Julia," which sparks jealous arguments of "my Julia" from both Syndi and Junior. All day Sylvia hears "can I hold Julia now?" The kids all want to hold her. She's such a content little girl, and seems to enjoy being held by her brothers and sister. Below you see Stephen holding Julia, who appears to be looking admirably at her big brother. That was taken last night.

Syndi always wants to hold her little sister. She has waited and prayed long and patiently for a sister. She is excited for the day when Julia joins her in her room when she moves to the crib. Of course, we have yet to move the crib to her room, so it may be a little while. Below you see Syndi holding Julia this afternoon so Mommy could make dinner.
Julia is doing so well. Just this week we've begun extending her overnight sleeping, allowing her to sleep about 6 hours. She's really beginning to pudge up. It was neat to watch the "baby fat" spread from her face through her torso, to her arms, down her thighs and finally now reaching the calves. She's a cutie. And as long as she keeps that dark hair, people will think one of these kids is actually Jon's!

The Caruvana Family Circus

Today Sylvia and Jon celebrate their 13th anniversary. I use the term "celebrate" loosely, because with the new baby and all of life's busy-ness, we really just said "Happy Anniversary" to one another. We found a wonderful illustration of how the last few weeks have been in the comics section of this past Sunday's paper:

Trying to get rest with four kids is hard. Sometimes life seems like a circus, but the Lord gives us what we need to press on.