Not to put too fine a point on it

Sharpening pencils and crayons!

 The littles asked to do some writing practice, but the pencils they wanted to use were dull.

We got out the sharpener, and then all thoughts of writing were gone. They spent at least 45 minutes sharpening pencils, and then crayons. They'd take turns between the 2 sharpeners, and sometimes one would peel crayon wrappers off so that there was always a pile ready to go. 

We can always write another day.

Old Time Harvest Day

Old Time Harvest Day 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 2
Old-Time Harvest Day in Grove City will give today’s generation a look into the past at historical Century Village, 4185 Orders Road. The City of Grove City and the Southwest Franklin County Historical Society collaborate annually to organize this fun, free and educational event for the community. Demonstrations such as leather tooling, soap making, blacksmithing, butter churning and two-man sawing will be presented throughout the day along with period-appropriate harp and dulcimer performances. Most activities are hands-on and appropriate for all ages. Children will also have the opportunity to make crafts and learn old fashion games. Concessions will be available. Century Village, located at Fryer Park, represents the initial stage of development for a typical central Ohio community in the 1850’s and features a one room school, outhouse, windmill, log cabin and barn.

Slightly underwhelming natural history exhibit, saved by the public library

Stick Insect

We visited the World of Wonder exhibit at the Grove City Town Hall and Visitor Center, thinking it would be a good afternoon activity. However, even though the collection was pretty impressive, it is most certainly not for small children.

Green Nymph Stick Insect

 The Visitor Center has a small collection of historical items from Grove City's past and are also currently exhibiting an aisle of display cases containing the Rodney Eaken Collection of crystals, insects, fossils, and shells. Our small group of 2 adults and 5 children walked into the Town Hall/Visitor center, and were greeted only by dozens of small signs warning us not to touch anything. We never did find anyone to answer any questions about the historical items or the natural history collection. The kids enjoyed looking at the insects and fossils, but I found myself having to constantly remind them not to touch, leaving us all feeling tense before we'd finished looking at everything. We'd been pretty excited to see the dinosaur egg fossil, but sadly ended up missing it.

Walking Leaf Insect

Ammonite Fossils

Trilobites

 After a snack and a calm-down on a park bench outside the Visitor Center, we all decided it would be a good time to walk across the street to visit the library. We knew that there were a few more cases of shells over there, and the kids wanted to pick out some new bedtime books.

More enormous shells

 I knew that the larger libraries in town had extensive collections of in-library materials for kids, and computers set up with learning games, but I didn't realize that our little local branch had those resources as well. The kids had some fun playing on the computers, but then found the LeapFrog readers and decided to park themselves at a table for a while with them. It was really cute watching them figure out the systems. They told me pretty emphatically that they want to go back to try the other books soon.

Having fun with soft toys and puppets at the library

 All in all, it was a successful outing. We got to see some really interesting fossils and insects, and the kids are even more excited to be able to go to the Smithsonian Natural History museum someday. We also learned about a cool new feature of our local library, and got to visit with some of our favorite friends. Bonus: the kids stayed awake on the way home, and went to bed easier and earlier than normal. Yay!

And, the winner is...

Candy!!!

It looks like the popular choice for the next Reusable Review is the Large Insulated Zippered Lunch Bag! They happen to be on sale right now for 50% off, so if you aren't feeling like waiting for the review, it's a great time to try one for yourself at only $9.95.
Congratulations, Candy! I'll be contacting you shortly (that's the only way I know how).

Why, yes, we did go back to the Audubon Park

 

We happened to show up just as volunteers were bringing out nets and buckets for kids to search the wetlands for critters.  

 

Perfect, since H had decided that morning that he was going to be a creature all day. We never did figure out what kind of creature, but it involved paws, and didn't speak, but was an excellent critter finder. 

dragonfly larva

 We didn't get to see any frogs or turtles this time, but saw tons of damselflies mating and laying eggs, and quite a few dragonfly larvae.

We learned that grasshoppers like indeterminate creatures!

 

and regular kid-like kids too :)

  This guy spent much longer riding J's shoulder than I would have imagined,

 and then decided to take the creature for a spin.

J even bonded with a small mouth bass. She's the one on the right. 

I'm sure we'll be back again soon, there's a geocashe there that I will not let win.