Ni hao, China and Japan!

We are currently winding down our summer break here, so it is crunch time for our virtual country excursions! This week we crammed two different Asian countries into the mix, and had a blast learning about both! Ethan chose to do his report this week on China, and Alex chose to do his report over Japan.

Most of our cuisine this week was Chinese food, which also happens to be my second favorite kind of food out there. Our grocery store had plenty of options for us as well, which is nice, especially since I have picky eaters in my family who do not like vegetables or many things out of the ordinary. We enjoyed some orange chicken with white rice and pork egg rolls, broccoli beef with white rice, chicken stir fry with Asian seasonings, and teriyaki chicken stir fry with chicken egg rolls. Not much variety, I know, but I have a hard-to-please crowd of children.

For our mini-field trip this week, I was unable to find a town in Texas with a similar name to a city in either China or Japan, so we settled for going the religious route instead, which ended up being a very good choice. I did a little research and discovered that there is a Buddhist monastery only a few miles away from our house! I have noticed the top of the temple from the road before, but I have never been by to visit.

We did not go inside the temple because we were wearing tank tops and shorts (100-plus degree days here!), so I didn't think it would be appropriate. There was a nice lady who came by on a bicycle and asked us how we were doing that day and if we had any questions. My children were a little antsy to get home for lunch, so we kept our trip fairly short and just looked at the beautiful and majestic buildings on the grounds.

These little green signs were posted all over. Lots of good reminders about being kind to one another. I think this message is very fitting for circumstances happening in our world today.

The kids enjoyed seeing the beautiful buildings, but they are not as interested in architecture as I am, so they were bored pretty quickly. If I would have planned a little better, we would have dressed appropriately and taken a look inside. We did see two of the monks outside helping take care of the grounds, so that was a nice little glimpse into their lives.

Next week, the boys were able to choose what country they would like to research since it is their birthday week (they were born on the same day, three years apart). They decided to choose the United States of America. Granted, they already know quite a bit about the U.S., so I went a little different route to get them to learn a few things they maybe didn't already know about our country. Tune in next time to find out what we did...

Ciao Italia!

This week we learned all about Italy, which just happens to have my absolute favorite food in the world! I had the good fortune of being able to study abroad after my sophomore year of college, and I was able to travel all around Italy, including Venice, Florence, various cities in Tuscany, and Rome. Here is a picture of me at the Collosseum.

Some of the delicious food we enjoyed this week included gelato, pizzelles, lots of pasta, pizza, and Italian wedding soup. I also enjoyed enough wine for all of us!

There is actually a Rhome, Texas, but if any of you have ever been to Rhome, Texas, you know that there is really not much to do there. We also had math camp every morning this week, so there wasn't much time for extra Italy-related activities. The boys did take virtual field trips to both Rome and Venice, Italy, though. Alex decided to type a summary of what he learned this week about Rome, and Ethan did a PowerPoint presentation about the entire country of Italy.

In addition to the mini passports I purchased each of my children, I also was able to get some mini flags (as shown in the book picture) and some little buttons, which I put on our drawstring bags that we decorated for our summer adventures. I hope to reuse some of these items when we discuss different cultures in my third grade class this year.

We are starting to run out of summertime here lately, so next week we will be covering two countries at the same time, China and Japan. We will also have another little mini field trip in Texas, but you will have to tune in next week to find out where! Arrivederci!

Willkommen in Deutschland!

This week my children and I learned a lot about our German heritage. Ethan is really interested in World War II, so he decided to focus his project this week on that rather than just the country of Germany.

We enjoyed many delicious German foods this week, including streusel, bratwurst, strudel, sausage and potatoes, German beer, Riesling, and Muenster cheese.

We have a great little German town in Texas called Muenster in which we were really able to indulge our German sides. Muenster has both Germanfest and Oktoberfest celebrations every year. We decided to visit Fischer's Market to buy some delicious German delicacies, and we also found out that Fischer's claims to have the only known Glockenspiel in the state of Texas. The kids enjoyed listening to the music and watching the characters come out of the clock!

Muenster even has a little area of concrete buildings that are painted to look like a quaint little German town with German stores. My kids liked to pretend they were visiting the stores.

Next up is Italy, which I am really excited about since they have my favorite food on the planet! I also visited Italy when I was in college and long for the day I can go back!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Singing "O Canada!" as we "Walk Like an Egyptian"

This week was a little unorthodox for our weekly country study since we left on Thursday for a long road trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Since July 1st is Canada Day, and we also decided to stay the night on the way back in Alexandria, Louisiana, I gave my boys the option of studying either Canada or Egypt. Ethan chose to study Canada (for the sports, of course), and Alex chose to study Egypt.

For our study-related meals this week, we had some biscuits and gravy one night and "Kraft dinner" another night (I guess this is what Canadians call macaroni and cheese, as far as my research could uncover). We also had fish and couscous one night and Macarona Bechamel (an Egyptian-style lasagna) another night.

While we were in Louisiana, we made sure to stop by the visitor center on our way to Mississippi and found out a lot about the area, including a short history lesson from the nice lady working at the counter. I also made sure to fuel up with the free coffee, of course. :)

On the way back, we decided only to drive halfway home and spend some time in Alexandria, Louisiana. While there, we found a great safari place in the nearby suburb of Pineville called Gone Wild Safari. The kids loved it! We were able to take a short trip through the grounds on an open air bus and feed the animals along the way. Guests are also allowed to pet the animals since they are all very friendly to humans, and there was even a parakeet sanctuary that you could walk into and be surrounded by wall-to-wall parakeets! 

Here is our little bit of Canada. Juliet looking terrified of a stuffed moose.

And here is our little bit of Egypt. This is Pearly. She was a very pregnant camel who was known for being a feed cup thief.

While we were in Mississippi, we also enjoyed lots of fresh seafood and Cajun platters and visited the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center in Gulfport, Mississippi, which the kids loved. 

We are now over halfway done with our summertime adventures and the kids have lots of stamps on their mini passports!

Next up is the land of my ancestors, Germany!