In Honor of Texas Independence Day...

...I'm posting about our trip last weekend to San Jacinto, where Texas won its independence.

This is a photo I took of the San Jacinto monument. The battle of San Jacinto is where Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836. About 10 years later, it would become the 28th state in the Union. This would lead to the Mexican War (1846-1848) which resulted in the acquisition of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and parts of Utah, Nevada, and Colorado.

 

On April 20th, General Sam Houston chose this area, where the Buffalo Bayou meets the San Jacinto River, to fight Santa Anna. Hours later, Santa Anna and his troops arrived. The next morning, another Mexican general arrived with 500 troops. Houston ordered a bridge destroyed to prevent more Mexican reinforcements, but this also isolated Houston's troops from additional troops, too. (Photo: Alex at the San Jacinto monument.)

 

Houston decided to attack that afternoon. The Texans charged across the prairie separating them from the Mexicans, but they were not seen as they were screened by trees and the rise of the ground between the two enemies. (Photo: Alex & I on nature walk near monument.)

The Mexican army wasn't expecting to fight until the following day. They had not posted sentries and were caught off guard. The Texans swarmed into the Mexican camp with cries of "Remember the Alamo" and "Remember Goliad." (Photo from top of monument showing the river.)

The Mexicans never implemented their battle plan and the battle ended in only 18 minutes. About 600 Mexican troops were killed while only nine Texans died in the battle. (Photo from top of monument. You can see the Houston skyline a little left of center.)

"General Santa Anna was captured the next day and forced to sign a treaty that recognized Texas independence and opened the gateways for America's continuing westward expansion." (Quote from San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site brochure printed by Texas Parks and Wildlife. I also used information from this brochure to write this post.)  (Photo of top of monument.)

This is a photo from one side of the monument. It begins, Texas declared her independence at Washington-on-the-Brazos March 2. For nearly two months her armies met disaster and defeat."

Measured by its results, San Jacinto was one of the decisive battles of the world. The freedom of Texas won here led to annexation and to the Mexican War, resulting in the aquisition by the United States of the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma almost one-third of the present area of the American nation, nearly a million square miles of territory, changed soverignty.

Day at the Museum

On Friday, we went on a field trip with one of our homeschool groups. We went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science and  saw the film Animalopolis (very funny), toured the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit, and went through the insect and butterfly areas of the museum.

a reproduction of one of the warriors

Alex by some of the warriors in the gift area -you can see how they are in different positions. They also each have a different face!

The guard at the end of the tour explained to our kids that the warriors were actually brightly painted! The color has been fading as they dig up the warriors. However, MOST of the warriors are still buried and they've now found a way to preserve the paint in the future.

Here's a poster about Forensic Entomology that I shared more about  on my new nature blog,

My Father's World.

Alex and the other children LOVED playing this insect quiz game. We could hardly get them away!

(The grownups, too.)

 There were LOTS of butterflies out this day. They were so beautiful and it was so peaceful.

I was surprised to find this beautiful millipede AND a toad! One of the volunteers was concerned, too, but when he asked another volunteer he was told they sometimes allow "other" creatures in the butterly habitat to keep the ant population in check.

I really enjoyed talking with this volunteer.

Here's the walking stick he was holding.

And, this reminds me of our nature journals! It says "Before photography, entomologists drew their subjects."

I mentioned on my other blog that if I ever go back to college, I want to be an entomologist. I just find insects so fascinating and wish I would have realized that when I was younger! But, I'm enjoying them now.

Zap! Surgery

Yesterday, we went to The Health Museum to visit the Zap! Surgery: Beyond the Cutting Edge exhibit. Before our trip, we spent some time learning about the 5 surgical techniques that were highlighted by this exhibit.

ENDOSCOPY - For endoscopy surgery, the surgeon uses a small tube which they insert into the body through a small incision. The tube has a camera on it for viewing and for taking photos. They might also have something on it to take a biopsy or retrieve a foreign object. It is minimally invasive and patients often receive consious sedation.

Online, we watched a few short YouTube videos which used endoscopes. And, we discussed the time I went to the ear, nose, and throat doctor and we both got to watch as the doctor put an endoscope through my nose and down my throat to have a look around. She was able to watch that video and remembers it.

This was one of my favorite exhibits at the museum because we got to pretend like we were surgeons and try to manipulate items as a surgeon would.

GAMMA KNIFE - This is the techinque I was least familiar with. Basically, this is used to treat brain tumors. They put a kind of hat on the patient that has 201 holes. They decide which holes they need to shoot the radition through to kill the tumor while not damaging healthy tissue.

Before we went, we watched the BrainPop video about the electromagnetic spectrum to learn about gamma rays.

On one exhibit, we were able to figure out which of the "holes" (we only had about a dozen) we needed to use to kill the tumor without damaging the healthy tissue. Our surgery was a success!

LASER SURGERY - We watched a BrainPop video about lasers which led us to talk about some of the uses of lasers - holograms (we found out there is a store in Houston and wanted to go, but didn't make it), Lasik (which led us to discuss that Alexandra's great grandpa had Lasik), bar codes (we see these all the time, right?) and to play with your pets (we might pick up a cheap one at the pet store)! I also learned that laser is an acronym that stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

At each exhibit, you could watch a short video about the type of surgery (about 3 or 4 minutes). There were usually several options and she chose the "tattoo removal" video. Pretty neat!

ULTRASOUND - We looked at Alexandra's ultrasound image from her baby scrapbook. And, we watched a video about ultrasounds at How Things Work.

At the exhibit, they talked about how ultrasound can be used to break up kidney stones in a process called lithotripsy. The patient actually lies in a water bath and the ultrasound waves are aimed at the kidney stones until they are broken into small enough pieces.

CRYOSURGERY - This is a method where you super freeze tissue to kill it. We talked about how I've had this procedure to remove a few things from my skin and that "yes", it does hurt.

They had a very COLD room where you could watch a short video about cryosurgery.


They had a Zap! Jr room where they had even more hands on activities set up. Alexandra and I enjoyed playing a very large game of Operation!

We also went on a "ride" where you went through a body and saw some things that needed surgery. It was one of those little "vehicles" that moves in all directions and kind of makes you sick. :-) This was Alexandra's favorite part of the day!

It wasn't part of the Zap! exhibit, but I enjoyed the Cells 4D video - very cool graphics and it reminded me of a lot of things I studied many years ago. :-) In the 4D theater, they have lights that flash all over the room, breezes (strong winds!) that blow, and you even get wet! It's quite the experience. (Oh, and we watched a BrainPop video about "cells" before we went. We should have watched "immune systems" and "mitosis", too. )

Houston's Children's Museum - Newly Expanded

Last week, we went and visited Houston's Children's Museum. When Alexandra was little, we used to go there all the time and we had SO much fun. But, we kind of got burned out...

BUT.... they just expanded and redid most (all?) of the museum and it is INCREDIBLE!!! We went ahead and got a membership and hope to visit often. If you live in the area, or will visit someday, here is some of what you can see at the museum...

A large part of the museum is called KidTopia - where kids "work" to earn money that you can deposit in the bank. If your parent is good, you can even give them an allowance! The above photo is of the stock market exchange. I think we're going to have to do a little study... :-)

The veternarian's office... this is SO cute! They even have a bunch of cages which are filled with animals for you to work with. Unfortunately, we went on Good Friday and it was CROWDED!!!

The Diner - there are menus, cool ovens & deep fryers, and plenty of tables where you can wait on your mom... or your friend.

The climbing area - it is 3 stories tall!!!

The new outdoor "wet" area -looks like great fun on a hot sunny day!


And, Invention Convention. This place was SOOOOOOO neat!!! You can make all kinds of things - from rockets to launch to flying "space ships." I could have stayed here for hours... oh, except for the crowd. :-)

There was also a CyberChase area that was fun. And, we didn't go to some parts of the museum. I know they've redone the TV room - where you can operate cameras, etc.

Anyway, I was really impressed and had to share about our "new" museum!

Downtown Aquarium

We went on a field trip with our homeschool group today to the Downtown Aquarium. Tickets are usually pretty expensinve. Alexandra and I have been twice before and with parking and lunch it has cost us around $70! But, we got a great deal today for just $8 per person plus $6 for parking! And, that included a lunch of a sandwich, large bag of chips, Caprisun, fruit (apple or banana) and delicious homemade cookie! You can't beat that!!! We even got the rides for free.

I actually took about 100 photos, but decided to only post a few. I love giant clams like the one in the first photo. And, the second photo of the eel - well, you can't tell from the picture, but he is about 6 foot long!

We spent quite a bit of time watching this beautiful octopus. They are usually so still, but this one was being very active for us! I love his color and he looked velvety soft!

Another Ike...

One of our last stops on our evacuation trip from Ike... was to visit the home of Ike. We visited Eisenhower's Museum & Presidential library. At this site are both Ike's house and his grave.



The special exhibit at the time was From George (Washington) to George (W. Bush). For each president, they had a small display and some of their "real" memorabilia. One of Alexandra's favorite parts of the museum was the dress display. I believe these were depicting the dresses the 1st ladies wore at their husband's inagurations. We went from display to display picking out our favorite dresses. Her least favorite part were the displays about war... we went through that area very quickly.

This was a large museum and I was really impressed. We will plan on coming back when Alexandra is older and we are studying this part of history.

The Oz Museum

I never finished blogging about our stops in Kansas while we were evacuated for Hurricane Ike. On the way home, we stopped at The Oz Museum in Wamego, KS. It was small, but fun! There are models of each of the characters from the movie. And LOTS of memorabilia.

Alexandra decided to pose with each figure... doing whatever the figure was doing. So, here are the photos! The light in the museum was horrible for photos, but Alexandra was really having fun posing. And, we even picked up another Oz book.

Topeka Zoo, Rainforest & Park

We spent a 2nd day in Topeka visiting the zoo, their rainforest exhibit (which is part of the zoo) and the "animal" themed park which is next to the zoo. We'd intended on eating lunch there, but it is a small zoo and their only small restaurant was closed! So, we ended up at McDonald's, which was just fine as we've been collecting the Madam Alexander Wizard of Oz figures.

a cute porcupine

As we entered the rainforest exhibit, we were greeted by some flamingos just walking around!

A fruit bat - they're so big!!! I had to ask one of the workers where I might find the bats...

...and this sloth! He's just hanging around in the exhibit. We'd actually walked past the hippos earlier in the day and when we came back, this big guy (or gal?) had actually gotten out of the water and was sunning himself! I sure wish we would have been around for that. I'd loved to have seen him walk that big ole body and then plop down. :-)


This photo has 5 Monarchs! They are beginning to migrate and I couldn't believe how many of them I saw as I drove down the highway.

After McDonald's, we headed across from the zoo to the park. I found this lovely "thing" - Alexandra pointed out that it was probably a gall. I believe she's right! I didn't see anything else on the whole tree. And, this was pretty big - a little bigger than a walnut.

With her baby cousin (4 1/2 month old), Baby H.

We were so happy to have found this elephant! I had been singing "We went to the animal fair" to Baby H all day long. In it, the song says "You should have seen the monk... it sat on the elephant's trunk... the elephant sneezed, and fell on his knees (like this one)... and that was the end of the monk." I guess it was a sad ending for the monk, but Baby H was just fine.

That evening, we went out with my sister-in-law to have some Greek food. Now, I'm not a very adventurous eater and I've never had Greek food. She ordered us some humus and flaming cheese for an appetizer, and even Alexandra loved them both! Alexandra ate American food for her meal, but I had grilled chicken & pork. I don't eat very much pork, but this was delicious! And, I tried some of my mother-in-law's lamb and "OH!!!" it was incredible. So, I'm sold on Greek food. :-)

We walked through the old town that evening and even stopped at a toy store and a book store and bought a little something at each. We just cracked up when we saw this (real) cat relaxing in a store window. Now, that's relaxing!!!

da Vinci & Fly Me to the Moon

Yesterday, our school went on a field trip. Yes, our museum lets homeschool "groups" of even just 2 participate in school-priced field trips. And, even though we're members of this museum, it is cheaper to go as a school!

First, we went to the special exhibit about Leonardo da Vinci. It mainly focused on his inventions, though it also show cased some of his artwork. The used his drawings to build models. We were especially excited to see this flying machine as we once built a model of it.

I also really enjoyed this model of a life bouy "in action."

We read 3 books to prepare for this trip and enjoyed all 3:

• Uh-Oh, Leonardo! by Sabuda
• Da Vinci by Mike Venezia (great series)
• Leonardo and the Flying Boy by Laurence Anholt (great author)

Our second part of our field trip was to see the new 3-D IMAX cartoon about the mission to the moon, "Fly Me to the Moon." Although it has gotten some bad reviews, we loved it! We even plan on seeing it again. We went to the Cosmosphere in Kansas just last month, so space travel was fresh on our minds. But, we also read the following book to prepare:

• Project Apollo (True Book) by Sipiera - (we enjoy the True Books)

Cosmosphere & Prairie Dogs

We are currently in Kansas visiting family and went to the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center yesterday. Their mission statement is "honoring the past and inspiring the future of space exploration."

For the week, we also have a Flat Stanley visiting us from Iowa. Here he is outside of the museum posing with an astronaut.

Here's Alexandra in a "procedure trainer." I wish I would have copied the quote about how you have to get out of there with a can opener. I got in it, and it wasn't easy getting out!

Alexandra is standing in front of a real piece of the Berlin Wall. Her Nana told her she has 2 small pieces of it and will give her a piece.

We've been to the Cosmosphere before, but I'm always so excited to see the paririe dogs right by the highway and Lowes! There's a whole town of them! You can drive pretty close to them, but they get scared when you stop to take photos. One of them immediately started a "danger" call and they all ran to their holes.

I just read on Wikipedia and remember seeing in a video about Lewis and Clark that prairie dogs are named for their habitat (prairie) and warning call which sounds similar to a dog's bark.

And, here's one doing his warning call! He was the closest to me and he must have been telling them I was a huge threat as the others all went INSIDE their holes instead of just standing in the entrance. He would not quit his alarm until I drove away and I wondered if he would sacrifice himself so he could keep warning the others. Anyway, I think they are so cute and it's neat to have them living right in town!

By the way, it is HOT!!! Flat Stanley is pointing that out, though the car actually showed a temp of 109 at one point. I'm sure thankful we have air conditioning!