This week we’ve been learning about China and Japan in the middle ages. The boys have been doing Origami all week and I learned something about myself. I cannot STAND origami. “You want me to fold it how and then where and then what?????!!” I am just not spatial enough, apparently. I gave up after hopelessly trying to make Levi a fox. Cade, on the other hand was willing to spend hours trying and retrying the folds and he was great at it!
Tonight I made teriyaki chicken that rivals, yes, I dare say, even Happy Teriyaki, my favorite teriyaki place in Lacey, WA. We ate it with chopsticks, of course! And the boys made place settings written in Chinese writing.
Reagan wrote “dark”. (don’t ask me why?)
Cade wrote “fire”
Levi wrote “boy”
“Mother”
Even Liberty liked the chopsticks 
The Fortune cookies were the the best part, though. 
Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!
This week each of the boys picked three animals from the Bronx Zoo in NYC to learn about in preparation for our trip to the zoo on Saturday. Fun Fact: The Bronx Zoo is the largest Urban Zoo in the world. It’s been on our list to do before we leave and Saturday was the day! Reagan chose the Tiger, the King Cobra and the Anaconda. Cade chose the Giraffe, the Collared Lemur and the Poison Dart Frog. Levi chose the Lion, the Red Panda and the Snow Leopard. We learned SO much! And let me tell you, the internet adds so much to these studies. You can see almost any animal in action. We watched an Anaconda swallow a capybara WHOLE! We watched a man touch the head of a wild King Cobra with his bare hands. And we saw two giraffes attacking each other with their necks. WHAM!
Our trip to the zoo was a great success! You may think me silly for putting it that way, but taking four kids into New York City is never an easy undertaking. We are very grateful when all goes well. We had beautiful weather and we only had one kid get lost. We found him right about the time he started to cry. The zoo is huge and the animals were amazing. I am in awe of the creations God has made. I was just as excited as the boys to see many of these animals for the first time.
First stop was the Reptiles. I got to see an alligator for the first time! 
Next was the bears. First time I’ve seen a grizzly!
On to the Lions
This guy actually did some roaring for us! That was also a first for me! It was so exciting. Seriously, I felt just like a little kid.
Checking out the lions and Nyalas (see video) from a distance. Listen carefully to Cade’s request to “watch the video” and my response.
Taking a break to watch a Dora and Diego 4D film. 
Reagan complained about having to watch this very “uncool” video until he saw how cool the 4D effects were. He thought they were so cool in fact, that in reaching out to grab something from the screen, he actually fell out of his chair. We don’t plan on letting him live that one down. 4D was indeed fun and we even got sprayed with water as we went through a waterfall.
Levi’s Red Panda
Majestic is the only word to describe this guy. He was so beautiful and graceful. The boys watched him longer than any other animal. We couldn’t pull them away!
By the end of the day we were exhausted, but we had a great time. We even got to take home a tiger .
Dancin with Dad
Too funny. This girl is putty in her papa’s hands.
Note: Lest anyone think I am the perfect housekeeper, I did not clean up the floor before filming this video just so you could all feel better about yourselves! Aren’t I thoughtful?
Snakes and Snails and……
Big TRUCKS! Found this in the parking lot today.
“Look at the Monster Truck, Mom!!!” Hooray for little boys and their big loves.
Free at Last
Every fifth week we take a week off from school. We call it our “Free Week”. We do only what the kids want to do on those weeks. Sometimes all they want to do is play with LEGOS. And this last week they did spend almost three whole days working on their LEGO contest entries. The contest is to build a city vehicle that LEGO doesn’t already have. Cade is still working on his, but Reagan’s is a power company truck.
On Thursday it was so warm and beautiful we went to the zoo!
The Hymas family circus at the zoo.
Then on the way home we found a park with a wonderful hill to run and roll down. They were in heaven.
It was so fun to watch them run up and down the hill free as little birds. Wide open spaces are good for these kids. Here is a testament to that fact; we went on a nature walk today to learn about birds at a nearby nature preserve and when I told the boys that’s what we were doing for science Reagan said, “YES! Nature is my favorite subject!”
Robin Hood and Grandpa Neil
This week we learned about Robin Hood and the crusades. Reagan, who is always hyper aware of injustice in any form, was so enamored of this historical hero that he has already decided to be Robin Hood for Halloween-seven months from now.
To go along with our study I finally bought a real bow and arrow for the kids. We’ve had a few over the years. From the time they were tiny the boys would walk around in the back yard shooting an imaginary bow and arrow or finding sticks they could use to make one. The first non stick bow we had was from the dollar store that Reagan bought as his first purchase EVER. He was four. It broke before we got home from the store. Not a happy moment. The second bow was a sturdier one Levi earned for potty training that lasted a few months. This one is the real deal and the boys were in heaven!
As we were shooting, who should appear, but Grandpa Hymas who was here in NJ on business! He came out and gave us some pointers (no pun intended!!!).
By this time our fingers were frozen and the boys couldn’t hold the bow anymore, so we went in and played a good rousing game of Chutes and Ladders and Candyland with the kids.
Liberty warmed right up to Grandpa this time around. Glad we got to spend some time with him this weekend!
Short n Sweet 