December trip to MBG

Almost the end of December, and we still hadn't made it to MBG. It was in the single digits when we were supposed to go before Christmas, and I just could not persuade Arline to go outside at all!!!!
So, we went as soon as we got back from Little Rock.  It was not as cold, but it was pretty windy, so we spent most of our time in the Gardenland Express.  The poinsettias were as spectacular as they always are!!!

I particularly liked these-they had very spiky leaves and were almost orange in colour.

These were also lovely

Ben actually smiling

Maggie, Arline and Ben

We ventured outside into the Linnean House because Arline thought that some of the camellias might be blooming already, and she was correct

Ben and his "no more pictures" finger....

We had a very quick walk around the gardens, well as much as I could get the others outside.  To be fair, it was pretty cold!!!!

Our trip to Little Rock Christmas 2016

We drove to Little Rock for Christmas this year.  Ben had the opportunity to drive on the highway.  We had great drives both ways, probably the least traffic we have ever had.

Ben wanted to get some flowers and go to visit Grandmother's grave, so we all went over to the cemetery.  I had not been there since George had died

Unfortunately, it rained, or was very wet, the whole time we were away, but we did get out a little bit on Christmas Day.  Ben wanted to go down to the river and I haven't been down there in a long time.  Got this great picture of Sam and Maggie talking.....

Ben and his "no more pictures" stance on the bridge...

View of the Razorback from the bridge

Ben and Maggie

Razorback museum

I loved this sculpture in the Sculpture Park

We went for a walk around the Capitol Building

Then we drove by the Governor's mansion

And finally, Little Rock Central High School.....

A picture of the only blue sky we saw!!!!

Christmas 2016

This is the first Christmas we have been away from home since we got Ben.  It felt a little strange, but good to break out of the old routine a bit.  This was Milly's little tree.  It's about the same as ours at home!!!!

We did not buy the kids anything for Christmas this year, they weren't all that disappointed, although I don't think I'd do that again.....We did get a few bits and pieces for the stockings and Milly had bought them a few things.  There was something we could distribute on Christmas morning

Maggie looks pretty happy, although she usually does anyway

Milly bought each of them a couple of Classic children's books

I bought Ben and Maggie a Spirograph to keep them occupied for a while

Ben's latest Chemistry assignment

Ben had a major chemistry project due at school.  They all had to pick an element and write a report on it.  Of course, Ben chose Neon (well, you have seen his clothes). Ben found out he could get bonus points for doing extra work, so he also put together a powerpoint presentation that he gave this week.  As part of the assignment, they had to make a representation of their element.  He decided to do a model of the element.  It took us all day!!!!
First, we went to Michael's to get some styrofoam balls and wire.  Then, we had to go to Art Mart after we had got home and found out we had no paint!!!  Ben painted a large sphere-half pink and half yellow-to represent the protons and neutrons.  Then he painted the electrons orange and we strung them on wire and hung them around the "nucleus"

The paint was taking ages to dry, so we had to resort to the hairdryer method of acceleration

Here's the finished project.  It came out really well.  They are hanging all the projects on their "Chemist-tree"!!!!!

It took us $30 and all day to do, but it kept Ben occupied all day, so well worth it!!!!