What's Going On In That Noggin?

The answer:
XBOX
Kayaking
BMXing
Gummy worms & bears
LEGO

Mckenzie's World Adventures

A while ago I posted about Mckenzie's first stop on his world adventure which was Peru.  Next he explored Santiago Chile.  As you may remember we're following an old season of The Amazing Race and making a travel journal as though we went along on the adventure also.  

 In Santiago we took a funicular up to the top of Cerro San Cristobal to see the Virgin Mary Statue.  It was beautiful and had great scenic views.

 Here are some photos of the Statue of Neptune at Cerro Santa Lucia.  It was pretty cool since he's been reading so many Percy Jackson books and the like.

NOTE**  These are NOT our photos, I found them on google and have no idea where the original source is.

Unfortunately, our computer is no longer allowing us to share our google photos with you so you'll just have to imagine the things we saw OR you can have fun googling them just like we did.  It was fun to see the things we saw on TV come to real life as we used google maps to find them and explore them in a different way.

After Chile, we went to Argentina and went mountain biking, went to a traditional Suizo (BBQ) and ate 4 lbs of meat!!!  He then went to a ranch called Estancia San Lsidro and Cabana la Guatana where he did a gaucho challenge of riding a horse around barrels.  In Buenos Aires he searched the waterways for an old shipwreck.  He spent the night at a polo club called La Martina.

Then it was off to South Africa.  He went caving 45 feet below ground.  He shopped in an open stall market and brought his goods to an orphanage.  He also visited the street that Nelson Mandela lived on at one time.  Later he visited the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve and fed the lions from on open vehicle!  Crazy!

Botswana was next and he learned from bushmen how to spear hunt, and also how to grind corn into powder using a tradition kika (bowl) and a pole.  It was really hard work.  He spent the night on a cot in the Makgadikgadi Pans, the largest salt pans in the Kalahari Desert.  It looked like the surface of the moon and used to be a lake before it dried up.  He visited the Kwai River where he used his land rover to help clear roads which had trees across them from elephants knocking them over.  He saw a lot of wildlife including:  elephants, ostriches, gazelles, crocodiles, zebras, giraffes, warthogs, and hippos.  He stayed at the Kwai River Lodge.

Next was India where he visited the Bara Imambara Palace and took a horse drawn carriage to a steel emporium.  He took a bike rickshaw to Alshbagh where he broke and moved 170 lbs of coal.  He took a 24 hour train ride from Lucknow India to Jodhpur and visited the Sardar Market near the clock tower.  It was fun to see a big wedding party in the streets, there were so many people, dancing and fireworks.  The next day he took part in a traditional Hindu good luck ceremony and had his head shaved.  He stayed the night near the Jaswant Thada royal tombs which are over 100 years old.

So far it's been a great adventure.  Who knows maybe one day he can do it for real!

Chalk Smudge Art

 Mckenzie's is the top one.

Candyland's Problem

With the public schools on strike I had both kids at home and that meant homeschooling both of them.  I had them brainstorm a story based on the 5 W's: Who? What? When? Where? Why?  

They came up with a fun little short story about Broccoli boy taking over Candyland.  They alternated writing and illustrating the pages(5).  I then taped the pages together length wise.  I cut the face off of a box matching the page size.  I poked holes on the sides at both top and bottom and slid pencils through.  I finished by taping the the top of the first page to the top pencil and the bottom of the last page to the bottom pencil which created a fun rolling story.  Simply twist the pencils and watch the story unfold.

Social Studies Volcano Project

When we decided to do a model volcano, we really went for it.  Here is all of Mckenzie's hard work.  We haven't blown the volcano yet.  I almost don't want to; he's put so much work into it that I think we need to enjoy it for a while.