Fun with Sharp Objects and Dead Animals

Rowan somehow heard about dissecting a frog online, and we searched for it one night. She *loved* it, so when I looked online at dissection kits and found an affordable one, I decided that would be our summer science project! The kit we got came with a book on how to dissect a lot of different things, a tray, all the instruments needed (pins, scalpels, super sharp scissors) and best of all...a frog, a crayfish, a perch, an earthworm, a grasshopper, a sea sponge, and the super-cute and creepy fetal pig.
I thought the girls might be a little put off by the fetal pig, being a cuddly mammal and all, but not really. They named it Wilbur and are more than ready to cut it up!

We began with the earthworm, and had a whole lot of fun pulling its digestive system and heart out, and exploring the interior of a simple organism. Next up was the crayfish and its cool gills and exoskeleton- we went to a park and caught some live ones in a stream to compare our dead crayfish to. I don't know that we'll be memorizing the systems of these different animals or learning everything in the book, but we are certainly enjoying playing around with dissection this summer!

Memorial Day and the President

We went up to Arlington National Cemetery for Memorial day, in hopes of catching the President lay the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Unfortunately, you have to be there really early to get into that, but we did spend a nice day touring Robert E. Lee's house, visiting the historic graves, and in general remembering our fallen heroes of the past.

Here are the girls and I at the Women's Memorial.

AND- we got to see the President after all! He drove by in his limo with the First Lady on the way to the Tomb of the Unknowns. They waved at the girls, who were right next to the road and quite noticeable in their big Williamsburg sun hats. All this time in DC, but that was our first President sighting!