Iowa Capitol Building

I am still going through pictures from vacation.  Unfortunately my camera was not feeling well during the trip and in return most of the pictures were blurry.  I cleaned the lens and it helped a bit but I think a new camera is in my NEAR future.



After we left our hotel we drove the three blocks to the Capitol building.  This may seem odd but we had to pay for parking at the hotel and since we were leaving right after our tour, the free parking at the capitol seemed a wise choice. 


On the way there we saw this statue.  I had to snap a picture of it.  It spoke to me...lol.


The picklets in front of the capitol.  This statue had no plate to tell me what it was.  I have a map of the monuments and memorials and I *think* it is called "Pioneer Statuary Group/Buffalo Fountain".  I was more interested in knowing who was depicted for historical purposes but oh well.


This is the view from where the picklets were standing.


This is a sundial and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the whole thing in my picture.  I must have 20 of these...lol.


After walking through the metal detectors and having Chip's pocket knife confiscated, we walked to the steps and looked up.  WOW!  Looking from the basement up it is still huge.  This is the Grand Army of the Republic emblem.  A replica of the original pained by Joseph Czizek.  It is there as a reminder of Iowa's efforts to preserve the Union during the Civil War.


On the first floor we saw a replica of the USS Iowa.  It is about 18 feet long and weighs over 1300 pounds. 


Into the Iowa Secretary of State's office.  Inside the office is the original Iowa Constitution.


Down the hall was the Capitol Supreme Court Chamber.  It is no longer being used as the Supreme Court but meetings are held in there.  It is gorgeous with hand carved benches.


This is a collection of first lady dolls.  Iowa First Lady's that is.  The outfits some of the dolls had on were gorgeous.


This is a picture that hangs above the First Lady Dolls.  It is of the 42nd Rainbow Division, 168th Infantry in 1919.


Dill liked this mural so much he bought a replica of it in the gift shop.  It is called Westward, painted by Edward H. Blashfield in 1904.  It is 40 feet wide and 14 feet high.


These mosaics, made in Italy, hang above the Westward mural.  They were made in Italy and represent different branches of the government; defense, charity, executive, legislative, judiciary and education.


The House of Representatives Chamber and the Senate took up most of the room on the 2nd floor.  This is the House of Rep Chamber.  The Senate is very similar to it.


This is the State Library is also on the 2nd floor.  Sweet really wanted to climb these steps but the signs said only library staff were allowed to climb them.



The picklets were somewhat fascinated by this phone booth.  They had never seen one before.


As we were leaving I snapped this shot.  It says, "Where Law Ends Tyranny Begins."

We opted for the self led tour instead of the guided tour.  We were told we could join any of the groups of 50 5th graders going through.  Now you know why we chose self led.  I'm glad we did though.  It gave us time to thoroughly enjoy and learn. 

Nature Club

We don't do much with our homeschool association but this year they started a nature club. We decided to join and had our first meeting yesterday.

We met in the morning at one of the supervising teachers houses. She lives in the country and it is just gorgeous. We gathered together, received our instructions and off we went. There was a 1/4 mile of country road to explore.


Flowers are still in bloom. Butterflies and moths are still around and making use of the flowers.



One of the items that was brought up during our briefing was to use our different senses to see what we can notice. Special attention was brought to taste. The supervising teachers recommended NOT using taste. When we got to the clover the picklets and I used our taste. My mom taught me when I was little to bite the end of clover. It is very sweet.

We were also told to look small. I reminded the picklets to look at 1 square inch at a time. If we wouldn't have, we would never have seen this. Sweet found and took the picture of this beauty.


Using our hearing was also important. The sound of the water running had the picklets climbing down in gullies and through brush to find this crick.


Chip noticed these bird tracks in the mud. I would have just walked right past them. I swear that boy sees more beauty in the everyday world that I can even imagine. He liked the way this looks, almost like a painting of some sort.


This purple flower is Canadian something or the other. It is very pretty.


Sweet was in CSI mode. She was digging to extract something that she found very cool.


This picture makes it hard to tell what she found but to the far left is a skull, next to that is a pelvis and to the left of that are several ribs. We are unsure what sort of critter she found but it is now here at home and will be a science project for next week.


We spent about an hour and half exploring and having fun. We were the first ones down the road and the last ones back.

The rest of the group was all the way up the hill, heading back for lunch when Chip took this picture. I am to the left in the grey shirt looking down at Sweet who was extracting the skeleton and Dill is in the yellow in back of me.

By the time we got back up the hill everyone had cleaned up and was eating lunch. Dill, Sweet and I waited quite some time before Chip got back up the hill.

The picklets and I all agree that we can't wait for next month. Each month will bring something new and different because of the changing of the seasons.

MacBride Raptor Center-Child Led

After the tour of the raptor center concluded, we left the group of homeschoolers that attended and went off on our own. On our way out of the park we were stopped by this woodchuck. I had to honk several times before he would move.


WE had lunch in the park. The picklets were starving.


We then headed back to the raptor center to do some nature journaling. We started in the butterfly garden. There weren't too many butterflies though. I did manage to catch this shot. This was one of like 6 that I saw the entire time we were there.


This is a butterfly log pile. Basically it is a pile of logs stacked up log cabin style. There are many openings for the butterflies to perch. There is also a tarp between two of the layers to protect the butterflies from the elements.


This lambs ear in the butterfly garden was a perfect roost for this daddy long leg.


In the woods by the butterfly garden we saw several deer. At one point Dill said, "I see more deer." I asked where and he replied, "In back of you." I turned around and there were two deer about 50 feet from me.


We came to a cliffy area that was just gorgeous. The picklets immediately went to investigate. They had so much fun.

There was a tree growing up out of the cliff. It amazes me that I can plant a tree, in fertile soil, and it will die but a bird can poop a seed, on a cliff, and it will grow. Chip loved this tree.


Dill had fun skipping stones. This one went three times I think.


Chip continued exploring and kept calling me over to see what he found. After tripping down the first time I decided to stay put and just take pictures of their exploration from afar.


The highlight of the afternoon was when Sweet found a treasure chest. Literally.

It was nestled in the cliffs. A perfect little treasure chest for a little adventurer to find.

It was really in pretty bad shape. It was washed up in the flooding earlier this year we are guessing. But there was a letter, a poem, a story, a picture and various other trinkets in the box. She took it home to show Cool and grandma and grandpa. It has now found a home in our garbage can. (:

On the way out of the park we saw someone feeding the raptors. So, we went over and talked to her. She had a bucket of dead mice. All she did was wash off the area where the raptors feed and put a handful of mice on the platform. Ick! She told us that the center had a bald eagle release last week. How cool would that have been to see?

As we walked to the car we saw 8 more deer. This little one was the youngest. The mama, which you can't see in the picture, was to the babes left. She watched us the entire time. After I took this picture the babe fled and the mama followed. Behind the mama were two more younguns about a year older than the babe. It was totally awesome to watch.


We really had a great day exploring and making our own adventures. On the way home the picklets summarized their day in the nature journals. I hope they will look back on this when they get older and say, "I remember that day. I had so much fun!"

(c) 2008-2010 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

MacBride Raptor Center-The Tour

The picklets and I were invited to a tour of the MacBride Raptor Center yesterday. The picklets were pretty excited about this field trip. Since we got to pet a bald eagle named Sanabelle in Missouri a few years back we have all been bald eagle fanatics. It was a beautiful day for an outside field trip. The sky was clear, the humidity was down and the temperatures were in the low to middle 70's.


This is Pat. It is short for Pasquale. He just turned 80. He was our tour guide. His daughter was supposed to give us the tour but was called out for an injured raptor emergency. The center is actually free to the public to walk through. The hours are long and the scenery beautiful. The tour costs $25.00 but split between several people is little to nothing. And the tour is definitely worth it.

The MacBride Raptor Center is a nonprofit that rehabilitates approximately 150 birds a year. About 75 of the 150 are returned to nature.


This is the flight cage. It is approximately 100 feet long and 12 feet wide. When a raptor is ready to "learn" to fly again they are taken to this shed. The raptors are "launched" from one end and fly to a perch at the other end. The exercise gets them strong enough to return to the wild.


This is our copywork for the week. This sign was posted as we were entering the section where the raptors are.

"We are here for you to admire, learn from and above all respect."
~~~Hawk, Owl, Eagle
"You cannot perceive beauty but with a serene mind.
~~~Thoreau

There are several types of owls, hawks, eagles and other raptors at the center. These raptors were either too injured or imprinted on and could not be released into the wild. They are housed here for the public to learn from.


This is a barred owl. He had quite the personality. Imagine the sound you make when you chomp your teeth together. He made that sound. Sweet would chomp her teeth back at him and he would chomp back at her. It was comical.


This is a Harris's Hawk. He is at the center due to human-imprinting.


These are American Kestrels. They were really very pretty.


This pretty little gal was Sweet's favorite. It is a Northern Saw-Whet Owl. Her left wing was severely damaged. She weights 3 1/2 ounces and has a wingspan of 2 feet.


This is Spirit. Her left wing was removed due to a dislocation and has been on display since 1989. She weighs 11 pounds and has a wing span of 7 feet.

The tour lasted about an hour in all. We viewed some very awesome raptors and heard some very neat stories. It opened up a whole new world of wildlife to Chip. He inquired about volunteering and would really like to learn more about the raptor species.

Gerkin
(c) 2008-2010 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines