Field Trips

Recently we have been on a few great field trips and thought we would share. We spend a good deal of time in Seattle, but not on the waterfront. I never even knew this was here, but what a discovery. Odyssey is a hands-on maritime museum where the children get to do several interactive activities all with a focus on the maritime industry. I always knew Seattle was great but I don't think I ever fully realized how important the ports of Seattle and Tacoma are.

We also visited the Gasanko chocolate factory in Auburn. Here an official Chocolatier told us about the history of chocolate, it's origins and lots of other interesting facts that you never consider. We then got to go through the workshop and get a few treats of our own. I must say it was some of the best chocolate I have tasted.

This one isn't really a field trip, but we were very fortunate to be able to have The Reptile Man (http://www.reptileman.com/homenf.htm) come and visit us at our Coop. He usually does only large schools or groups. It was great to have such a small group because the children all got a chance to get up close and personal with all of the reptiles.

He brought the biggest snake I have ever seen in my life! He also showed us how a crocodile will pass out because of his blood pressure dropping when his eyes are rubed lightly. Very interesting. The children really enjoyed his presentation.

Tuesday, after Coop, we visited one of the Ted Brown music stores for a tour. I wasn't sure what to expect, but we sure got more than I could have hoped for. They started by letting the children all play the electric drums. We then went into a classroom where they showed us different instruments and talked about which families they each came from. At this time they let the children play any and all of the instruments, the sax, flute, guitar, electric guitar, fiddle, and so many more. There were probably about twenty different instruments. Next, they took us into the workshop and showed us how they get dents out of instruments and how they do sautering on the various instruments. Next we went to the pro audio section and all the lights and technical visual aids were shown. Lastly the kids all went wild on the electric guitar. We really had a great time. The baby was especially jumpy, as if he knew there was a party going on. http://www.tedbrownmusic.com/