Crystals

Part of the joy of homeschooling is doing hands on science. We have been working our way through a great Earth Science textbook and homemade curriculm. It has been fun combining efforts with two other families and having the boys over for lab days on Thursdays.

Last time we did an introduction to the Rock Cycle with a lab using crayon shavings, this week we talked about crystal growth. Here are a few shots of the days activities.

Yes the crystal models were indeed edible and gooey and ever so slightly messy. "Brett, where are your mallows?" "Uh.....chubby bunny."

We followed with an epsom salt crystal growing demo I found online. I made a solution days ahead to grow the pan of seed crystals, below is a shot of the results, pretty cool. I had the boys collect the seed crystals to suspend in the solution on some fishing line for growing, but in mixing the solution for larger crystals it seems we missed the mark because all the seed crystals keep dissolving. I sent more epsom salt home with the boys so we will see how their attempts work in a few days.

We also tried a saturated solution of sugar water with no luck. The boys described it as an, "epic failure", how encouraging. Even after MANY days it has still produced NOTHING, bummer.

We now have half an egg shell soaking in the salt solution in an effort to create a geoed. We'll see how well it works once the solution begins to evaporate and become more concentrated. Still, it is all fun to play with.

Tony

Homeschool Fossil Lab

Okay so it is not a laboratory but a garage works for pounding with hammers and trying to break open rocks to find fossils.

We are currently studying sedimentary rocks and fossils in our homeschooling science class. So we used a large portion of mudstone from the Stone Rose center in Republic, WA as a sample for the boys to experience what it is like to uncover fossils deposited in sediments. It was a blast. They did a great job and had fun. We found some small fragments of plant parts. We also looked at other remains and impressions from our trip last summer. (see post from last year).

The only other shot I got was of the destruction from the days activities.

Thanks to Grandpa Robinson for providing the large slab of mudstone. I cut it with a tile saw to get four manageable pieces with good flat edges for the boys to work on. We had a great time and learned that you don't always find a fossil in every spot that is exposed.

Tony

Old video and Gabe playing lax

I finally found the video of the boys during SNOWMAGEDDON 2012... not really the most violent shorts but they wanted them posted for all to see.

In the mean time we haved moved on to Lacrosse season. Here are a couple shots of Gabe and a short video, remember to look for the dark red helmet.

As the game came to an exciting close in the few short last seconds of the 5 to 5 tie, a scrum developed in front of the Snohomish team goal. Gabe dove in and fought hard for the ball. The timing bench started yelling out the ten second countdown to end the game 10, 9, 8....the scrum flipped the ball out onto open grass, 7, 6, 5 Gabe scooped the ball turned to the goal, 4, 3 and shot through three defenders and the goaliee to score the last second game winning goal. He turned to face his team and with his stick raised high into the air screamed in amazement, "IT WENT IN!" We actually saw the ball magically thread the needle of arms, legs, sticks and bodies to find the upper corner of the net. It was magical!! But as bad luck would have it no one was holding a camera in the directon of the action.

That's the short update for now. Hope this finds you well. I will get some updates from my last trip to Haiti soon. Still looking into getting some photos from the trip photographer.

Tony

Tap...tap...tap, is this thing still on?

Wow it has been a while since my last post. February has been a crazy month and it is only the 19th. We survived Snowmageddon 2012 with only 3.5 days without power, the boys loved it, all four of us. Wind storms have come and gone and the tree damage is extensive but nothing hit the house or structure in ManLand, phew! Lacrosse, Soccer and 4-H have started up already for the boys, and fair season is approaching. We finally got the generator hooked up to the house now that the weather has passed, although there was a dusting of what looked like snow on my car this morning as I left for work. A quick update on Haiti: Tomorrow I leave for Haiti. This will be my fourth trip to Dessalines and my third trip to the mountains of Kawo. Cheryl and the boys will be at home this time. The mountain schoolhouse/church is at 19 degrees 11'19.91" North and 72 degrees 22'29.60 West, look it up on Google Earth. We are roughly 10 miles up in the hills from the Dessalines church building in NanWo. We will be documenting the kids and giving them fluoride, providing an OB clinic for all the local midwives, and setting up an impromptu clinic for any other needs we will encounter. The team will be surveying the initial construction of the foundation for the new school rooms just to the west of the main structure. It will be an amazing time for us all. Please feel free to stay updated by going to HopeInHaiti.org for daily updates. Blessing to you all, Tony P.S. I will post pictures and links from the trip when I return in March.

Tying Flys With Jon

Today Jon and I endeavored to use the new fly tying materials he got for Christmas. We watched a few YouTube videos to get us excited and some what educated on the basics and then started. I can't count the number of times we had to rewind a specific video on how to tie a whip finish. All in all it was a bunch of fun until the frustration level began to increase in both of us. It may be time for a class or help from a more experienced fly tier (sp).

Here is my first attempt at a fly. It was fun. We used the feathers from a locally harvested pheasant and hackle from Jon's kit. Sorry about the focus. The second fly was all Jon. He did a great job using the materials and tool from his kit.

We set up the tying station right next to the computer so we could tie and watch videos at the same time. Here is Jon tying away.

Tony

2011 Robinson Family Top 10

Robinson Family Top 10.

2011 has been another incredible year for our family. We have seen God’s hand working in amazing ways through blessing, direction and answered prayers.

10) Two Mariner’s games: Celebrating “Dairy Night” with all the princesses and Remembering 9/11 with a couple hundred local first responders.

9) Tony, Gabe and Jon went camping with Tony’s parents in Republic, Washington and dug fossils at the Stonerose site. The boys also ventured out man camping via bicycles to Packwood Lake near Mount Rainier.

8) Jon and Gabe competed at the Evergreen and Enumclaw fairs showing their cows, earning ribbons and, in between shows, snuggling down for naps with their calves.

7) Cheryl continues to manage the Physical Therapy clinic in Sultan and grow her photography business while Tony has no lack of enjoyment with firefighting.

6) Gabe has moved onto 4th grade and is having a great time being at Salem Woods Elementary. Jonathan is testing the waters of homeschooling and finding it to be enjoyable and challenging at times.

5) Jon cashed in a coupon for a fishing trip to Montana with Cheryl’s uncle. The rest of the family followed a few days later and extended the visit to include a day of drift fishing on the Madison River (during the salmon fly hatch) and visits to Yellowstone Park.

4) Cheryl, Jon and Susan, Cheryl’s mom, spent 12 days visiting orphanages, playing “football” with other kids, experiencing the culture and rubbing elbows with royalty in Ghana, Africa.

3) We were blessed with the ability to take a family trip, Cheryl’s mom included, to the remote mountains of Haiti to visit with, serve and love on the 400 children attending the school we support thorough Hope In Haiti.

2) Tony and Cheryl celebrated 15 years of marriage by taking the boys to Mexico for five days of hanging out on the beach and doing as little as possible.

1) We spent much of the year celebrating many holidays and milestones with an amazing family, wonderful friends and incredible God!!!

We hope 2011 was a fulfilling year for you and your family and we send our love and pray that 2012 brings renewed love for life, family and the amazing world we live in.

Tony, Cheryl, Jon, Gabe and Sodhi

9/11 Steel arrives in Edmonds

For a long time now the Edmonds Fire Department, now Snohomish County Fire Distrrict #1, has been working on getting our own piece of steel from the Twin Towers. The time finally arrived and after many meetings, flights to the east coast and governmental approval the dream has been realized. The cerimony was simple as the motorcade drove up I-5 from Seattle into downtown Edmonds.

The 2000 pound I-beam was accepted from the delivery team, carefully hoisted from the flat bed with the help of a large tow truck and rested, for the time being, on a custom built cart. The artifact is in on display at Station 17 in downtown Edmonds.

fAbove FF Erickson give an emotional acceptance speech. He was instrumental in the entire process and logged a lot of time and miles to make it happen.

After a short walk on 6th street, the procession turned into the bay at Station 17.

The honor guard, with a tradtional piper, were a vital part of the cerimony escorting the steel to the bay. All non-duty firefighters were in dress "A's" for the occasion.

A glass-blowing artist from Whidbey Island created an amazing custom fire helmet to honor the occasion. It is part of the fund raising effort to finance the construction of the memorial.

A small Fallen Firefighters memorial park currently exists outside Station 17 and this piece will be added to commemorate the events and those who were lost on 9/11.

The day was momentious and powerful and any photos were taken by the attending public, politicians, new media and Firefighters.

Tony