World's Forest Center

Today the kids and I were able to go to visit our local World's Forestry Center. It was a great time. Jacob at first did not want to go. He complained and wondered why we were going. After spending two hours of exploring about our local forests and international forest he had a load of fun. Grace got to spend time her friend and learned alot about different types of wood. Mike, of course, was just himself the whole time we were there. (Jacob being bored in the beginning)

Check out some of the pictures we took.

When you first come in you can see the bueaty of our local forests. They have a display of tall trees with hidden items all through out the tree. They encourage the kids to do a scavanger hunt, and try to find as many items in the tree as possible. My kids, of course, lost the paper half way through. So I don't know if they found all the items, but we did get close.

This picture shows you the large tree trunks they have on display. The one in the back is over 600 years old and stood 300 feet tall. The one closest to us in the picture is 150 years old, and the trunk that is the farthest and smallest of the three was only 60 years old. It is amazing to see how big these trees can get!

Grace wanted to show me a shrew. So ladies, and gentlemen here is a shrew being held by my daughter Grace. TADAA!

They have an area where there is all kinds of stuff animals that would live in the forest. Animals the kids can play with and read about ther habitats.
Now, mind you, the even boys had alot of fun with the stuffed animals.

Next the kids got a chance to try and sky dive in a symulation. They found out it is not as easy as it looks.

This is during Grace's trial run, she was 48 feet of the drop off spot.

This is during Jacob's trial jump, he got within 68 ft. of the drop off spot.
To the far right, you see Mike's trial jump. He got within 30 ft. of the drop off spot. Very excited, since he is the youngest of the group.





After the kids got down with the trial jumps, they got a chance to play in a tractor used to move logs around with. Here is Mike to the left, and down below is Jacob being himself.





Next we went upstairs to see the exhibits of wood and/or trees from other parts of the country. Personaly my favorite was the exhibit on chocolate.
Here you see the picture of the flower that produces the pod where you get the cacaos bean, otherwise none as the coco bean.

This picture to the right shows you the inside of the pod itself. The white is a soft center, inside that is the actually bean. Each pod produces ten beans, and each tree produces about 50 pods.

We also found out that Switzerland consumes the most chocolate, at 23 lbs. per person. America is not to bad at 12 lbs of chocolate per person.

After being overwhelmed with so much "chocolate", we went into another part of the exhibit to see other wood from other parts of the world.

This is a prayer wheel from Tibet. A much small version, but it gives you the idea of how they acutally make them there.

This is Grace posing behind one of the African mask upstairs in the museum.

To the far right is Jacob and Mike posing behind the same African tribal masks as Graces is using up above.

There is so much more I could show. If you want to see all the photos of our visit to the World's Forestry Center please go to my facebook acount.

And I would encourage anyone when you are Portland, Oregon to go see the World's Forestry Center it is worth the trip!

We are so excited at our house!!! Last Friday the kids were able to present their South African report. It was harder this year, but the rewards were greater. All three; Jacbo, Grace, and Mike did a great job presenting their information.

They were the first group up, and gave a great example for other families to follow. Mike was the first one to speak, he spoke on the geography, and wild life in South Africa. In fact, we found out about an animal called a Hydraxe. It is suppose to be a descedent of an elephant, but it looks like an oversized rodent, strange animal. Grace was up next with information on the cultures, traditions, foods, and languages of South Africa. She also took the time that morning to make some Yellow rice called Greelys. YUMMY! Jacob was the last child up and did a great job. He spoke on the sports and the bit of history of South Africa they looked up. We also found out that South Africa, as small as it is, has over 400 golf courses. WOW!

I am very relieved that this project is over, but excited about our next one. So stay tune as we bring to you....... Da Vinci.