Shadow Watch

Annabelle saw her shadow today. I think that means it's sunny ...

PHIL 'ER UP: Of course the first thing on our minds this morning was, "Did he or didn't he?" - as in Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow.

The actual shadow casting (or lack thereof) took place at 7 something Eastern time, so we missed the live event at Gobbler's Knob in Pennsylvania. But we cued up The Official Web site of the Punxsutawney Phil Groundhog Club about 7:30 our time. The static banner on the site told us right away that he did NOT see his shadow, which, per tradition, means there won't be six extra weeks of wintry weather. Naturally we wanted to see the prognosticating Phil call it himself, so I clicked on the link to play the video and we waited ... and waited ... and waited.

We tried on and off for two hours and the blasted video never did load. Pretty lame, if you asked me. I mean, c'mon - this is The Day. Not having the Phil footage on Groundhog Day is like not having live coverage or highlights on Super Bowl Sunday for Pete's sake. (Finally, around dinnertime we did get to see and hear the video.)

Inspired by the day's excitement, Annabelle (who has a penchant for boxes) drew and cut out her own groundhog and made him a makeshift home. She called it her "portable Punxsutawney Phil." Annabelle was very proud of her creation. So much so, she took it to the park with her this afternoon in Magnolia. There, I saw more than one Magnolia mom push their $600 stroller s-l-o-w-l-y past the beer box on the park bench, looking furtively about, clearly wondering who might be polluting their children's playground with malt beverages.

THE REAL DEAL: Something tells me Punxsutawney Phil doesn't live the typical groundhogs lifestyle. To give us a better idea of a more authentic groundhog experience, we checked out the groundhogs at HogHaven, or Lums Pond State Park, which is located near the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in Bear, Delaware (US).

Thanks to their great Web site, we could view photos and live videos, listen to recordings, take a crash course on Groundhogs -- even attend a Hoggie Hoedown! Visitors can tour the burrows with Thor (a Rottweiler) or explore on their own.

QUICK DRAW: After our groundhog studies, we took some time out for art. The kids drew a Valentine's Day picture using good ol' Bruce Blitz as their instructor.

It was a very worthwhile lesson, as he started off by explaining how helpful guides are in cartooning, and how the position of your guides can make the drawing appear 3-D.
CJ struggled at first, but three sheets of paper later, he finally came around. And he was happy enough with his finished product to present it to his friend later in the day.

RAMPED UP: Science today came with a bonus! CeeJ and Bee got to see Grandma and Grandpa for five whole minutes before class. :) G&G were traveling I-5 from Vancouver (BC) to Vancouver (USA) and the timing worked out so that they could stop by for a leg stretch right before the kids' science class. While CeeJ and Bee were settling in to science, the guests got a quick, semi-tour of the campus before they were back on the road again.

Today in class the kids had all sorts of fun working with wheels and axles and ramps, trying different configurations with their components to see what worked better.
It was so much fun with such simple "ingredients" and lots of good scientific experimenting going on (even though the kids mostly thought of it as play).

THE GREAT OUTDOORS: We stopped home for a few minutes after science to say 'hi' to Kirby before we were off to more fun - playtime at a park with CJ's BFF from kindergarten.

The kids spent two full hours in the park, which was great. We just aren't outdoors enough this time of year. CJ spent most of his time and attention with his friend. Meanwhile, Annabelle alternated between working the crowd (everyone else at the park) and playing with this big Tonka toy truck.