A Spring Day at Takoma Park

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KLYKids Adventure 2009 - Day 1

We are heading out for our family adventure today. The children, Big Mama, Grandma Boyd and I will be traveling cross country over a period of almost three weeks.



We rented a Suburban extended cab to accommodate the seven of us. Nasiru, Leilani, and Yaminah are on the back row. Grandma Boyd and Dikita are on the first row. Big Mama and I are pilots in the front of the truck. This will be a test of love and patience for everyone in the vehicle.



At 2:00 p.m. we hit the beltway and headed up 270. Traffic was very smooth during the middle of the day. We encountered a few sporadic rain storms. Our travels took us through DC, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio on the first day.



We spent the night in Oregon, Ohio at the Sleep Inn and Suites. Tommorrow we will be headed for Chi town.

Library # 1 - Accokeek

Accokeek Library
15773 Livingston Road
Accokeek, MD 20607

Roundtrip mileage: 61 miles

The children rated the library's building, children's room, young adult area and overall experience. They graded the items on a scale of poor, good, very good and excellent. Here is a summary of their thoughts:

Building
Appearance - Excellent
Cleanliness - Excellent
Colors -Very Good
Maintenance - Very Good

Children's Room
Colors - Excellent
Cleanliness - Excellent
Comfort Level - Very Good
Variety of Books - Very Good
Fun - Very Good
Friendly Staff - Very Good
Bathroom in area - No
Calender of Events - Yes

Young Adult Area
Decor - Poor
Comfortable - Excellent
Variety of Books - Excellent
Fun - Excellent
Friendly Staff - Very Good

Summary
Overall Experience - Excellent

Comments:

Leilani - I would like for the children's area to be more colorful.
Yaminah - It is very good. I like it.
Nasiru - The library was very welcoming. It has a large variety of books. It is also quite kid friendly.

Books Read at Accokeek

That Pesky Rat by Lauren Child
Dear Zoo: A Pop-up Book by Rod Campbell
Spot Bakes a Cake (Little Spot Board Books) by Eric Hill
Cinderella by Walt Disney
The Teeny Tiny Teacher by Stephanie Calmenson
YOTSUBA&! Volume 3 (Yotsubato (Graphic Novels)) by Kiyohiko Azumo
And the Winner Is... by L L. Cool J
<Slide Already! by Kit Allen
Baby Nose to Baby Toes by Vicky Ceelen
Spot's Big Book of Words by Eric Hill

KLYKids Summer Library Tour

We will be traveling to different libraries in our area this summer. This week we will start with the P.G. county libraries. There are 18 libraries that we will need to visit. The P.G. County Memorial Library System had 384,851 registered borrowers last year. Let's gas up the vehicle and get rolling.

Alum Crystals

This week we are growing alum crystals. A friend of the family asked us to take this on as a homeschooling science project. She needs them for decorating purposes. Our goal is to grow them the size of golf balls.

I have asked the our homeschooling friends at the DC Learning Partners to join us. Eight families have committed to starting their crystals this week.

Here is a list of what we needed:
Alum (found in the spice section of your grocery store)
Water
String
Oil
Small Jars
Pencils
Measuring spoons and cups

This is a video of Nasiru guiding us through the project.



We post the outcome of the crystals and more pictures soon.

He Did It Again!

Nasiru had the opportunity to perform on Saturday, September 20th with Baba M's youth drumming group again. He has come a long way with is drumming skills. Several Mamas and I were there to support our boys at this community event. I was so proud. Nasiru is on the left in the video.

African Drumming and Dance Camp

Leilani

Nasiru

This summer Nasiru and Leilani participated in a dance and drumming camp for two weeks. Yaminah lasted for three days (that's another story). The organizers had the children do a presentation at Joe's Movement (Mt. Rainier, MD) on the last day. Here is a piece of the performance. See if you can find the KLYKids.