Homeschool Fall Field Trips- Salt Lake City

Something I love about homeschool is the opportunity we have to pick up and go on a field trip.  We had that opportunity last month as Steve had a work conference in Salt Lake City for 3 days.  We joined him in his hotel room at the Crystal Inn (by the way- AWESOME breakfast buffet and warm swimming pool- I'd stay there again!).  Here's a picture Lily took of our room:

We used this opportunity as a mini-vacation/ field trip for homeschool.  Each day, my kids did math and reading after the breakfast buffet, and then we were off for some hands on learning.  Every place we went to we basically had to ourselves, since most kids are in school and it's a work week.  That's another perk of a homeschool field trip.  After the field trips, we would head back to the hotel in late afternoon and go for a swim, then be ready when Steve came back so we could go out to dinner! 

Day 1

• Children's Exhibit at the Church History Museum and Trax train ride
• April and Devon joined us!  Lunch: Nauvoo Cafe on Temple Square
• Dinner: Cheesecake Factory

Going fishing!  Devon didn't want to leave this area!

collecting pretend eggs from the chickens

Devon just HAD to wear a skirt like his cousins.  He liked watching it flair out when he spun.

Day 2

• Tracy Aviary and Gilgal Gardens
• Dinner: Food Court at City Creek Mall

If you haven't been to Tracy Aviary in awhile, I highly recommend it.  Go when we did- on a mild day in November on a Wednesday.  It only costs a dollar for their "Winter Wednesday."

I let Lily take a camera along to shoot her own pictures.

The leaves were really pretty and falling all around us like confetti at a party.

This bird was fun.  He's a condor and he was showing off for us.

Here's Andy the condor cleaning and spreading his wings.

Lily's wingspan compared to a condor's.

I love Amara's feet in this as she squats to get the right height.

We paid to feed the pelicans.

Sounded like fun, but then, that meant Lily had to touch dead fish.

She was brave.

Look how big their lower beak spreads to catch those fish.

This pheasant looks painted.

Amara's favorite- the bald eagles.

We just learned about flamingos on a nature program the night before, so it was fun to watch them do their thing.

Pretending to be an owl for the owls in behind the fence.

Some of these birds got really close.

And we got really close to some of them.

We liked the look of these trees, so we thought we'd get a few pictures.

Definitely pay to feed the sun conures.  They are a riot and so worth the $3.  Wear long sleeves if you don't like the scratches from the little claws.

Day 3

• Lunch: Tucanos at the Gateway Mall
• Children's Discovery Museum

We had a gift certificate to Tucanos and we figured that it would be fun to go during lunchtime because the prices are lower and we could take our whole family to the place where they bring meat around on swords.  The girls enjoyed the experience and got to try new things.  Lily even ate a chicken heart- she didn't really like it, but she wanted to try it.

Lily tried her first quail egg.  She didn't really like it.

Lily took this picture of Amara eating.

Then we were off to the Children's Discovery Museum.  There was a lot of hands-on learning there and we did it all!

Reminds me of Schroeder from Charlie Brown.

Lily is a mail carrier.

Amara is the dog in the house.

It was fun to play in the helicopter.