Preschool Orientation and a Trip to McKinney

Yesterday we went to Orientation at Nicholas' preschool. He has the same teacher and same classroom as last year so it really wasn't a big deal. However, I can see that it is a good way to help get him focused back on the school setting. He was there for 45 minutes with just a few other students that will be in his class. When I picked him up, he had two Tootsie Roll pops and gave one to me. He said they were supposed to be just for the kids but he asked Mrs. Carrico if he could get one for him Mommy too and she said yes.



Today we went to the Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary in McKinney. It was a bit of a drive and it was really hot out there but we had a great time. They currently have a big snake exhibit and we saw some really interesting snakes. Nicholas was amazed at the size of the python. There was also a giant snake model that the children could walk through. Unfortunately, my memory card quit working soon after we got there and I didn't realize it until we were about to leave so I only have one picture from this outing. Nicholas was fascinated with learning about coral snakes and the saying, "Red on black, friend of Jack. Red on yellow, kill a fellow." Here's a picture of him working on one of their interactive exhibits where you can set up the snakes color pattern yourself to see the red on black/red on yello. We learned that coral snakes have the second most potent venom of all snakes in North America.



Some other fun things we did there include the giant sandbox where you can dig for fossilized bones and also a live working bee hive encased in glass so you can safely watch all of their activity at the hive. They also have a greenhouse set up as a butterfly exhibit. We walked in and were surrounded by live butterflies. Nicholas hoped that one would land on him but it never happened. I got some really great butterfly pictures in this exhibit, but alas, my memory card didn't save them :(

Afterwards, we went exploring in McKinney. We were hoping to stop by Herbie's Burgers and Soda Fountain for some old fashioned milk shakes but there was a lot of construction around the building and I couldn't tell if the restaurant was even still in business. So we went to another cool shop instead. It's called Mom and Popcorn. They have 45 flavors of popcorn. Yes, I'm sure you've heard of cheese flavored popcorn and caramel popcorn. But have you heard of barbeque flavored popcorn? What about creamy dill or pizza? Or some of their sweet flavors like green apple or pina colada? They sound crazy but trust me they are all yummy. I know this because they are very generous with their samples! I wish I could have stayed their all day and tried all 45 flavors :)

Nicholas got a bag of cornfetti flavor which is a mixture of all of their sweet flavors. It is very colorful and very tasty. After I tried his, I wished I had gotten another bag for myself!