Travel | MSU "Butterflies in the Garden"

Butterflies are pretty dang cool guys. Every Spring I do a butterfly lesson with my students and during that time period we usually (budget permitting) go on a field trip to Michigan State University's Butterflies in the Garden. The kids love it, the parents love it and the teachers love it - plus its hands on and educational. It's a total win.

 

 

Generally beginning sometime in March and going through April, the Butterfly House is opened up for classroom visits and other people who are interested. Michigan State has some really beautiful gardens, and the butterflies are located inside one of the buildings. Parking during the week is metered, but on the weekends is free.

 

 

While there you are able to see everything about the life cycle of a butterfly. You get to see the eggs on the plants in the gardens, you can even see the larva eating leaves and of course the chrysalis! Once the chrysalis is formed, they put them into a separate box type thing and its super neat to watch. When we were there, some butterflies were emerging. The kids LOVED it.

 

 

They have sponges filled with "nectar" placed around the gardens so that you can get some on your finger and "invite" a butterfly on you. This is awesome, my kids just got their fingers wet and walked around with their index fingers extended waiting for a butterfly to land. Some of them got lucky, as evidenced by the previous pictures.

 



This is a great activity for a family to do. It's open Monday-Friday 2pm - 4pm to the public and then Saturday and Sunday 10am- 4pm. They also have a great event on Saturday April 25th, called Butterfly Day. For more information visit their website.

 

 

If you live in or ever find yourself near East Lansing, Michigan in the spring (or the summer, the 4H gardens are amazing!) make an effort to swing by and view some butterflies!

MSU Gardens have no idea who I am outside of my scheduling field trips with them. I just truly love them and the experience and wanted to share it.

Travel | Impression 5 Science Center | Lansing, Michigan

So here in the grand city of Lansing, Michigan we have TONS of things to do all year round. But one of my favorite things to do is go to Impression 5. Located right in the heart of downtown Lansing, it is a children's science center full of fun, hands on, interactive exhibits such as:

 

• Chew on This - This exhibit looks at the mouth, it has giant dental tools and a giant mouth. It also allows for you to see teeth up close through a microscope and see how certain foods affect your teeth. They even encourage everyone to take a digital picture and upload it to a digital smile wall!
• Spectrum - This allows you to explore the electromagnetic spectrum and compare different light sources, lenses, prisms and mirrors. They also have a life size Light Mosiac so you can create, along with a Shadow Wall.
• Nano - This exhibit allows you to immerse yourself in nanoscale science, engineering and technology by allowing you to explore with magnetic materials, building a giant carbon nanotube and static electricity.
• Build Zone - This area features large tinker toys, pipes, tubing and giant blocks. This a favorite of my preschoolers whenever we go for a field trip.

 

• MI Nature - This exhibit is full of natural environments that are found in Michigan, including an aquarium-like tank full of fish!
• First Impression Room - This room is for birth to 4 years. It is completely enclosed, so it's a great place to take the kids when they just need to roam around without you for a bit. There is a section for the younger toddlers, with mats and a texture board. There is also a water room and a smart board. This room is usually where we end our field trips.
• POP! A Bubble Experience - This is a room full of bubbles. Ways to make bubbles, different shapes of bubbles, bubbles, bubbles, bubbles. This is kid favorite, being inside of a bubble!

 

There at least another 5-7 exhibits on top of those I have named. Plus they have workshops and programs, summer activities and a membership program. If you live in the Lansing area, or are ever visiting you should definitely check this place out!

Impression 5 has no idea who I am, outside of scheduling field trips for my class. I just truly love this place and wanted to share the information. Also, children's face are hidden for obvious reasons...

Five Things Friday

Here you have it, my five things Friday! Hope everyone had a great week and has an even better weekend! See you on Monday! Or, better yet, keep up with me on social media! @estherlaurien on Instagram & Twitter!

5 Things I did

1. We got snow. Because of said snow, we had a snow day last Friday. There was a very bad accident about an hour or so away from here, it involved a 150 car pileup and a truck carrying fireworks. There was a fatality. My thoughts are with all those who were involved and with their families.

 

2. My mom had foot surgery last Tuesday, so on Sunday I went out to see them. As it ended up, my Dad got sick the night before and my Grandparents came over with tons of food for them. So I went on fridge duty for them, and left with some yummy food for myself too. Hope they get better soon, silly parents.

3. So this is Shiloh. She was my 16th birthday present (I am now 30). She is a verrrry old girl who doesn't usually like to snuggle. When I was at my parents house, she randomly decided she wanted to snuggle. It was adorable and glorious and my mom snapped this cute picture of her.

4. I took 10,500 steps one day this week!! I know this because for Christmas I received a Jawbone UP24.

5. I caught up on Parenthood; my husband doesn't really like it (too soap opera-y for him) and he was out of town so I caught up on it one night. It was gloriously guilty and delightful.

5 things I ate

1. A delicious bowl of Cream of Wheat on a snowy winter morning is just absolute perfection. Truly.

 

2. I had some leftover frozen blueberries; so I threw those along with some spinach and milk into the blender. Pretty yummy.

3. Monkey Bread!

4. I have a guilty pleasure in eating frozen lasagna. I mean, I heat it up first, then eat it. My husband does not understand this, and has no desire to partake in it. So that means when he is out of town, I eat it and I enjoy every guilty morsel. He calls it a Lasagna Brick. So that is what I ate; a lasagna brick. Delicious.

5.Swedish Fish. That's all that needs to be said about that, am I right?

5 things I read

1. Corgi cuteness

This is an adorable little article about this corgi who went to Disney and got pictures taken with the characters. Trust me, it will make you smile.

2. How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon

This book was well written, but kind of confusing because it is told in the voices of like 10 different characters. So that is kind of annoying, but I do understand the importance of the different voices to the plot but still...I had a  hard time keeping up with each switch.

3. Literally made me LOL

4.  The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Loved, loved, loved this book. I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads in fact. Historical Fiction is often hard for me to get into, but this story just sucked me in for days. Let me know if you want a full review on this book!

5.  Every month from my library I get a free copy of BookPage and I thumb through it very slowly and deliberately to decide what books to add to my Goodreads. It's a book nerds heaven for sure.

Pure Michigan Travel | Eaglemonk Pub & Brewery

So I turned 30 a few weeks ago and it seemed appropriate to go get some drinks and a brewery. A nice classy way to maybe have some giggles with some friends. The brewery options in Lansing, Michigan are few and far between, but luckily we have EagleMonk Pub and Brewery.

The first thing we did was order a sampler. It comes with 8 sample sized beers, and in this case it happened to contain every beer they had on tap. They placed it on this tray with a laminated paper stating what beer was what. I assumed I was going to enjoy the lighter beers only, but I was wrong. They were all delicious!

I am going to consult their brewing list and try to recall which ones I tried...I make no promises as to whether I am accurate or not. It's been like 3 weeks. Also, EagleMonk also has wine, soda and food! We all had pizzas, and they were delightfully delicious. EagleMonk also sells a variety of souvenirs with their logo, including howlers and growlers. We purchased a howler and are looking forward to going back to refilling it. Alright beers sampled:
Red Eye Rye 
Instigator Doppelbock
Irish Red
Belgian Wit
Michigan White
Scottish 70
Delta Porter
And one other that I cannot recall...

EagleMonk also has an awesome program called the EagleMonk Mug Club. It costs $50 for life, and includes one free fill up. You get to chose a mug made by a local artist (mugs pictured above) and they are SUPER COOL. They hang from the ceiling and are super neat. You get a larger pour for the pint price, $10 growler fills on craft beer daily, $2 off any pizza on Tuesdays and $3 mugs on Sundays.

I am so happy that we have a great brewery like EagleMonk in our area, and I can definitely ensure that I will be going there again. With our howler in hand.

Pure Michigan Travel | Crunchy's East Lansing

So my beloved college town of East Lansing has many bars, a little something for everyone if you will. My college friends and I certainly had bars we preferred for every occasion and mood, and naturally our overall favorite. Crunchy's was certainly a favorite, and still is to this day. I just recently went for a friends birthday gathering, and we sat out on the patio and tried some beers and a wonderful time was had.




Crunchy's has 27 beers on tap, and is definitely deeply entrenched in the craft beer world. They often have nights dedicated to one brewery, and all taps will serve beers from that place. They are a big supported of Michigan made beer, which makes me happy. They are known in the area for having "the best burger in town" which is the Crunchy burger and it's a BEAST. I've never had it, I can't handle that much meat *ahem*. Moving on.

They have some sort of food special every day of the week, along with karaoke on thursday, friday and saturday. Back in the day I may have sang a little bit of Ace of Base.  Maybe. 

Crunchy's has even introduced their "secret society", the Burger and Beer Society card is full of perks if you use it frequently. I don't have one, but C does and he enjoys it.

Crunchy's is a great place to gather and hang out with friends, family or just to hang out solo and meet some new people. I will continue to frequent it and will be sure to tell my future Spartans to go there for some great Michigan brews!

High Five for Friday | Link-up

It is very nearly August 2014, I can't even believe it. I feel like I say that every week, but I'm going to be going back to work in the month of August, and I will have to figure out my blogging schedule for when that happens. Don't worry, I will keep you posted. Here is my High Five for Friday for this past week!

1. C and I had three parties on Saturday. So needless to say we had a very busy and fulfilling day, getting to see family and friends all day long. We started out at a graduation party for his 2nd cousin, and it was great to see his extended family again (we just saw a lot of them at the wedding shower) and visit with them, even if only for a brief period of time. Then we hustled over to a friend's combined 5th anniversary/30th birthday party and also their son's first birthday! We missed the cake smash {oh man!} but got to visit with all of our college friends, including some out of state. It was great to catch up and [hopefully] make some plans for a UP vacation next summer! Lastly, it was C's best friend and his fiancee's combined birthday/engagement party. C is the best man in there wedding, which is in August of 2015. It was great to see them, eat some delicious fruit loop cake and meet back up with some of my friends from out of town at a local bar in EL. We ended the night with some Panchero's, as you do in EL. Perfection.

2. Unfortunately, I was unable to get my crap together on Sunday to do anything productive. But sometimes, that's a high five anyway.

3. My brother is going through a reading phase right now and he ran out of books to read. Well, twist my arm and make me take him to the library. We spent a good hour at the library, where he found two books to read and I found 4 to add to my pile of 11. It's a problem and I'm okay with it.

4. A group of 4 of us bought tickets to an Andrew McMahon concert in Chicago on Halloween. I'm SO excited to go and see him with C {for like the 5th time} and also with S & R who are big fans as well. So a long weekend in the city, yes please!

5. The weather on Wednesday was nearly fall-like. It was 70 degrees out around 7 pm, C and I decided to go for a walk. It was absolutely perfect, now I can't wait for fall -- tailgates, spiced pumpkin lattes, football games and hoodies. 

I was super bad about taking photos of the things I did this week, and for that I apologize. Have a great weekend, and see you Monday!

Pure Michigan Travel | DTE Energy Music Theatre

 So, many months ago my fiancé  bought tickets off of Groupon for the Monumentour, with Fall Out Boy and Paramore. I have seen Fall Out Boy at least 6 times, and have not seen Paramore so I was stoked when he told me he purchased them. 

I asked the basic questions- when, where, etc. When he told me that they were playing at DTE Energy Music Theatre in July, I was even more excited! DTE is an outdoor amphitheater in Clarkston, Mi.

 
The theater is a decent size, the pavilion seats about 7200 and the lawn seats about 8000. We had lawn tickets, and we just brought a blanket and laid back to enjoy a beautiful night of live music.

DTE launches each concert season over Memorial Day weekend with Eddie Money (who I have actually seen in concert!) and ends the season in late September/October. They have recently done a bunch of upgrades -- including new signage, new audio system and more food and drink selections.

We were there on a gorgeous and cool July night. It had rained super hard in the morning, but by concert time it was clear skies.

The lawn was packed, it was amazing. I enjoy sitting on the lawn cause you have more room to spread out, move around, etc. I am so thankful it was not a hot night, I actually had to put on a sweatshirt once the sun went down--which is the perfect summer night, in my opinion. It was an absolutely fantastic experience! Plus, I went to the bathroom twice and never had to wait more than 5 minutes - priorities, am I right?

I plan on writing a post about the concert itself - it should be live next week! How do you guys feel about outdoor concerts? 

Pure Michigan Travel: Sleepy Hollow State Park

One of the benefits of living in a great state like Michigan is that there are TONS of things to do in your very own backyard! I plan on covering some of the great gems of Michigan as I explore them. Yesterday, Clarence and I wanted to get out and go for a walk. My parents live only a few miles from Sleepy Hollow State Park, so we decided to venture over there. I went there frequently as a child, but Clarence had never been. Once we arrived to Lake Ovid, he became incredulous that I had never told him about it or brought him there in the 7.5 years we have been together.

Sleepy Hollow State Park is technically located in Laingsburg, Michigan and has an amazing 2600 acres to explore by camping, horse riding, hiking, biking, etc. It even has disc golf course if that is your jam. We inadvertently wandered into this mans disc golf game TWICE -- so make sure when you're hiking you're doing it on a legit trail and not the disc golf course.

We have the Michigan Recreation Passport, so we just cruised on in and began exploring. Sleepy Hollow has multiple campsites, including hookups for RV's. They also have a 16 mile hiking trail and a 10 mile horse trail. We only wandered for a little bit on what i believe was the horse trail, and it was really nice -- minus the mosquitoes. To be fair, I had brought bug spray and forgot to use it...

Sleepy Hollow State Park

You can also canoe and kayak on Lake Ovid, along with swimming and fishing. I have swam in Lake Ovid in YEARS, but it looked super nice and there were families playing on the playground and eating at the picnic tables.

We have already decided we are going to kayak or canoe sometime later in the summer and I am already looking forward to it!

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