Tin Can Economics

Ted and I have had a good time watching a lesson in supply and demand economics unfold in our family. Lacy bought a box of sugar cubes at the store with her own money. She has almost spent all of her spending money for the trip so she wanted to figure out how to make more. She began selling sugar cubes to her sugar-loving brothers for a quarter each (they had to put the money in her tin can because she liked the sound of the money in the can). After a while they started complaining that she paid $1.50 for the box and she has made so much money off them. Connor announced that next time we go to the store, he will buy a box and charge a dime; thus, putting her out of business. Once we broke the news that there will be no more purchases of sugar, we were able to give them a great lesson in economics!

Alcatraz Education

Did you know that Alcatraz was a military instillation before it was a prison? Union troops had 300 soldiers and 100 canons on the island pointed at the mouth of the San Francisco Bay. Since the war never made it to San Francisco, I imagine it was a boring job! After the prison closed, the island was taken over by Indians (as in Native Americans) in the 60's as a protest of the land that was being taken away from the Indians. They occupied the island for 20 months before the National Guard stormed in and kicked them off. There were results though because much of the land was given back to the Indian nations. We really enjoyed our day at Alcatraz and walking around San Francisco.

Our First Family Picture

Someone offered to take a picture for us so this is the first one of all five together. We took a ferry over to the island of Alcatraz. It began with a really great Discovery Channel video about the prison.

Before Heading Out to Alcatraz

Evan does his schoolwork in style and Ted brushes his daughters hair before we start our day. Ted got his work done before, during and after our visit to Alcatraz!