This weekend was a pretty good weekend for us. We had a nice meal out with Henry on Friday and on Saturday I had a lot of fun taking him to a local science museum (the same place we went last week). This time he wasn't afraid of the stuffed bear and got to see their live polar bear. He got to spend more time with their model train too. (Like father, like son!)

Henry has a been showing a lot of creativity lately. This weekend I saw him try and open our backdoor with my car keys (I guess the harsh conditions he's been forced to live in had gotten to be too much for him!), make buildings for his cars out of paper towel rolls and pretend to fix his eyelashes (they don't need work, they're huge already). He's also been full of new words. Last night during and just after supper Henry said "chimes," "chicken," "brocolli," "King," "Chick," "Mack," and "Mater" (notice, half these words are references to Cars characters).





I did better with this week's half dollars than last week's. It's easy to beat near zero! 8,000 halves produced three 90% silver halves (1942, 1951, 1964D), 40% silver halves (2 x 1967, 1968D, 1969D), two proof halves (1971S, 1991S) and one Canadian 50¢ (80% silver, 1959). The Canadian half is a cool first for me. It's the first foreign silver I've found in half dollars. It seems like it has been a while since I've found something worthy of a picture.





Last week I finished another Giles Milton, Big Chief Elizabeth : How England's Adventurers Gambled and Won the New World. It's the fourth book of his that I've read. Unlike his other books I've read, this book was a lot more focused. It concerns the first establishment of a permanent English colony in the New World. I knew some things about Jamestown (Meg and I went there a few years back) and the missing colony at Roanoke, but I didn't know the full story. Before I read this book, however, I didn't realize just who Walter Ralegh (1552-1618) was how responsible he was for the eventual success of the Jamestown colony. Milton's book also gave a great sense of the risk involved in the English trying to establish a colony in America in the late 1500's/early 1600's. I'm looking forward to reading a similar book about Plymouth (Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower) soon.

Found: 3 pennies (3 at Stop & Shop, 1 at Costco), 2 foreign coins (both at Stop & Shop, one Euro 2¢ and one Canada 10¢)