Black River Trail

After picking Gavin up from school Friday, the kids were still talking about the nature walk at Remington Park the day prior and how much fun it was.  We went home to get Gavin's bike and decided to continue the nature exploration with a trip to Black River Trail.  I've always wanted to go, but we've never managed to actually make it happen in the past.  With the leaves changing and nothing on our agenda, it was the perfect excuse to go.  I'm glad we did.  We brought Gavin's bike and I carried Stella part of the way in the Kelty and the other half of the trip she just walked/ran/explored.  It was great exercise for them both and I could tell they remembered a lot from the field trip.  Gavin was on a constant hunt for scat and used his backpack as a drink and treasure holder.  There were several places along the trail to venture off and explore rocks, the water, and even a corn field.  Gavin was MESMERIZED by the corn field.  I let him open a couple of the stalks and he was so amazed to discover corn inside (one of his favorite side dishes).  Sorry to whomever the farmer may be, we may or may not have brought a couple ears home with us to look at!  There were a few tears shed on our last quarter mile.  The kids reached their limit and were DONE.  Stella didn't want to walk or be in the carrier.  Sitting on the floor crying was much more up her alley.  Gavin wanted to carry Stella IN the back pack so that didn't end well either.  I was so thankful when we could see our car in site and noticed a couple of our friends had pulled in to do a walk of their own.  It was a nice distraction from the fits that had just occurred!  

Once we arrived back home I had to quickly get showered and ready for a 2-14 coffee.  I'm so glad I got a sitter and went.  A group of us ladies ended up staying at the coffee until almost 2am chatting, laughing, and having a grande ole time!  I knew I'd regret the decision in the morning staying out so late, but sometimes when your husband is away training with no means of communication its just great to have other spouses in the same boat ready and willing to have a good time!  I can foresee great relationships building with these ladies that will carry us through the deployment and I'm very thankful for that!

Field Trip to Remington Park

Today was the first field trip for Everyday Discoveries Preschool.  The children have been learning all about trees/the forest… what grows on trees, the parts of a tree, animals in the forest, etc.  Today we ventured to Remington Pond and walked a trail through the woods stopping to explore and discover every little thing their hearts desired.  We compared leaves, we felt and described moss, we did a  scavenger hunt to find spider webs, clouds, a bird, a stick that looked like a "y", red leaves, yellow leaves, tree bark, etc.  They were so happy each time they found something!  Before the walk began, each child was given a "treasure bag" to hold their goodies they found.  They shoved every little thing they could into those bags and were so proud it was their treasure.  After the hour walk, we stopped for a picnic and enjoyed PBJ's, carrot sticks, apples, and cheese sticks with milk to drink.  As the kids finished they were given clip boards with paper and crayons and they were able to draw anything they wanted from their nature walk.  Some were very serious about it and some were creative {yep, Gavin falls into that category}… his was all about him and daddy riding in a race car through the forest trying to go fast to reach the finish line.  He did include a tree somewhere in his drawing I think.  Then the fun began, the kids were able to dump their treasure bags and add the items to a huge nature collage they would bring back to school and put on display.  It looked amazing when finished.  We finished with a few minutes at the play ground and before we knew it the time had come to load up and head back to school.  It was a great first field trip and we're already looking forward to the next {starts with "fire"… ends with "station"}.