We’ve had a busy day today! Until now we’ve been so busy with work on the patio that we haven’t really done any trips or outings for Camp Wernerific. But today we did. We started off by going to the free movies – every summer theaters around the nation offer free showings a couple of days a week of two movies, one rated G and one rated PG.  The showings are in the mornings and filled with young children – none of the typical movie going atmosphere.  I’m not into movie watching – except for this, our kids have never gone to the theaters and I don’t plan to change that.  We don’t even watch videos at home very often – it’s hard for me to find videos that fit my criteria for our monthly video night, which is why it turns into having a family video night every two months or so instead.  Anyway, today we  saw Horton Hears a Who. We got there about ten minutes after it started, so we had to find seats in the dark, but everyone managed. It’s rated G but I didn’t really care for it; it’s like a lot of cartoony movies, overdone and kind of pointless.  I didn’t end up seeing the last 40 minutes of it, though, because ds22 months didn’t want to stay in, so I took him from ds16 and went out with him and the baby. We went into the empty theater right next door, which was very relaxing. I fed the baby while ds explored.  Then he wanted to go out, so we went into a couple of other empty theaters until everyone came out of the movie they were watching.  We’ll probably go to one other movie this summer – there’s one on the schedule that I’m particularly interested in because I think would be valuable – but we’ve never attended more than two in a summer.

Then we went to the a lovely park which is just a few minutes away from the theater. It’s perfect because there’s a very nice playground for the younger kids and also a large field where ds16 and ds10 could bat to each other. The weather was perfect for an outdoor day – sunny with a pleasant breeze, in the 80s. We had a snack-like picnic lunch there (apples, carrots, Wasa crackers, and granola bars) and after a couple of hours decided it was time to go.  

Since we were so close by, I wanted to go look at the heritage breed chickens I remembered seeing three years ago at the nearby nature center in the outdoor coop.  (I’ve been reading up on chickens in the last couple of days.)  We drove to the center (just two minutes away), and as we started walking up the path to the center, we saw a deer just off to the side. It continued eating as we watched it, and it was interesting to be able to observe it so clearly.  Then we looked for the chickens, but at first only saw two turkeys. It seems that a fox got into the coop at some point and had a nice chicken lunch, so there are now only two chickens there.  The kids learned how to identify males and females while we were there. 

After we looked at the turkeys and chickens, we noticed someone watering a garden nearby, so I went over to ask her about it. It’s a new exhibit called A Walk Through History that isn’t quite finished, with several different gardens each planted with native plants representing a different time period in this state. She gave us a tour and told us about the plants, a lot of which were medicinal.  I wasn’t familiar with a lot of them but was pleasantly surprised that I recognized some of them, as well as knowing how to use them. I have to learn more about native plants for my garden and she made a good suggestion for a website to explore.  So much to learn, so little time….. 🙂 

While I was speaking to her, some of the kids were picking berries off the path we had walked down on (they were wineberries, which they learned to identify during last summer’s Junior Rangers program), and then they found a teeny tiny frog in the pond right next to the garden. It was so small that it was about half the size of the tip of your pinky. She also pointed out a 3 Sisters garden (corn, beans, squash), but I didn’t feel like going over to observe it since they got it started late and I’m already familiar with the concept.  

Then ds4 needed the bathroom so ds16 took him into the nature center, and I figured once the two of them were there we might as well all join them.   On our way up the path, we found two dead shrews – I’ve never seen a shrew before. It’s about the size of a mouse but has a shorter tail and a longish snout. Very interesting.  The kids are in the middle of reading the Redwall series which is about mice and other small woodland creatures, and based on that immediately were able to identify the shrew.

While we were in the nature center, the kids observed all the animals there, live and stuffed.  The volunteers are very good about telling you about the animals you see without waiting to be asked.  From one we learned about terrapins and another was holding a snake and told us about it (though none of the kids took her up on her offer to stroke it).  Ds3 is the perfect age to introduce all of this to, since he understands so much but is wide eyed and excited about all of it.  Ds22 months is happy just to be able to run around.  I haven’t been to this nature center for several years, and want to plan a trip for local homeschoolers there this fall.  I organized a couple of group trips there three years ago that were fantastic.  What I especially appreciate about trips like this is how seamlessly learning is integrated into a fun family outing.  No one thinks about doing ‘school’, but they’re all learning naturally and easily.  And that’s when learning is most effective, because it’s the most fun! 

It was a really nice relaxed day, and everyone was so tired that they fell asleep in the car on the drive home.  I got my nap when I got home.  Tomorrow I hope I’ll be able to order several tons of sand and then we can go on to the next step in the patio – but I will have to spend some time in the morning calling around to places to find out who can deliver. We’ve hauled 14,000 pounds of bricks and 10,000 pounds of gravel ourselves in the last week and a half, and I’m quite happy to have a truck bring us the sand.  🙂

Avivah