Princess Point

Today we went to Princess Point on our first nature walk of the school year. We went with two families from our homeschool group. Between us we had 10 children and 5 adults. It was so much fun! Our theme of the month is trees and leaves. It wasn't as structured as had been my original plan, but this is a learning curve, so I'll learn how to work things as we go along. We did get some good pictures of some trees and some leaf samples that we're drying to put in our nature journals. I will make another post next week after we've printed some pictures and done some work in their journals. Until then, here are some photos of our trip.

This is a Great White Egret we saw before our walk began along with a WHOLE bunch of Seagulls.

Here's a Blue Heron not far from the Egret.

Some VERY pretty Weeping Willows.

Closer up to the willows. There was a Black Squirrel in the tree running around with a nut in it's mouth. He was faster than I was.

Little Miss Aurora.

Knots in one of the willow trees. I was told that the knots are formed by pollution. That willows help clean pollution out of the air and the knots form as a result.

Eva decided to use her camera. Mike had to fish it out for her. To be honest, with the exception of Sam, I thought our children would use their cameras more. The girls seemed more interested in drawing in their sketch books than taking pictures.

Part of our little group of naturalists.

Trees actually turning! We've been talking about photosynthesis this week in science. Rather than explain the whole process, we also learned about WHY leaves on deciduous trees change color in the fall. Let's just say, I think I got as much of an education this week as they did. Just in case you're wondering though, in the fall, as the trees get ready to lay dormant for the winter, the glucose in the leaves starts to break down and that's what changes them color! Cool huh?

A pair of swans. Aren't they beautiful!?!

I love close ups of flowers. God's creation is magnificent. To see all the details in something so small and seemingly insignificant, He put so much into something so little and unremarkable to most. If He loves these small flowers enough to take care of them, how much more does He care for us?

Isn't it wonderful to see children excited and interested in the world around them?

She didn't want to keep going without me. Isn't she sweet? If you wonder why I rarely get a picture of anyone from the front, it's because I'm always bringing up the rear, well, most of the time.

See the part of the tree the beavers had at?! Sam was VERY interested in this! It is pretty cool!

Here's a close up.

Mike's coming back to get Eva to put on her head. That's Eva's messenger bag he's carrying around his neck. She was supposed to carry it. I kept giving it back to her. Didn't matter, every time I looked, he was carrying it again.

Not sure what type of tree this is. It was neat though, the bark was peeling off of it and it's not a birch tree. I don't think so anyway. Very neat though.

Caleigh LOVES ladybugs! It's the best picture I could get of it. It wasn't posing as cooperatively as I had hoped.

They found a VERY fuzzy caterpillar. They were all so excited.

What a beautiful way to end a wonderful hike. These are all my pictures. Here are some the kids took. First, I'll show you some from Sam and Mike. They shared a camera.

The very beginning of our trip, before we even started. We were a little late getting there and the Smith's were waiting for us when we arrived.

Our theme is trees, Sam got a LOT of pictures of trees. Good Sam.

A better picture of that willow tree.

Cormorants. There were a TON of these down there! They have their own little island as a matter of fact. It's true. I think it's called Rat Island. I'm not making this up, honest.

I guess this time Sam was bringing up there rear.

One of the boys caught a cricket. Needless to say all the kids were fascinated.

Believe it or not, this YELLOW bird is a female Scarlet Tanager. I know, it's hard to believe. But if you google Scarlet Tanager and look for the girls, they're yellow.

The Blue Heron.

Here we are finding out more about the Savannah Oaks in the area. They are apparently hardy and even during fires, since they have such a thick outer bark, don't disappear as quickly as some other trees.

There were some mighty big trees there.

We'll be learning more about the life cycle of trees later in the month. We will even make it a point to cover dead trees and how they benefit the forest. Little does he know this picture is a very good one to demonstrate the point.

Here's that fuzzy caterpillar. Is it a Wooly Bear?

Back at the beginning and ready to leave.
Here are some of Rora's pictures. She didn't take many, so there aren't many here.

She liked to take pictures of her dad. This is one of many.

She actually took a good many pictures of the sky. Not sure why. She must have found it interesting.

Here are some of Caleigh's pictures. She didn't take many either.

Here are the VERY few that Eva took. Please ignore the date stamp on the photos. These were taken today, not January 6th, 2005. I think we'll have to fix that.

I hope you enjoyed looking at our photos. Like I said, I'll post more pictures after Wed. when we work on our nature journals and give you a look see at what they start out looking like. We have leaves drying in the encyclopedias to put in them and Sam plans on writing stuff to put in his and the girls have drawn pictures to add to theirs. We will be taking another hike next Friday, God willing.