Nature Fun!

We headed up to Nashville today and into the "wilderness"- as the boys liked to call it!  I tell ya, the Warner Parks Nature Center is a jewel in the area!  And it's free- even better!  We did so much stuff today.  Here are some pics of the fun we had. . .

First up, we went to the small, hands-on nature museum.  They had lots of taxidermied animals all native to Tennessee.  The kids loved seeing the bobcat, possum, beaver, skunk, and various birds including a golden eagle.  

They all loved playing in the natural sensory tub filled with bones, petrified wood, and turtle shells.  I had fun, too!

 Maggie loved watching the fish in the fish tank.  We need a fish tank here!  I bet Uncle John could hook us up with that!

 Next, we went to the outdoor "nature play" area.  This is a newly built natural play scape.  We had so much fun and it made me want to build a natural play scape in our backyard.  (I learned all about this at a Young Child Conference I attended a few years ago.  We may have to add some more elements of nature to our backyard!)

 They also had a little log cabin, playhouse size, in the play area.  Maggie loved the playhouse cabin!  I believe she wants Daddy to build her one! 

 This is my class now- Joe, Charlie, and Maggie!  I love teaching these three!  They were hungry and ready for our picnic lunch!

 After lunch we took a hike into the woods.  We found a creek, and the air outside was warm enough for the boys to do some wading!  But the water was cold!  We got some beautiful pictures in the woods and had a great time climbing a big hill.  Even Maggie was in on the climb.  She is such a nature girl!  And I love that!

 At one point we abandoned the stroller and went up stairs, over a bridge, up more stairs, and up an inclined trail!  This girl is a trooper!

Finally,  I love this photo Joe took of the trees.  He is becoming quite the photographer!

It was an awesome day.  The Nature Center trip tied in with our "Owl Babies/Owl Moon" unit.  Though we didn't see any live owls (they were probably all sleeping in the tall trees), we learned a lot about nature and had a great time doing it! 

We weren't far from the Nature Center en route to the house when I checked the kids in my rear view mirror.  Two were tapped out. . .so cute.  Sorry I couldn't get a picture of that! Hope you have a beautiful Fall weekend!