Field Trip Friday

It was another Fall Friday Field Trip Day for the Mrs. Stooksbury's class.  This morning we went to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens in Nashville.  They have a scarecrow exhibit right now, trains, and a pumpkin patch.  Enjoy the photo bomb!

Lake Love

We had an excellent weekend of fun at Kentucky Lake in Camden, Tennessee.  It was a girls' weekend combined with a family trip.  We left for our journey early Saturday morning and headed out through the beautiful countryside of Santa Fe (pronounced Santa Fee here in TN!) 

We had a cute little cabin, "Unit 6," at Birdsong Resort, Marina, and Campground. 

My friend, Katy, went down with Maggie and me.  I believe she was in a bit of culture shock when she went into the country with us.  She said she felt like she was in the "Ernest Goes to Camp" movie!  I laughed all weekend about this because it is so true!  Everyone is so friendly down at Birdsong.  It's like one big happy family.  (Sometimes there's "family drama", too!)

Katy and I went to Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park while Mom babysat Maggie at naptime.  We spent a few hours exploring the museum, checking out the view, hiking a short trail, and laying by the water's edge on a little beachy area. 

Late Saturday afternoon Uncle John showed Maggie his bass that he caught that afternoon.  She was so delighted to see the fishy and watch it swim away.

After that, we went to a little farm area across the street from Birdsong and fed donkeys and ponies apples and carrots.  We all loved it- especially those guys!

 Saturday night we went to the Country Western Restaurant in town.  Afterwards, we made a trip to Walmart- a must-do on any trip to Camden!

The next day we relaxed and ate a yummy home-cooked breakfast:  bacon, sausage, eggs, pumpkin pancakes, and home grown tomatoes!  Then we went out for a boat ride and went "Scarin' Heron!"  Some held their ground and others were easily spooked! 

It was an awesome weekend overall!  The weather was perfect, the food was good, and the fellowship was amazing!  We are so blessed!

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!