Outdoors, Nature and Our Kids

We firmly believe that exposing our Mini Him and Mini Her to nature and encouraging life skills in the outdoors, is as important reading ,writing, and arithmetic. There are somethings that just ring more true when you see it first hand.
For Example:

The picture on the left is exposed roots due to water erosion. You can see on the right, the trees they belong to. This time last year, the bank at this spot didn't look like this. Now, we could show are children, just as we just just showed you with a picture. But reality, is the best                             teacher.

                                   We usually have to start our journey, at our storage unit.

Mini Him and Our Grand-dog Porky

Mini Me and our Little Girl Jinxee

Little Me is sometimes a Little Sassy.

Once we get there, we sometimes have to prepare the boats and load what is needed. We all have life jackets. We also put blankets down for the dogs to sit on, put in our fishing gear, food and drinks, safety equipment, etc. Your state may have other requirements and it is very important to know what they are. Our little boat is called the Minnow Catcher. We have never done it but remember not to leave the straps on the keep the boat on the trailers and put the plug for draining, back in.

 

We hardly ever go anywhere without the dogs. Make sure that yours have all the appropriate shots and protection you will need. Also, make sure to follow the rules for the area you are at, and Please, Pretty Please, Pick up your Poo!

 

  

                     



We love that both kids are able to express themselves.

   Here the kids are learning the seine method of fishing. Records show that this method was used as far back as Stone Age societies. Isn't just cool to think you could be doing the same things your ancestors did?

On this day, we decided to try our hand at mushroom hunting. This day we didn't come home with any.

There are some beagles that are used to hunt fungi. Our little girl isn't one of them. In fact, the only thing that she hunts is dog biscuits. She much prefers the couch to lay on than the thrill of the hunt.

On our way out of our mushroom hunting grounds, we saw evidence of something I have never seen before, which are the marks of a beaver. My husband says that he has seen them around this area. He has promised to bring us back to this spot on another day. I did see evidence of some river otters, wood ducks and geese, and some of the non-native Asian carp. Mini Him is terrified of them but Mini Me says that she is ready to knock one of these carps in the head if one would land in the boat.

I also was able to point out something that I have never seen up close and personal, Turkey Vultures. My daughter shared some pictures today on her blog post and they are probably the same group. The water levels were up this day due to rain that had fallen.

On another beautiful day for our area, we decided to load up in the boat again. My husband, who is a big catfish enthususis, wanted to do a little fishing. My daughter also likes to fish for these wonderful, eating fish and I like to pick up a pole now and then. My son would rather play and build in the mud, and explore.

My daughter joined in for a short bit.

We do sometimes do catch and release, it is dependent on the size. We also want to make sure that we can fish with our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Here are some pictures of Little Me and Mister. I choose on this day to read a book I had brought along.

Unfortunately, the fish decided they didn't want to come home with us on this trip.

I thought this picture of  the railroad track(still running today) had a romantic air about it. I guess you can tell what genre of book I was reading that day.

Being spring and with weather so nice, we all jumped at the opportunity to go out again. My husband was of mind to set some bank poles. I knew the idea and I know he does it often but I personally had never seen it. Little Me loves to do this stuff with my husband and you didn't have to ask her twice. She had never had the chance to learn this new skill. My son had other things he wanted to do, so arrangements were made for him. That's one of things we like to do with our kids. We give them opportunities to learn things, but try to never force them to do things. My son doesn't enjoy waiting for fish, so he usually finds something to occupy his time like exploring or doing something without the family. 

He is a picture of him occupying his time from a previous outing. On to the current trip. 

Mister started teaching Little Me and Myself what was involved to set bank poles. He told us the rules and regulations. He then told us the different things that people used for poles. We knew a little of this since we have been with him while buying supplies.

We set the poles and saw some amazing sights. We managed to get some pretty good pictures.

                                  Mini Me looked like she really enjoyed time with just Mom and Dad.

                                   We saw a river barge go by and then decided we should head home.

Though out all our adventures we covered a lot of things. We talked to our kids about fungus, beavers, river otters, turkey vultures, carp, and fish. We learned how to gather mushrooms and used three different fishing methods. We talked about three types of transportation: vehicle, train and barge. We found fossils, rocks, tadpoles, and muscles. We talked about how trash effects the environment and how we have changed how the river flows. We also have talked about how our demands of more land is eroding parts of the river. When my son played in the mud and tried to fill the log, he experienced how different materials work and learned how to use an engineering mindset to fill the hole. My daughter had the attention of both parents, something that will booster her self-worth as she starts the journey to womanhood. I think the benefits of these adventures/field trips/outings taught more than could be taught in the same amount of hours in a public school environment. 

Remember, Like us on Facebook at: Building the Bird's Nest.

and stayed tune in the coming blog post we are working on sharing Vikings. and these three things about reading: what we have read, what we recommend to read, and what we want to read.

We will be sharing what we are learning in life skills of gardening, cooking, baking, and sewing. We have some fun arts and crafts and don't forget our adventures.