Fishing In The Rain

 While we were camping it rained!

So - we could either sit in the

tent and be bored.... or we could

get out, get wet and have fun!

So we went fishing!

 Grace caught several fish!

 And she can now catch fish all

by herself!

She just needs help putting the

worm on the hook and taking

the fish off.

She had so much fun!

She even picked out the campsite

she wants to camp at next time.

BUT - we were so far out in the sticks

that we didn't have phone service.

AND - Grace warned me that if we

go camping again and we take the

toddlers (Brilyn & Olivia) along, we shouldn't go

so far out into the woods that our phones

don't work because me might need

help with them.



Creepy Crawly Things....

 Grace loves little critters.

She wants a pet sooooo bad. She found a

snake and carried it around with her

everywhere.

 She chased lizards.... but they're

really really fast, so she didn't catch one.

I think that's a good thing, though.

I think those things can bite.

 She studied tracks like this one.

We believe it was made by a raccoon.

But there were deer tracks, dog tracks

and tracks made by various birds, too.

And..... she saw this:

That frog lives in the handicapped stall's

toilet. We though he was stuck there, so we

teased him and made him jump out, only to

find him there again the next time we

went to the bath house.

Grace thought it was the funniest thing.

There was a whole lake nearby and he

chooses to swim in a toilet?

That's one crazy frog.

 

When The World Is Your Classroom

We home schooled our children and now

my daughter is home schooling Grace!

I couldn't be happier.

Home schooling offers families a lot

of flexibility that public and private

schools simply can't offer.

For instance - to a home schooler,

the world is a classroom.

 Grace and I went camping and she

took her school work along.

I'm sure we didn't do it quite as well

as she would have done it at home.

BUT - she learned things you simply can't

learn from a book!

 Working on her lessons!

 Studying nature.

Did you know that lily pads change

colors like leaves? We saw some that

were pink and purplish tan and brown.

 Grace is such a gentle little thing that the

deer come almost up to her.

I think that doe would have come

a little bit closer had she not

had a fawn to protect.

 Perhaps the fawn was getting a little

lesson of it's own?

 We saw several deer.

And we saw other wildlife, too.

I think Grace is going to want to go

camping again and again!

She is definitely a little nature lover!

Backyard Camping

 Grace sooooo wants to camp.

She loves sleeping in a tent and looking

up at the moon!

 So while she was here last month, we went

back yard camping.

It was during the Super Moon and

she saw a shooting star!

 We had Campfire Popcorn.

(Caramel Corn)

 We had campfire stories and listened to

music and we went to sleep!

 And both girls slept all night in the

tent and woke up to sunshine

with smiling faces!

 

An Animal Nature Hike

Grace wanted to go on an

"Animal Nature Hike"

so we went to the

Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge!

 We saw deer!

 The deer were my favorite animals

of the day!

 We found a Tarantula which

worked right into our recent

science studies! Grace befriended

him right away!

 She knows just how to hold him.

You have to GENTLY coax him onto your

hand. Grabbing him might scare

him and if he's scared he might bite!

 Only - I think HE might be a SHE!

This spider is much bigger than ours

at home!

 We saw Prairie Dogs!

 Prairie Dogs are really cute and Olivia

loved chasing them into their holes.

I'm sure if caught they would bite,

but I doubt we really have to worry much

about Olivia catching one.

And chasing them is so much fun!

 We found a hiking trail and hiked!

It started out wide, and smooth and easy!

 But it eventually became rocky and rough.

I was glad I dressed Olivia in jeans.

She was tough and hiked most of the

way without help.

 Grace liked the tougher areas of the trail,

but when it got really rough,

I carried Olivia!

 We saw a lizard!

This was Grace's favorite animal

of the day! She loved watching it and

even tried to catch it, but it was

too fast!

And we saw this big guy!

A buffalo!

This buffalo was standing right in front

of us scratching his bottom on a rock.

Grace tried telling him that it was not

proper to be doing that in front of GIRLS,

and Olivia just laughed and laughed.

Then we went to the Refuge Visitors Center,

and Olivia told everyone she saw about that

buffalo. She thought it was the funniest

thing she'd ever seen and she even

chose a toy buffalo from the

gift shop to remember it by!