Springs, Swings, and Things

May 3, 2011

Boykin Springs is one of our favorite places to visit for a quick hike. Today we went because a friend of mine had asked if we knew the condition of the park so of course I went to check it out. You know me, any excuse to hike!

A picture of me and my baby boy. I fussed at Stewart for never getting a picture of me and Adam.

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We walked along the trail a little taking a few pictures of random flowers to identify.

A “Cherokee Bean” and a Spiderwort.

As we wandered along we spotted the tree swing. A large Magnolia has a rope with a piece of landscape timber tied to it for a seat. Stewart remembered it from his high school days. Back then it had the stream flowing under it but now it was sand.

The boys had a blast swinging with a little help from dad.

Anna was not sure about Adam being the one to get her going.

Austin figured out that by running in a circle and holding the rope taunt, he would get enough momentum going to swing out over the water.

Of course big brother looked really cool so the other two had to try it.

Stewart would pull them way back then let them go so that they would swing high out over the stream. They absolutely loved it.

Anna would grab the rope and jump on the timber to “mount” the swing. She looked like a frog so of course we had a good laugh.

Daddy and baby girl… so sweet!!!

They tried climbing the rope, someone needs a little more upper body strength (Anna)!

Somebody fell…“Uh, I meant to do that!”

“Look Ma! No hands!”

Of course when “someone” wouldn’t get off so “someone else” could have a turn, baby girl took him down. Adam took full advantage of the moment to sneak over and get his turn.

Even Stewart took a turn, he had to prove that he could and it wouldn’t break like I thought it would!

They were getting tired from so much play and a bit grumpy and we hadn’t even started our hike so I moved us along.

We crossed the rock walkway over the stream taking a minute to look at the mini water falls and being careful of the shifting rocks.

I love the sound of the “babbling brook”, Adam set on the steps waiting for me to catch up.

When we arrived to where the spring water comes out of the rock, Stewart jokingly said to Anna, “This could be your bath tub!” So immediately she got to work to “make” a tub out of the rocks.

Isn’t that how it always is? Men standing around watching the woman do all the hard work!

“Pleeease, can I take my boots off?!”

“Be careful, those rocks are… {SPLASH!} … slippery!”

Tickled that she is getting to play in the very cold water.

She finally enlisted her brothers to help plug the gap so the water would not drain out.

Her daddy finally put a huge rock that was nearby to be the main part of the “dam” and she poked little rocks around it to help slow down the leaks.

Adam trying to not get wet and help stop the leaks.

Finally the water is backing up enough to play “bath tub” in.

Happy little girl!

Adam decided that looked like fun so off came his shoes and with pant legs rolled up, he carefully braved the cold water.

They went into their own little world of play, discussing where the soap and the shampoo should be in their “tub.”

I swear Anna lives in a musical, she is always doing some little song and dance while playing. Adam had to test the rock to see how slippery it was since Anna slipped on it.

Our finished “bath tub”, the water backed up to about four to six inches deep.

While we were busy building the “tub,” Austin was busy taking pictures of nature like he always does .

He said he liked that we stayed at this spot so long because it gave him plenty of time to investigate the area.

Loved the illusion that this little water fall from the above picture, looks like a big one.

I got in a great shot of a Damselfly and Austin took a wonderful shot on the Dragonfly. The the main noticeable difference when identifying them is the way they hold their wings when at rest.

He also found this shell of a Dragonfly Nymph and a Fence Lizard.

A little Gray Tree Frog sat at the edge of the water. Austin also got an awesome shot of this brownish gray fishing spider.

A Banded Hairstreak and an abandoned Bag Worm cocoon were also Austin’s nature shots from today.

And of course the Botany side of things; I finally found a Butterfly Plant to capture in my camera and Anna took some beautiful pictures of an Asiatic Dayflower and a Mexican Poppy.

We didn’t take a long walk but we had such a wonderful time playing around and making memories that it didn’t matter.

We always love getting specimens to study about later.

 I absolutely love homeschooling my kids. I get to spend all day with such intelligent wonderful little people with marvelous personalities. Every moment and every new discovery I get to experience and watch. Every time an idea pops into their head I had the privilege of being part of that idea. I would not trade my life for anything. Thank you Lord for your wonderful blessings!

© Becky Husband & Oh Happy Daze & Disclaimers

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