Monthly Archives: July 2011
I Will Survive
I Will Survive
7-30-11
Once again we find ourselves down at Martin Dies Jr. State Park enjoying one of the wonderful hour long Saturday classes about nature. This time we are learning the basics on how to survive out in the wilderness if we get lost.
One thing she told us is to always have a “flight plan” and tell someone where you will be and for how long. We learned from past experience that it doesn’t take much to get “lost.” When we hiked the Kirby Trail and we accidently got on the wrong trail it was pretty scary to think about what all could have happened. The trail we ended up on was one that was open to hunters during hunting season which just happened to be when we was hiking. We could have gotten shot and no one would have known where to look for us because we took off without much thought of telling people where we were going, we should have learned the basics back then.
After the lesson Ms. Katherine had the kids put together a pamphlet about how to survive in the wild.
Woodpeckers
Woodpeckers
July 23, 2011
Here we are back at our favorite state park again for a Saturday class. This time it’s about Woodpeckers!
As usual we arrived a bit early and Ms. Katherine was kind enough to let Austin (being the responsible 15 year old that he is) use her ZPix hand held microscope to show the littler ones all kinds of neat things she had prepared for a different class. Of course we just had to order one of our own ZPix once we got home.
At first we were the only ones there but a little while after the class started another family showed up. Ms. Katherine told us how to identify the different kinds of woodpeckers, what unique characteristics only they have, and in the above picture she explained why there is sap found around the outside of the woodpeckers nesting hole.
Snacks for Snakes
Snacks for Snakes
July 10, 2011
After attending the “Snakes Alive” event at Martin Dies State Park, we just had to come back the next day to watch the snake feeding.
Arriving early (as we always do where ever we go) has been a blessed chance to explore the exhibits freely before others show up. Ms. Katherine took the time to show the kids her “Curiosity Boxes” full of neat things about nature, for example one contained an Owl Pellet which I mistakenly thought was scat at first.
Snakes Alive!
Snakes Alive!
July 8, 2011
We LOVE Martin Dies Jr. State Park! We have hiked all their trails, our favorite is the Island Trail and we geocached there as well. I had noticed that they held classes on the weekends about nature. I have been wanting to go and attend one of these classes for a while now but with Stewart working Saturdays it just has not worked out, until now. I am very happy to say we managed to attend a class they held in the afternoon called “Snakes Alive.”
Ms. Katherine is the Ranger who gives the class in the nature center and she does such a wonderful job! She involves the kids and adults, works hard to set up the nature center to be an interesting interactive learning center, not to mention she has a wonderful personality!
Geocaching and Gator watching
Geocaching and Gator Watching
(caution contains geocaching spoilers)
June 13, 2011
Anna’s friend Matt has been asking about going hiking with us for some time now so even though it was HOT in the middle of June in East Texas, we decided to get up early and go hike the Island Trail at Martin Dies Jr. State Park and to add a bit of excitement to it, we wanted to geocache as well.
The sun was up and brightly shining in the eyes of my little hiker cachers this morning! They were excited none the less!
Oh Happy Daze 