Adventures On a Rural Homestead

Celebrating Alex

My sweet Alex turned 11 today. We started celebrating with tacos, cupcakes and yard games last night. Then today we headed to the Baltimore Aquarium, so our shark-lover could see the sharks and fish. 

It was so fun to see the boys captivated by the fish. We were lucky and saw the shark tank during their feeding time, it was so neat to see the sting rays and sharks gobbling up the little fish and shrimp! 

Instead of birthday presents the boys can chose a birthday trip. Alex asked to go see sharks, and was delighted with a day at the aquarium. I love learning by his side, and hearing what he is interested in. 

Natural Bridge and Caverns

Alex and I went with our homeschool field trip group to Natural Bridge and Caverns today. Eli stayed with Grammy and Grampa, since it was a long day out. He had fun playing games, reading, watching cartoons and walking to the Indian buffet for lunch. 

Our field trip started with a tour of the natural bridge~a beautiful geological feature that the ranger told us doesn't contain any fossils, because it's been here 2 million years before the dinosaurs! Alex was impressed by that fact. 

The trail through the natural bridge leads to a Monacan First Peoples display, where we enjoyed a tour of the longhouse, wigwam, cooking and tool-making areas. 

One of my favorite parts of our day was the lovely winding gravel trail up to a waterfall. The lines and curves of the stone wall and the giant slabs of rock in the creek bed were so neat and caught my eye.

I could have sat on that stone wall for hours, just listening to the creek trickling by. It was such a lovely setting for a walk! 

After a break to eat our picnic lunch we headed up the road to Natural Caverns, where we had a presentation about how weather affects the caverns, a tour of the caverns, a karst hike to the natural opening of the caverns and gem mining. It was a perfect day for my little rock/geology lover, we had a great time exploring together! 

Chippokes State Park

We took a road trip to Chippokes State Park last Sunday, on the James River near Jamestown. We had heard that it was a good place to search for shark teeth, and within just a few minutes of searching Alex found a really neat Mako shark tooth! He was so excited, and went on to find several more sharks teeth.

Eli enjoyed sifting the sand and shells to look for sharks teeth, and finding neat fossils. (Which are protected by the state park and needed to stay there, the sharks teeth we were allowed to bring home.)

In addition to searching for sharks teeth the park is a great spot to explore and swim. After hours on the river we went to the nearby Surry Seafood Company for a great seafood lunch, where we loved sitting out on the deck overlooking Gray's Creek to eat. 

We stayed at the park until late afternoon, then headed to Charlottesville to eat dinner at Wegman's on the way home. It was a wonderful day, and I'm sure we'll be back to this beautiful spot!

Richmond Trip

We took a day trip to Richmond this week, a trip we hope to repeat often. We all loved the city, and that such great museums and culture are just 2 hours away. We started our Richmond day with a hike to the lovely Belle Isle. It was so neat to be on the beautifully clear James River rocks and see the city skyline so close.

We saw Osprey flying over the river, Cormorant ducks, a small frog and a green snake. I sat on a rock and soaked up the soothing sound of the water and the warm sun on my back. This was such a nice spot (with a free parking lot!) that we hope to return to on future trips to Richmond.

After spending time on the river we headed into the Carytown District of Richmond, where we got some great card games at One Eyed Jacques game store, visited a neat toy store, and had lunch. Again, we were so impressed that there was free (3 hour!) street parking. After lunch we took a boat tour of the canal, which gave us a nice history of Richmond. 

The 40 minute tour through the canal system talked about the history of Richmond, including the slave trade, something I'm so glad wasn't glossed over or left out. We also saw lots of turtles- some of the biggest turtles I've ever seen! After the boat tour we walked along the canal, then found a coffee shop for some snacks before heading back home. We stopped in Charlottesville on the way home for dinner at Citizen Burger on the pedestrian mall. We plan to return to Richmond this fall to visit the museum district~ the VA Fine Art Museum (which has free admission), the VA Museum of History and Culture has a "Story of Virginia" exhibit that sounds neat, and the children's science center looks good too.

Fossil Beach

We had planned our family vacation to the beach for this week, but then last week 32 of our chickens got a respiratory illness. They are recovering well, but we couldn't have our neighbor take care of them and risk infecting her chickens and ducks. The last time all four of us went away our rooster died, so we're especially leery of travelling when our animals are sick. We also got 28 chicks in the mail last Thursday, more animals to feed and take care of! So we decided to cancel our beach trip and do some fun day trips instead. My sweet mama took care of our animals~ letting Levi out, feeding the chicks, collecting eggs and putting Petey in, so that we could be away all day.

We spent yesterday at Fossil Beach in Westmoreland State Park, searching for shark teeth. When we first arrived around 10 it was high tide, and there was just a narrow strip of beach exposed. We found a few sharks teeth, then decided to hike back up to eat our picnic lunch. The walk down to the beach is a .6 mile hike through the woods, which was beautiful, but all uphill on the way back to the parking area.

After lunch we explored the other beach area where we watched an osprey catch a fish in the water~ really neat! Then we went on a hike, up up up steep steps to a trail through the woods along the top of the cliffs.

We returned to Fossil Beach for a few more hours, that were much more enjoyable since it was low tide. Alex and Nick had a great time panning for sharks teeth while Eli and I dug a big hole and played in the shallow water.

It was such a lovely spot to spend the day, we're all so glad we made the trip. Alex is thrilled with the 12 sharks teeth that we found, and working on identifying the different types of sharks. We found a seafood restaurant for dinner on the way home, and the guys all enjoyed a seafood boil with shrimp and crabs. This was a wonderful family trip, and Alex is already asking if we can go again next year!

Berkeley Springs Visit

Yesterday we drove to Berkeley Springs, WV~ so I could meet my dearest friend from PA, and the boys could meet their MeeMee. It's about halfway between Lancaster and us for my friend and I to meet, and just an hour for my MIL. We all had a lovely time! 

We sat outside a coffee shop talking and catching up for a few hours. When we got up to walk over to the springs we passed the boys, and Alex said "I can't believe you've been talking all this time!" Ha. I told him after we left that I realized there were other things I had wanted to talk about with Nicole, and books I didn't get to show her. But it was still such a good time of catching up.

The boys and Nick had fun visiting with Bev, it was a lovely warm day for playing in the springs.

I'm glad we made the trip, and I'm sure we'll be doing this again. It's always wonderful to make time to be with friends and family!

Visiting Family in Virginia

Nick's cousin Laurie invited family to gather together at her farm outside Bridgewater, Virginia this past weekend. We left Saturday morning, and stayed in Va. until after lunch on Monday. It was so fun to get to relax and chat with family on Laurie and Park's beautiful farm. Nick has 3 cousins and an aunt and uncle who live in Virginia, and his aunt and uncle from Florida were there too, along with his relatives from Maryland~ his mom, sister and her children, and his uncle and aunt.

The kids had fun watching the cows, and isn't that view gorgeous? 

The boys got to pick out pumpkins from their garden, and we all enjoyed a hay wagon ride through the pastures. 

The driveway was perfect for bike riding, Alex especially enjoyed bumping over the cattle guards on his bike. 

Eli got to go on a back hoe ride to help move stumps around in the field. He was nervous at first, but was delighted he got to ride in a back hoe.

We had lots of delicious food and good conversations. It was so nice to see the kids connect with aunts and uncles that we haven't seen for a while. I hope to see them more often! We headed to my brother's house Saturday evening, and Sunday enjoyed hiking at a beautiful river. The boys had fun making paper bats and ghosts with Aunt Lizzy:

Riven Rock Park was beautiful~ lots of rocks to climb on and great picnic shelters where we enjoyed lunch.

We hit up some of our favorite food places in Harrisonburg~ homemade sorbet for the boys, then wood-fired pizza (made with organic flour!) for dinner on Sunday.

Monday we explored and biked at Hillandale Park, then went to a free Mineral Museum on JMU's campus then the free firefighter museum in Harrisonburg. After lunch in the city we headed back to Lancaster.

Eli asked yesterday "When are we going on vacation to Virginia again? I can help pack the car." Hopefully soon, sweet boy. 

 

 

 

Lake Michigan Trip

We got home Friday evening from a lovely week at Lake Michigan. We left last Saturday, and drove 7 hours to near Toledo, Ohio. We ate dinner at a good Mexican restaurant, then the boys were thrilled to swim in the hotel pool. 

Searching for fossils at Fossil Park 

Sunday morning I went for a run, then we went to Fossil Park, a park next to a quarry that dumps loads of shale with fossils out for people to search through. We were delighted to find several neat fossils. Then we drove to Ann Arbor, and ate at one of my favorite restaurants, Zingerman's Delicatessen. We arrived Sunday afternoon at our rental cottage on Nowland Lake outside of the town of Charlevoix, in the very north west part of Michigan. There was a snafu with the cottage, as the cleaning service hadn't come. They came later that night, but then only had 2 towels and not enough blankets. We ended up getting 2 nights of our stay refunded, which made up for the arrival mess. 

Our little beach on Nowland Lake, our cottage is in the background

Monday was a beautiful day, crisp and cool. I went for a run on the gravel road our cottage was on while the boys cooked breakfast. The boys fished on the lake behind our cottage, then we headed in to check out Charlevoix. We got coffee, books at a local bookstore and walked around the marina looking at boats. We played and found neat rocks at Michigan beach, and had the beach all to ourselves. We had lunch at Harwood Gold, a delicious cafe run by owners of a maple syrup farm. After rest time we hung out at the little beach behind our cottage, then went to The Landing for dinner, just 4 miles from our cottage. We sat outside by the water and watched the ferry go between 2 sides of Lake Charlevoix. After dinner we went for a ferry ride, and the operator put Eli up on his stool and showed him how to operate the levers to make the ferry go back and forth. 

Watching a boat go through the Pine Chanel, connecting Charlevoix Lake to Lake Michigan

Searching for Petosky Stones at Michigan Beach in Charlevoix

Tuesday was cold and windy. We went to Fisherman's Island State Park, but it was so windy that Eli and I sat in the car reading books while the big boys checked out the beach. Then we went to a nearby town, Petosky, to walk on the stone jetty and see the marina. We went to the LIttle Traverse History Museum, where the kids got petosky stone polishing kits. Petosky stones are a neat find on Lake Michigan, they are fossilized coral from 350 million years ago, when all of Michigan was under the ocean. We had a good lunch at the Grain Train Natural Food Co-op's hot bar. As we drove back to Charlevoix we saw bikers and runners on the Little Traverse Wheelway, a 26 mile path connecting 4 towns, and going along the lake and through wetlands. 

Fishing off the pier on Nowland Lake, behind our cottage

Wednesday morning Nick and Alex got up at 5:15 to go fishing on the lake behind our cottage. They didn't catch anything, but had a fun time trying. After breakfast we went to Mt McSauba Recreation Area, a nice natural beach with sand dunes. We had the beach to ourselves, and walked looking for rocks and enjoying the beautiful green blue water of the lake. Then we headed back to Michigan Beach in Charlevoix, where the boys fished and I read my book. We had chicken pitas for a picnic lunch, then headed back to the cottage lake for the rest of the day. 

Mt. McSauba nature preserve

Thursday we woke to thunderstorms and pouring rain. We decided instead of driving 12+ hours to get home Friday, we would leave Thursday and split up the trip. We ate at Zingerman's in Ann Arbor again, then went to a neat used bookstore. We then drove on to Toledo, after staying overnight we got home Friday evening. 

Northern Lake Michigan is one of the prettiest places I've been. I love that it's not developed and full of commercial businesses/boardwalks, like beaches closer to home are. In addition to the beauty of the lakes we saw our first loon and loved listening to loon calls over the lake, and also saw black squirrels.  I hope we get to go back again! 

 

Field Trip~ Elk Neck State Park

We met some friends at Elk Neck State Park in Maryland yesterday for a wonderful day at the bay. On the way to the bay Alex listened to his latest podcast from "Brains On!" (a wonderful NPR program out of Minnesota) about oceans, waves and tides. We had also checked out books from the library this week about beaches, the bay, ocean life, etc. We started by hiking up to the lighthouse, which was built in the 1800s. 

We then drove back down to the beach to explore. Alex was delighted with all the treasure~ colorful rocks, shells, crab shells, even complete fish skeletons. Eli had a wonderful time playing with his friend Eby. They dug holes in the shore, then filled them with water from their buckets to make "campfires."

After escaping tons of yellow jackets we enjoyed lunch, then played through the afternoon. This beautiful park is just 1 hour and 15 minutes from our house. The boys have already asked when we can go back, and want to take their papa too. I hope to visit again this fall, and take our sketch books to draw or paint what we see.

"Wonder reveals the world as the miracle it is because it intensely focuses our eyes on what is before us- the veined crimson of autumn leaf, the play of sunlight in summer trees, the ripple of light over water. If children are given time away from all the noise of the world, time to be alone, if they are loved and affirmed and given time to explore nature or listen to music or read a book, they will have the chance to be filled with wonder." From "The Life Giving Home" 

Moments to Remember

Often when we travel some of my favorite memories are the in between times- the times spent waiting for the train, or from our most recent trip our  family races at rest areas along the interstate. 

We stopped at the Virginia welcome center on the drive up from Asheville, and enjoyed running up and down the hill behind the love sign. We would all four line up and Alex would count "1, 2, 3, Go!" and we would race up the hill. But after the first run, sweet little Eli realized he needed a head start, so when we lined up he would start running, and we would catch up and all finish together. It made me smile to see him start ahead of us so we could all run together, and to see his toddler running form with his arms pumping. 

We also enjoyed time at Claytor Lake State Park in south western Va both on our trip to and from Nc. It's a beautiful lake with trails just 2.5 miles of Interstate 81, perfect for a rest area. We ate picnic lunches at the pavilion, watched baby ducks, saw a snake and watched fish in the water. 

Stopping for breaks like this make long road trips more manageable, but are also so fun. I like seeing the glee in the boys faces as they get out of the car and race around.