Category Archives: Outdoors

Hiking, Outdoors, Parks, Wildlife Preserve/Reserve

Black Mesa State Park & Nature Preserve ~Kenton, OK

05/16/2019 Danielle Huddleston 2 Comments

This is my second time visiting the Black Mesa State Park. I went during the middle of the day the last time and had a hard time seeing the beauty of the place so I wanted to spend a couple of nights there this time.

I have found that most places are beautiful at sunset and sunrise and thought this park might shine the brightest at those times. I was right, I fell in love the with the open spaces and desert landscape.

Some of my kids learned the hard way that you need to be gentle with the plants. And that the plants will defend themselves…

I was sad I could not make it to Oklahoma’s Highest Point.

I am just not at the point I can hike that far yet.

We did find the dinosaur tracks that are right across from the preserve though!

My dinosaur loving second oldest loved that and the dinosaur pit!

The pit was harder to find but he was excited to find it.

My kids were a lot more excited about this spot near the park where you can be in three states at once!

My favorite thing to do on trips is keeping moving and see everything.

So my lists for our trips of things to do is CRAZY looking!

Anyone else do that?

My Family, Outdoors, Parks

Maplewood Leaf Days

10/18/2018 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

1st full day up in Minnesota we went to the Maplewood Leaf Day’s(I may have planned the trip around it)!

My mom liked to make apple cider so I don’t find the apple cider press as interesting as other people…

It is only fun for the first few batches 😉

They made these bird feeders with shortening so my twins could do it(peanut allergy)! This is our second time at this event and the people are always so nice! I love that with just our two families we bring a crowd. There were so many fun activities to do. It was pretty cold but everyone was a good sport about it.

Some of mine wait too long and end up with hurting hands before they say anything though.

So many great learning opportunities! Home Depot donated these kits! These rag dolls were cute and a great lesson about what toys used to look like.

Brave man… Again, brave man. My oldest loved to watch him cut these wooden figures out.
Next we drove around the park while everyone warmed up. I did manage to talk them into a short hike or two. And I of course tried for a family pic 😉 The leaves were beautiful! Truly my happy place. My youngest boy told them to say “girl power.” He got beautiful smiles. Nick and I took the boys back that night to a different part of the park. Do you go north to see colorful leaves?