Camping, Hiking, Parks

Trail of Tears State Park ~Jackson, MO

07/13/2018 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

On our way home from Indiana, we stopped at the Trail of Tears State Park.

The big plus of the campground at the park is that it was right next to the Missippi River!

The downside was the train track that ran right next to it.

And the train that runs 24/7, it honks it’s horn as it’s going past also…

In the MIDDLE of the night.

Ouch. They did have nice bathrooms and a playground but they were not in the campground but a little ways away from it.

I believe there was a vault type toilet in the campground though.

The Missippi was incredable to see this close up.

It was like a living breathing thing.

So intense.Another bonus of this park was the Museum at the visitors center.

I have become fascinated with learning all I can about early Native American culture and sharing it with the kids.A deadly crossing happened near the park on the Missippi.A trail goes behind the nature center and I was excited to go on it but it ended up being a really narrow trail with a lot of bugs and poison ivy.This was the trail I was using to test out if we wanted to go on a longer hike while at the park and I decided not to.

It is hard to deal with narrow trails that have poison ivy with kids.

They are constantly brushing up against it!

We were pretty excited to be back at the start.

This park does have some pretty views of the Missippi though.This overlook was amazing also.I saw pictures like this when I was looking for places to stay and it convinced me to stop there.

So I was pretty determined to find this deck.

I would like to check out this park again when it is a bit colder so less bugs and maybe the trails are not as close.

Homeschooling, My Family

What we did on our week off school

07/09/2018 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

We do year round school with a schedule of 5 weeks on 1 week off.

Our week off is always a challenge due to kids (and mom) being used to the same schedule.

I tend to do better if we stay somewhat busy during that week.

So, here are some of things we did that we don’t always have time for during our typical school day.

Zoo!

This feels like a field trip and the homeschool mom in me does not want to count it as a day off.

We even got to see a turtle laying eggs at the zoo playground!

We don’t always get to do the fun extra things during a school day so I often do those on our week off.

Firework chalk art!

Trivial Pursuit using Professor Noggins cards.

I have had this on our homeschool to-do list for a while but it kept getting pushed to the back burner.

You can see my post on how we use the game to review what we have learned, here.

We got a new math game also!

I use our math games to review what the twins are learning.

The boys can do these games with them and they all benefit from the extra practice.

This break also included my husbands birthday and the 4th of July!

We hiked with friends one day also!

And got an impromptu lesson about Pigmy Rattlesnakes. Why are the dangerous ones so pretty?

Although I have seen many articles on the benefits of kids being bored, they have not been around some of my schedule needing children when they have nothing to do…

Hiking, History

Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch

07/02/2018 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

My favorite thing about this place is how peaceful it is.

You can tour the inside of the house which is beautiful. My kids like all the animals they have. They even have a little petting area in the barn. This peacock scared my oldest girl!

It was making a bunch of noise in the barn loft.

I did not know there used to be a state park where the ranch is and that they have some hiking trails there. The trails went through tall grass so we did not go far.

It has been a bad year for ticks and chiggers.

So we have been sticking to nice, open hiking trails.

Beautiful views of the lake though. We walked on an old road down to the lake. This boy was concerned that cattle were roaming and he was wearing a red shirt… This looks like a nice peaceful scene but Mayflies were out in droves… They would fly all in your face.