Tag Archives: Oklahoma

Camping, Hiking

Devil’s Den State Park ~Part 2

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highlands leaves log trailsigns lakeWe went to Lake Fort Smith to hike on the Highlands Trail the day after Thanksgiving.

It is a 165 miles long national recreation trail in Arkansas!

We only did 5 miles of it though.

moss earlymorning dam logwalk devilsdenWe hiked the Lake trail and the Devil’s Den trail on Saturday.

We started back home on Sunday but stopped off at the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge.

It is located near Fort Smith in Oklahoma.

lotsofgeese road mass reflection armadillo geeselook geeseflight geese owlflight birdtrail birds meI really enjoy looking at all the birds they have!

They do Eagle Watch tours also.

Part 1, here.

The boys had a great time and loved Devil’s Den!

My oldest was already asking when we could go again!

Museums/Events

Honey Springs Battlefield Re-enactment ~Checotah, OK

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Even though we went out to the battlefield on Friday for the educational day, I still wanted to go to the battle re-enactment on Saturday.

camp stand sword flagMy boys decided they want to be drummer boys.

They really hate dressing up and playing with guns so I knew re-enactments would hold no appeal to them.

shoots lines drummer fireFor some reason this guys rifle was REALLY loud.

The crowd gasped when it went off.

loudI think I have seen this same look on my boys faces when they are sword fighting or shooting at each other.

I am not sure boys ever grow up.

I think their weapons just get more expensive.

flagbarrier shoot2 sitting drummers calvery ammoIf you are wondering who won this battle it was the federal’s.

The federal’s were the government soldiers stationed at the nearby fort.

You can read about it on the battlefield website, here.

federals

canon canonfireThe canon fire was LOUD!

It kept setting off the car alarms.

Which made everyone laugh.

Car alarms seemed a little out of place with all the battle sounds.

friendsIf you want to encourage an interest in history in your kids I would highly recommend these living history events.

History was loud, dangerous, and exciting!

It was not meant to be contained in a textbook.

History, Homeschooling, Museums/Events

Honey Springs Battlefield Education Day ~Checotah, OK

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jawbonesOnce every three years the Honey Springs Battlefield has a re-enactment of the civil war battle that took place there.

banjo listeningThe day before the re-enactment they had an educational day!

Most people that know me are aware that I am pretty passionate about history.

In fact I leave it as one of the last subjects of the day I teach so I do not spend the whole day on it!

I feel like I am surrounded by like minded people at these history events!

ringtossA couple other homeschool mom’s came with me to this event.

Here is my friend Stephanie helping to demonstrate a game that would have been played at that time.

We offered her because she has girls (at least that is the best excuse I could think of).

blacksmithsmokeThe boys kept trying to hide from the smoke coming from the blacksmiths fire.

soldier talking drummersEveryone was nice and very patient!

We saw a lot of the same people that had been at the Homeschool Day at the History center!

I love introducing my kids to history at a young age.

Of course boys hate learning about hero’s and battles.

So difficult to get them into weapons…

And don’t even get me started at how much they hated the loud booms made by the guns.

They suffer through it because they love me so much no doubt.