outings // UT turtle pond

We had visitors over the weekend - Jacob's parents and youngest sister came and spent a few days visiting, and it was great to see them. The kids, of course, had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa Carter in town (and they quite adored Aunt Emma, who even with a broken leg, got down on the floor to play with them a bit). 

Our company were great sports and tagged along on Monday morning bright and early to my Nature School class. I haven't said a whole lot about my class here - but I adore them. My kids LOVE it. And it's such a great excuse to get outside and explore our new city while getting plenty of sunshine and fresh air! I have a private blog for our class, which I will make public once we're done and "out" of class for the summer, for reference for anyone else who might like to start up Nature Preschool group. More on that later...Anyway, this week our outing was to the Turtle Pond on the University of Texas campus, and our topic, of course, was TURTLES! We were not disappointed with our findings at the pond, and stayed a good couple of hours. I think the kids could've stayed about all day and still enjoyed every minute!

After our circle, story, and song time, I gave each of the kids a baggie  of special turtle food, and set them loose. It was funny to see how some of the kids just about dumped it all in at once, and others took their time to sprinkle a bit here and there, luring the turtles close. 

Sorry if it's overkill of Aspen - just sitting there. But there's something about her "W" sit, her bright yellow boots, and her sloppy pigtails that just makes me smile. Plus, she wasn't running crazy, like some. She sat and waiting and watched, and then she found some rocks...and if you know anything about our girl, you know, she loves LOVES rocks!

Some of the kids also pretended to go "fishing" with the lilly pad stems. So cute!

After Nature School, we ate a picnic lunch and then headed over to the Natural History Museum (the Texas Memorial Museum) on campus (another wonderful free family thing to do here in Austin - definitely worth a visit!) where we saw lots of fossils and bones. Fun stuff! It was quite a day on campus! Jacob and I kind of reminisced about that "feeling" you get when walking around a university campus. We'd generally go hang out on UW's campus a couple of times a year - so it was nice to know we have UT in our backyard now so we can get that campus-feel fix every now and then. Who knows, maybe we have some future Longhorns in our home?

Thanks, Grandpa & Grandma & Emma - for the nice visit! We hope you enjoyed Texas!

3 cheers for Nature School!

I've been meaning to write something about our Nature School for quite sometime...so here is a little about our special school.

You might call it "outdoor school" everyday.

or

"field trips" every single day.

because

if you go to Nature School, you do not sit in a classroom, or hang up your coat, or stash your backpack in a cubby. Nope.

At Nature School...We get OUTSIDE, exploring our Natural World, every single day of school!

My friend, Sara Egbert is an a-mazing lady (Mommy extraordinaire not to mention a background in horticulture). Earlier this year, she single-handedly opened Nature School. She plans lessons, projects, songs, stories, art activities - the list goes on - basically, a whole curriculum for pre-schoolers (and their siblings and parents) to learn in, of, and all about our beautiful earth.

A few weeks ago, some of the parents got together with Sara, and sewed these cute little "Nature Backpacks" Later, Sara and I got together and made a plan to freezer-paper-stencil each child's name on their backpack, and then we cut out all sorts of different things found in nature (bugs, trees, flowers, etc.) and each child chose one or two and we then appliqued them to each backpack. They turned out cute ;) But the really fun part, is what is inside!

Sara ordered a bug net, some mini magnifying glasses, and magnifying specimen boxes (for bugs or plants) to put in each child's bag.

Watch out, Aspen! This morning...

Sawyer tested his bug net out on his little sister...

Rain or shine, our little class meets weekly (soon to be twice a week) in a different location - anywhere from city parks, to beaches, to gardens, to the zoo. Sara has been so pro-active about her students, providing amazing opportunities for the kids to experience things like...visiting a kind citizen's backyard in Magnolia where they got to observe - through a huge telescope - the Great Blue Heron's building over 40 nests, guided tours from local non-profit volunteer organizations about local habitats, growing our own seeds, and even some education on campus at the University of Washington. She even arranged - and the city agreed - to give our kids a 10x10 plot of land in one of the city's community p-patch gardens, to tend and cultivate and learn to grow our own little garden.

My plan this morning was actually to take a few photos of our class enjoying the Botanical Gardens this morning...but of course wouldn't you know it after I lugged my big ole' camera all the way to Bellevue...my battery was dead when we got there. So...more photos to come :) Maybe we'll get some of them working in the new garden (time to pull weeds and prep!)

Nature school is all about getting DIRTY, MUDDY, and WET. But as Spring approaches, we are excited to shed our raincoats and wellies to enjoy the earth as she warms right up into summer. Nature school is year-round and much of what we learn about is inspired directly by the natural changes occuring in the world around us...falling leaves, buds, blossoms. blooms, beaches, rocks, bugs, little animals - and everything that goes along with our senses - colors, sights, sounds, smells, even taste - it is just so wonderful. Seriously, I cannot say enough good things about this marvelous little school. I feel so lucky we get to be a part of it.

Our wonderful teacher was also recently invited, along with her family, to some special meetings taking place...I am uncertain of the details but I think the gist of it is that people have been saying wonderful things about Nature School and there is talk of working with Sara to model this school so that other people in other neighborhoods can enjoy what we do having such a wonderful school for our children.

A special thanks to Sara, for all the time, effort, and heart that she puts into Nature School. We *HEART* you, Sara!

ps-If you would like to view a wonderful documentary which takes an honest look at some of the consequences of a childhood removed largely from the natural world in place of "today's world" which is hugely virtual...take a look at Play Again. Sara and her family let us borrow it, and there was recently a screening of it at our flagship REI store. I highly recommend it!