Summer of Adventure

Last summer was kind of lame.  I was pregnant, uncomfortable, and had a little bout of preterm labor.  Needless to say, we did not do a whole lot besides snuggle mama on the couch.  This summer is going to be different!! I have spent quite a bit of time brainstorming.  I need to write things down in order to make them happen or before I know it, summer will be over and I will have many wasted opportunities.

I got the coolest book, The Nature Connection: An Outdoor Workbook for Kids, Families, and Classrooms.  If I ever decided to homeschool, I would totally use this book (I'll still use it as the kids get older and can do more stuff).  It really lays everything out nicely with activities for specific months, covering phases of the moon and everything.  Combined with the book, Sharing Nature With Children, I have been gleaning activities to create a summer long nature unit for the preschool/kindergarten set.  I've already made Eileen and Linus each their own nature investigation kit.  The Target dollar bins were very helpful with this.

In case you're wondering what their kits include:

Notebook for Journaling

Colored pencils

Pencil

Magnifying glass

Binoculars

Water bottle

Sunscreen/bug repellent
Books/Field Guides

Hat

Bag or jar to collect specimens

Trash bag (for collecting any garbage you find)

Scotch tape

Eraser

Net

Paper clips for holding pages

Pen knife (only Mama has this one)

Camera (Mama's phone)

The kids are very excited as am I.  We would love to have friends join us on our adventures.  Just email me/facebook me, if one of our proposed adventures sounds like fun and we will put a date on the calendar.

Possible adventures:

Visiting cousins in Sultan, Woodinville, Portland, and on Whidbey Island

Ohop Pioneer Farm (either experience pioneer life or life as a native American)

Walk Chambers Bay and see what all the fuss is about

Swimming at Kandle Park in Tacoma

Bainbridge Island

Explore Fort Casey or Fort Worden

Visit Northwest Trek

Hikes –Redmond Watershed, Discovery park, Lincoln park, Ft Ward, Arboretum

Nature Hike/Scavenger Hunt at Snake Lake

Remlinger Farms (berry picking or maybe the touristy stuff if the kids are really good)

Play on the Beach 

Fort Nisqually

How could you turn down spending time with a baby as cute as this?