Field Trip: Best Laid Plans

We were supposed to go to Council Grove. The threat of rain with the hour long drive kept us close to home though.  So we decided to go close to home and hit the trails close to the Governor's Mansion in Topeka.  Our buddies met us at the main trail at the Cedar Crest grounds.  We started in, but quickly realized that what we really wanted was a wooded trail that would 1) shelter us from the damp cold of the otherwise beautiful fall day and 2) create a more interesting walk.   Although some didn't care where we went, they were just happy to be there ;)

   Our quest for a new trail took us up to the area by the Kansas Wildlife and Parks center.  Grandma has been after me for a while to take the kids to the KDWP building, so we can mark it off of our list now ;)   It is a great resource.  They have all kinds of free identification guides, trail maps, and more.  There are aquariums with little critters...

Lots of furs from different local animals...

After I toned the kids back on taking one each of every identification guide (we would have put quite a dent in their supply), we headed to the great outdoors!  It was a wonderful trail.  At the end, we broke from it and followed a road that headed the direction of the cars.  It took us right into the old Menninger hospital grounds.  I guess it is technically trespassing, but that road wasn't marked, so we enjoyed looking at the old buildings as we made our way to our cars ;)

   I am not sure any one of the field trips we've taken this year was totally planned out, but I'll tell you what, I wouldn't trade a one!  Who needs plans? ;)

Blackjack battle!

  This weekend was kind of symbolic. Bubby has been involved with Boy Scouts since he was a Tiger cub.  Since he joined he has always wanted to become an Eagle Scout like his grandpa Ducky.  This year has held some drastic changes with our pack and our troop is battling our way up from bare bones to even stay in existence.  In order to garner some excitement, the parents have been trying to find some pretty exciting things to build our boys up with Scouting interest while holding on to our dwindling numbers.  The first thing that came to our attention was this super cool reenactment of a pre-Civil War battle that had been held for the past couple of years close to the nearby town of Baldwin, Kansas.  This Battle of Blackjack took place between pro-slavery and free-state forces (led by John Brown and crew) in 1856 and was a result of the rising tensions of the time.  Through some wonderful connections we made we not only received an invite to the event, but also offers of mentorship for our troop!  What a blessing!
  One of the things that they needed to take with them was a mock-gun because real guns were not allowed.  One of our good buddies helped cut the gun forms out for the boys (Bubby got to assist) and then the boys were able to detail them.

  The boys had arrived to the Blackjack battlegrounds on Friday, and while the main event didn't take place until the next day, they participated in "raids" on the other camps all evening and were up by 5am on Saturday morning raiding the other camps then too!

looking over the schedule

  They broke out into groups on Saturday and rotated through different stations which included listening to a talk by a John Brown reenactor...

John Brown watching his battle (center)

a reenactor portraying Henry Pate who led the pro-slavery forces, a tour of a Civil War encampment and learned about some period historic artifacts...

The main event was the reenactment.  The boys were divided up and preformed the battle two times.  It was complete with sound effects of gun shots and smoke machines!

Bubby waiting for his turn

Someone wishing he could join Bubby in battle

the conquering heroes

The weekend was a complete success!  The boys got a second weekend of two night camping under their belts (last weekend it was camping at a black powder rendezvous), cooked some great food in the open air and had a ton of fun and made some new friends too!  While we still have a ways to go as a troop, the future looks bright and our Scouts are happy Scouts :)

Field Trip: Wichita Mountains

  Hubby and I's work project ultimately took us to the Wichita Mountains.  Have you heard of them? They are located in southern Oklahoma and are encapsulated in a wildlife preserve.  As homeschoolers this was a a schooling dream!  Geology, biology, history and more, not to mention all the hiking too!

  The wildlife includes buffalo, longhorns, and elk all of which are herds maintained for preservation purposes.  These guys are everywhere.  You see them on the roads and on the trails.  It is super cool!  The boys even heard the elk bugling while they were out hiking one afternoon!  The kids got chased by prairie dogs, poked at millipedes, and saw these wonderful little lizards too...

The kids had seen pictures of them prior to our trip and it was their goal to see them before they left.  We saw the biggest concentration at the Holy City of the Wichitas.  The Holy City is neat, it was and is the site of a large passion play every year.

The neat thing about the Holy City is that it is not only the setting for a play, but for those that come to wander the grounds, they have little dioramas amongst the set that tell the story of the different stations of the cross.  The kids loved exploring here!
  Our explorations also took us to the Wichita's dams...

And to the summit of Mt. Scott its highest mountain...

While we were up there we saw another fun member of the wildlife in the mountains, a roadrunner...

One of our favorite treks was to the "watchtower" at Jed Johnson lake.

It was about 1/2 mile to get back to it and when we did we felt like this...

*disclaimer* we did not write this, but it was funny :)

Well, some of us did.  Some of us were just content to pick up "treasures" aka. pieces of glass (notice the bulging pockets?).

One of our favorite places that is on the edge of the Wichitas is Medicine Park.  It was created as a resort community to the Wichita Mountains.  Its architecture is fun with the cobblestone boulders...

The building in the background of the picture above is the Plantation Restaurant - excellent food!
The neatest part of Medicine Park was the "Creek Walk" which took you along Medicine Creek.  There was a swimming area...

and just fun little park areas...

We spent a full week in the Wichitas.  The working vacation kind of wore us out, but we were having so much fun we were not too willing to come home.  I'm hoping our schedules give us another chance to return and explore some more!

Field Trip: Sam Noble Museum

  This is a weird blog for me to write.  I get to tell you about one of the most fantastic museums we have ever been to, but this time around I didn't get to go with the kiddos.  Hubby and I had some work in Oklahoma so we packed up the kids and Ducky and Grandma for a working vacation.  Our first stop took us through Norman, Oklahoma where Hubby and I did some research on the University of Oklahoma campus and Ducky and Grandma took the kids to the Sam Noble museum.  The last time we had taken the older kids was when they were about 4 & 2 (they are now 12 and 11).  If I had one sadness on this trip it was that I didn't get to go to the Sam Noble museum too - it is that fun :)

A dino lover's dream.  Now this being said, I have not been to any of the "big city" natural history museums, but this satisfies just fine ;)

The real fun is the "dinovator" which is an elevator that takes you eye to eye with one of the big plant eaters (ha, can you tell I'm not the dino expert?  I'd want to say apatosaurus, but we'll just play it general...). 
  They also have a wonderful diorama area which has all the flora and fauna of Oklahoma, even down to caves where bats are lurking...

 My favorite picture from their experience there is with the big mammoth statue. 

  Mookie and Bubby are proudly posing with the mammoth, but do you see Shorty?  He's getting ready to kill the mammoth with the ancient Native American family. 

  We had the biggest discussion about what the family was doing, why the mom was hiding behind the dad, what the dog was doing, etc... With field trips, you don't need to "do" anything, kiddos soak up more than you realize, but you reinforce what they learn with a good discussion and make it all applicable to their lives right now it just encourages them to seek out learning later on. 
  If you get down to Norman, Ok you should definitely check the Sam Noble out.  Our family got in for around $15 which was well worth the trip!