Tom & Huck

  We've not been to the gravel bar much this year, but this last week we made the trip to see Ducky and Gigi while they camped.  It is one of the 3 ancestral stomping grounds that put me immediately at ease (it and the hills in Platte & Buchanan Cos. in MO as well as the area around Atchison, KS).  We took a buddy with us this time.  What fun we had!

One of my favorite gravel bar picture places

  From the moment we pulled in, Bubby and his buddy were on the ground running.  They took off exploring the area.  Thankfully it was cool so we didn't have to worry about ticks!  The first project became building a raft.  Ducky provided fishing twine & they made up the plan themselves.  They were so proud!

  Of course, they wanted to try it out.  Oh, I am not an adventurous soul, so I squirmed and hemmed and hawed and then caved.  How can you turn down two excited boys? The first attempt ended a little soggily...

 They added some bigger logs for more buoyancy and success!  Of course we had them to a rope we held and they rode close to shore, but it was enough:)

Well, it got a little river weary by the end of it all, but they had fun!  They are now nicknamed Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn! ;)
  The next day they were up at daybreak and Ducky took them out fishing by a fire on the gravel bar.

Then was a tour of all three gravel bars which led to some of them being covered almost head to toe in sticktights.
  The boys weren't the only ones having fun, Mookie went exploring to capture some lovely wildlife shots...

And Shorty was happy just following adventure where he could...

We came home tired, stinky and dirty but we wouldn't have in any other way:) 

Field Trip Friday: Homecoming

  Starting off on our trip this morning and the gas station attendant in town asked if we were going to the parade today.  "Parade?", I asked her.  "For homecoming", was the reply.  One of those things we homeschoolers are out of touch with.  I've been seeing all the fun pictures of my friends' kiddos dressed for spirit week, but hadn't given the homecoming parade a second thought.  We were off on our own "homecoming", just a different way. 
  My parents, Ducky and Gigi, own a piece of land that my great-grandparents farmed and lived on.  On its edge is a gravel bar on the Neosho River that they like to go and take their trailer to and stay at for a week or so periodically. They were there this week, so we went to hang out with them.  The gravel bar is just a magical place.  Several miles outside of a small town called LeRoy, down a small field road, surrounded by fields of corn and soybeans.  It is the ultimate place for the kids to explore nature.
  

off to look for shells

The kids love scouring the river banks for mussel shells.  Today they were using the shells to line "caves" that they were digging into the gravel bar.

One bonus that they found was a bison horn on the banks!  The kids have their Daddy's eyes:)  They were so excited.  I am always wary of taking home the gooey things that they find from the gravel bar, but they are always so thrilled at all their finds:)

Mookie & Shorty playing with the stomp rocket

One of the favorite things today was Ducky and Gigi's stomp rocket.  Even Shorty got in on this one - and he loved it (didn't do too bad with it either!)

It's always so hard tearing ourselves away.  Luckily we'll be back in a couple of weeks!

Ducky & Shorty

Everyone needs to take a break

While hubby was out of town, the kiddos and I took a break from school and went off to visit my folks at some property they own on a gravel bar.  First stop was a local nursery to pick up some pumpkins.  On the way in, Mookie was bemoaning the fact we were not at a "real" pumpkin patch and this was not going to be any fun.  Wrong!  First thing we saw was their grass maze, to which I lost them right away...

On the other side of the grass maze was a huge checkerboard which they loved because they've been chess fanatics over the past weeks (you can't move a muscle with out a query of  "do you want to play chess?" ).

Playing checkers and climbing a mountain

There was also a "mountain" to climb, where we found some swallowtail caterpillars.  Then on we went to our gravel bar where we explored nature with our family and even enjoyed some time with my aunt and uncle who came down too. What a wonderful way to spend a beautiful fall day in Kansas!

Shorty exploring at the gravel bar