Our Oregon Adventures

The boys and I are having great fun taking a break from book work and enjoying field trip adventures!  One of the great benefits of homeschooling is the freedom to get outside and play in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week,
or whenever we want! :) 

T1 and T2 are like their mama in that they really do not like crowds.  If we head to the park and it's full of kids, they ask if we can please NOT stay and if we find ourselves in a restaurant full of people, they'd like to take their food to go.  This suits me just fine.  So, we go on our "field trips" during the time of day, week, and year when I am pretty confident we will not be met with many other people.

Now before you call me anti-social (although, that may be a fair accusation), please remember that our ministry requires that we spend many hours every week with lots and lots of complete strangers.  For an introvert like me, that can leave me overwhelmed and drained!  One of the things God showed me a couple of years ago is that this is part of how He made me, and it's okay!  I still love to love and serve people, I just need to have some time by myself afterward to "re-charge". 

So last week, after a busy weekend of travel and ministry, we headed to the Oregon coast on a mild temperature, late Spring, Tuesday in the mid-morning,
and found ourselves all alone on the beach!

Me - "Wow!  This place is so beautiful and peaceful!
T2 - "Let's have a battle, Daddy!!!"

The one time I can always count on my boys playing well as a team . . . When they're both chasing Daddy!

Ha!  You can run, but you can't hide!

Lately my boys have been particularly fascinated by plants!  T1 is particularly interested and has even mentioned interest in being a "botanist" when he grows up.  In the past month, both boys purchased a small cactus and venus fly trap.  So, I figured a trip to a local botanical garden was a perfect field trip!

Ten O'clock and all is well!  This sun dial was so cool!  It gave clear instructions for where to stand to use your shadow to see what time it was!

I had fun pretending to be a photographer! :)

I've been planning to try my hand at a small straw bale garden, so it was fun to see one and I even got to chat with one of the OSU Master Gardeners and get some tips! :)

Eleven fifteen and all are hot and hungry,
so we headed home for lunch!

Our final field trip this week was the local natural and cultural history museum.  We've been to this museum several times and the boys always request to go when we are in town.  At this small but very diverse museum we. . .
 
    learned about: logging and it's effect on the forests as well as
    the succession of forest growth

    saw examples of antique instruments

    pretended to be traveling in a covered wagon on the Oregon
    Trail

    pet a "stuffed" black bear

    watched a video about snakes

    and dug for fossils!

I'll keep you posted on whatever "mischief" we get into next week! ;)