Friday, August 26, 2011

Field trip - Jacobson Bear Creek Park

I had planned this as a late morning trip to a park we hadn't been to yet. On the agenda was a picnic lunch, followed by a walk to explore the trails in the small wooded area. Eli had other plans in mind, I guess! Let's recap through some pictures, shall we?

Eli took this picture on the way to the park. He is enamored by our town's water tower...thinks it's pretty cool.

Entrance to the park

"Mom, can I run over there before lunch?" Yup!



"Mom, can I stand on the table before lunch?" Sure, why not?!




Just a few pictures from around the picnic tables.





 Yummy lunch...string cheese, grapes, hard-boiled eggs, apples, PBJ (sans crust, of course) for Eli

AND
Diet Coke for me, of course :-P


"Mom, why do we eat celery with peanut butter?"
"MOM, this is really crunchy and tasty!" Those were his actual words...little goof!

So, we finished lunch and began our walk into the wooded area. Eli was talking my ear off the entire time about bugs, squirrels and birds. 



THIS is where it got good...he's walking with his back to me and suddenly stops, turns around and says

"Hey Mom, did you know that 7+5 is 12? And I know that 6+6 is 12, too! Did you know that 8+7 is 15? And know what else? 9+4 is 13!"

I tripped...literally. I was trying to take his picture while walking toward him as he was doing what I would say is "Preschool AP Math" in his head. And I tripped over a tree root. This is the picture I got when I fell!

Okay, so I picked myself up and asked him where he learned that. He said "Oh, I don't remember. Sometimes you help me do math but I think that stuff was just in my brain." Yeah...no kidding! I think I was still counting on my fingers at 4.5 years old! Good grief. But as soon as it began, it was over:

"Look Mom...it's an acorn!" Nope...black walnut. "Yeah, that's what I said, Mom...walnut." Sure ya did...



He was having a blast taking pictures of all sorts of things.


"MOM! Come on...keep up with me!" He took off walking super fast...almost lost him around the tree in the picture below on the right!




It was at the end of the trail that we noticed that many of the trees had signs on them for identification purposes. Eli was super excited by this and we had to walk the trail in reverse to look for trees with signs.

  

 
He wanted pictures of all the trees with leaves next to the signs but I was unable to reach leaves from the tall trees...sycamore, honey locust, etc. He seemed to understand :)

And finally, some misc. pictures:


  

Eli loves these toys. Anytime we go to a park with one of them, he says he "has to do his work" with these! :-)


All in all, we had a productive "field trip". Lunch time was for discussing healthy food (minus Mom's Diet Coke, of course!), there was some math class, some biology and botany, and of course, PE at the end! Productive schooling followed by nap time for a sleepy little guy!





Teagan Riley Clark