Exploring Creation

Sunday afternoons after nap time, we try to always get out of the house if the weather permits.  That period between 4 and bedtime just seems so slow when we're cooped up in the house.  This past week was beautiful, so we were off!  

One place we like to go is to Rockport's Halibut Point State Park - it was a granite quarry at one time.  It has beautiful views, lots of trails and we all love it!  We are discovering that Addison has quite an affinity for history and Eli loves all things nature - mud, bugs, water, creepy things, "bootiful" things - so this place provides a nice mix for us.

The boys in front of the quarry - over the tops of the trees you see more blue - yes, that's the ocean!

The "big kids" in front of the quarry.

Sam enjoying his hike on Daddy's back.

Today we took our time and let Addison lead the pack.  Connected to the park are the Sea Rocks - an expanse of rocks leading down to the ocean's edge.  To get down to them, you have to walk through tight trails of blueberry bushes.  Addison worked on his "lefts" and "rights" as he came to forks in the trails.

The view over the tops of the bushes.

Me and my girl on the trail.

Goofy - just like her mama?

The Sea Rocks

Eli exploring.

Today the hike turned into a very exciting study of nature and God's creation. We were finding interesting things to study everywhere!  Here the boys were watching a snail climbing a rock.

Living on the coast, we find these a lot, but this little guy was the most complete crab shell we had yet found - and so tiny.  We spent a lot of time checking him out and he did go into my pocket to ride home, but turned into dust by the time I remembered him :(

Our next slow-down-and-marvel-moment was when we found this little guy...

...a grasshopper.

 

He stayed on my finger for a really  long time.  The kids touched him, got really close and spent quite a while studying him.  He was quite fascinating.  His hind legs were so interesting - they were red (he was quickly named Red Socks) and looked backwards (for good jumping, Addison reminded me).    

After we were done our observing, we started trying to get him to jump.  When he finally did, I was standing with my arm up, so we got to see him take quite a leap!

Our next direction was off towards the setting sun and granite overlook.

At the base of the granite overlook, they are lots of little rocks that people have used to create things.  Addison had a blast playing here.

Along the way, we kept finding berries (not to eat, of course) and started collecting them to see how many colors we could find.  Besides these, we also found yellow, orange, gold and gray.

What a fabulous afternoon!  I've had a goal in mind the last couple of weeks to get the kids nature journals and coloring packs to take on our outings, but I have just not gotten to it.  Today I  really wished we had them, so maybe I'll get to them a little quicker now...