Lion's Tale Trail

A few weeks ago Ellis found a really neat trail for the kids. It was a .5 mile loop in the forest near our house called the "Lion's Tale Trail." A cute little lion named "Lop Ear" guided us along the path at various information posts throughout the trail. 

Ellis read to the kids at each stop, and they listened as "Lop Ear" told them about the flowers, trees, water sources, etc. Ellis has been really supportive and encouraging me a lot in homeschooling the kids' preschool, and it was neat to go on a "family field trip" together with Ellis teaching the kids too.

We collected a bag full of treasures as we walked along made up of flowers, tree bark, interesting leaves, etc. Both kids loved adding to the collection. I dreamed of making leaf rubbings and pressing the flowers in wax paper, classifying the items and making bar graphs, having the kids put the pictures of our hike in order and write a story, etc.,...but that hasn't happened yet. :) Hey, I still have the collection bag, so maybe one of these days!

We stopped for a snack right next to the river, and the kids took turns floating their orange peels down the river through the "rapids." Mac figured out how to make a better boat by digging out half of an orange (instead of using a small wedge). 

At one point a crawfish emerged from behind some tree roots to grab an orange peel and start eating it. It was really cool. After that, the kids ate a ton of oranges so that they could "feed" the crawfish their orange peels. :)

The fresh spring water:

Jumping off of stones that were rounded and made smooth from the water:

When we got back to the car, Ellis and I started talking about directions and trying to get home. We were pretty deep in the forest, and we no longer had a signal to use the maps on our phones. We heard Mac yelling to us from the back seat:

 "Don't worry guys, I made a map! We just have to follow these wiggly lines and it will tell us how to get home."

We "followed" Mac's map, consulting it often, and we did get home. :)