Homeschool Hike

Today was the day our homeschool group scheduled to do a hike through a state park.   I have been to this park before, it is neat, it is a historical tour through an old town where almost 150 years ago they chopped and burned trees for huge furnaces to melt down iron ore and make steel.   Our group leader hadn't been sure if the trip was on or not, because the weather was so rainy last week;  so she didn't send out reminders to the group.  Up until 10 minutes before we should have left,  I didn't know either, lol.  I called her and she said yes, so I had to quick get everything together and hurry over there.  It is about 50 minutes away.  Of course we didn't get out until 1/2 hour later, so I thought we would be late.  I must have broken a few laws on the way there, because we were only 5 minutes late, and right behind another mom who was late, LOL. 

 

The hike was fun, and the trail we followed was not long, maybe a half mile.  It was a hot day, but we were in the woods, so not so bad.  Most of the stops on the trail are just signs with information on them, not much to see left.  The boys were more interested in all the small springs we crossed, and in the millipede, LOL.  Before we went, I wondered how smart it would be for me to attempt this trip, being 35 weeks pg and waaaaay out of shape, but I surprised myself and made it through with no trouble.  I didn't even have any real swelling!  So I guess all in all it was a good trip.  And it counts as school  ;-)  My only real disappointment is that I forgot to bring my camera, so I don't have any pictures of the boys on the trails.

 

There is a small lake up there, formed by a dam,  and the boys were really hoping we would stay and swim, but I had all 5 by myself, and only 2 of them swim decently.  I didn't really feel up to chasing the 4 yo and 2 yo all over the beach, so I said no.  When we got home I filled our wading pool up, but of course it was freezing cold water from our well, so they weren't really appeased, LOL.  They splashed a bit and then went inside to play Legos.  I went in and fell asleep, LOL.

 

After a few hours the water had warmed up, so they all went out to play in the water, and were happy again  :-)

 

Caleb, Micah, Noah, and Samuel, having fun in the water.  Troyer is out in the back burying a mole we found in the garden, lol.

 

 

Last night Chris mowed the lawn.  It was very very thick from last week's rain, and now there are huge clumps of cut grass throughout the yard.  Of course the boys tracked that straight into the pool.  I had to dump the water tonight and refill it for tomorrow.  

 

After Chris had mowed, I gave 4 out of 5 of the boys trims on their haircuts.  I bought a set of clippers last month,  I really like them!  They are not really that much faster than doing a cut with scissors, but it takes less concentration on my part, lol.  Samuel had just had his hair trimmed a few weeks ago for his birthday picture, so he didn't need to be done.  Micah thought it was fun, as long as I fed him pretzels while he sat;  Caleb was the big baby who whined about all the itchy hair falling on him, LOL.  The boys all look much cooler now.   Just have to get to Chris....