The past couple weeks the boys have been enjoying time at Interstate Park for an older kids version of Nature Story Time. This is the group we piloted last summer, A sort of "No Child Left Inside" program. Julie, resident naturalist, has provided a program for the kids that includes some hiking off trail in the park, canoeing, nature journaling, and listening to a portion of a read-aloud each week. Right now they are reading from Minn of the Mississippi by H. C. Holling. I was so excited to hear that she would be reading from Minn because it was my intent to read through it with the boys this summer but finding the time to do it was my problem. Problem solved! How cool is that?
There were a few extra special treats in store for us this morning. The new classroom addition to the park center has finally been completed and the kids got to "break it in". It is really a lovely space and was so needed at this busy park. Now they just need to have a fundraiser for some cozy furniture!
After a couple chapters of Minn and a briefing of the morning's events, we took the kids down to the lake where they participated in a geology of the park program and then went hiking. This group of kids is really enamored with the park and so the hike was very intense as far as investigating every nook and cranny of the trail goes. Some wildlife spotted on the walk....red shouldered hawks, Great Blue Herons, a bevy of baby frogs, wolf spiders, and turkey vultures.
About halfway through the hike we got called back to the classroom though, because a special visitor was arriving to hike the park's pothole trail and meet the kids. The Governor of our fine state, Jim Doyle, paid a visit to several locations in our area to meet and greet. Happily, the park visit landed right in the middle of the kids' nature program.
Governor Jim Doyle with naturalist Julie, meeting the kids
Also accompanying the gov was Matt Frank, secretary of the DNR (R. in blue)
The kids got a kick out of meeting someone "famous" but Ben and I were very disappointed that Mr. Doyle did not enjoy a beverage while at the park. We really wanted to offer to refill his drink and quip in our best cockney accent "Freshen yer drink, gov'ner?" We might be the only ones to get the joke, but hey, it would still be very, very funny.
1 comment:
I would have laughed! But I would have only half-gotten the joke. I just Googled and discovered it's from a Simpson episode. Perfect!
Julie sounds like a true gem. And your boys are beautiful -- growing up so fast!
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