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Afternoon hike

Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 6:16 pm
by smslavin
Today was an outdoor day. We ran a few errands this morning and after lunch took a hike around the San Elijo Nature Preserve. We parked up near the girls' school and explored a bit on the eastern edge of the lagoon. Before heading out, I gave all three of the girls a small notepad and a pencil along with a few instructions. Walk slowly. Look for small details, in the dirt, in the plants, in the sky. Smell. Make notes. Make a sketch. Remember. All of them took the task very seriously.

Piper ran out in front stopping every so often to look back and yell, "C'mon!" Whenever she saw her sisters writing, she made a few scribble scrabbles on her notebook.

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Roxy pranced along behind Piper, pig tails flying in the breeze. She diligently copied whatever she saw on each of the plaques we came to that identified the plants. When we reached the Lemonade Berry tree, she quite literally exploded into giggles.

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Dillen was very studious and stopped about every 10 feet or so. She diligently wrote down everything she noticed about the plant (texture, color, size, smell, etc) and included a drawing.

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We didn't walk very far, just a hair over a half mile, but the girls thoroughly enjoyed it. Next time, we'll check out a different section of the lagoon so they can do some comparisons and figure out what's different.

On the way back to the car, Dillen sided up next time and said, "Dad, I love nature."

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Re: Afternoon hike

Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 6:32 pm
by BorregoWrangler
I love how you're involving your girls with the outdoors. I plan on doing the same with mine. :D

Great pictures, as usual!

Re: Afternoon hike

Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 9:19 pm
by smslavin
BorregoWrangler wrote:I love how you're involving your girls with the outdoors.
One small step at a time. So far, it's working much better than I had anticipated. :)

Re: Afternoon hike

Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2010 10:22 pm
by OLLIE
Great story Sean. I love your write-ups. Makes me feel like I'm right there too.

Re: Afternoon hike

Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 4:04 pm
by smslavin
OLLIE wrote:Great story Sean. I love your write-ups. Makes me feel like I'm right there too.
thanks ollie