It is a perfect place to hang out on a really hot summer day. The shade of the sanctuary must bring the temperature down by 10 degrees. Once the children stopped giggling and climbing and settled down, we started spotting some wildlife. We saw lots of turtles, squirrels, tadpoles, ducks, geese, and Cardinals. We also heard a bullfrog that was really making a ruckus. We never saw him but sure could hear him for about 10 minutes.
The kids can't wait to go back later this summer to see if all the tadpoles are changing. I think they were bullfrog tadpoles which take a long time to change.
We also finished up our unit study on butterflies. The kids loved watching the stages of a butterfly's life cycle.
Blessings, Dawn
Oh my kids would love to climb a tree like that. I wish we had one in our backyard. I wonder how old that tree is, it's gotta be pretty old! :)
ReplyDeleteHave a blessed weekend!
My show and tell is at my other blog. www.littlecreekschool.blogspot.com
Jenelle
A butterfly feeder? Where did you get that? We have butterlies all over the place on our homestead--painted ladies, red admirals, swallowtails (not as common), purple ones, white ones, and yellow butterflies, as well. My Granddaughter spent a happy time chasing and catching them with a net. Kep her busy all day long. :-)
ReplyDeleteA butterfly feeder would be cool! Would it work for wild butterflies out in the middle of nowhere?
Your first picture is soooo cute! I want to come climb that tree with your kids!
ReplyDeleteRhonda
We don't have any great climbing trees around here. I love the kinds with big branches like that! That was a great butterfly summary too!
ReplyDeleteHere's my recipe. I hope to make a post of it some day, but blogging time doesn't always happen like I plan...
Gluten Free Corndogs
Corn dogs are pretty easy to make gluten-free. Mix:
1 cup gluten-free flour (I used ½ pancake mix, ½ sorghum flour mix)
1/2 cup corn meal
1/2 cup corn flour (finely ground corn meal)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 egg beaten with 1/2 cup milk (I ended up using at least a cup more milk. The first ½-1 cup was kefir)
pinch of sugar
Mix until well blended. You may need to add a bit more milk (I don't measure my milk and so I'm just guessing on that 1/2 cup.) You want a batter that will coat your hotdogs when they are dipped, the coating should be about 1/4" thick, any thicker and the batter will not cook all of the way before it burns on the outside, too thin and there will be bald spots where the batter splits away from the hotdog during frying.
Heat oil to 350 degrees. Use corn or safflower oil for even cooking.
rinse hot dogs. pat dry, toss dogs with a little corn starch to coat them. Slide a wooden dowel down into the hotdog about 1/3 of the way. Dip the hotdog into the batter making sure the coating gets on the dowel stick a bit. This keeps the coating on the hotdog better during frying. Place the coated dog immediately into the hot oil. Cook until light golden brown, about 2 or 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels. (if you want to cook a lot of corndogs, don't fry them quite so golden. Just let the coating firm up then remove and drain. Freeze corn dogs on a baking sheet until solid then transfer to a freezer bag. To heat, you can put them in a 400 degree oven or refry them.
If you cannot eat corn, try sorghum flour as a substitute for all of the corn flour and arrow root powder or potato starch as a sub for the corn starch.
What a super fun day! That tree is fabulous!!
ReplyDeleteStephanie (of <a href= "http://ordinarylifemagic.blogspot.com"> olm</a>)
What a beautiful area to hang out with God's creation! They all look like they enjoyed there day in the shade!
ReplyDeleteBecause of Jesus, Bobbie
I love to see your kids smiling at the museum. When I took ours, they were too up close and personal with the butterflies (landing all over them, etc.) for them and they muffled screams all the way through the museum. Even the pictures came out shaky! I see the Big Teen is still enjoying his homeschooling days, huh? (smile)
ReplyDeleteI so enjoyed your post about the seasons of homeschooling, and how, like the weather, your season looks different from year to year. Our summer, so far, looks a lot like the fall and spring, though a bit more relaxed(?) Maybe that's the problem--not the relaxation, but the lack of true change. I'm finding that I'm already having to give a pep talk about procrastination and focus. Not how I planned to spend my summer, and I'm sure it's not what they'll want to hear.
Thanks for your comment! I've always wanted to do butterflies with the kids, but I keep missing the order deadline! Maybe next year!
ReplyDeleteWow! What an unbelievable amazing tree! What state do you live in that would grow such a wonderful tree?
ReplyDeleteYou always do such great things with your kids. You never cease to amaze me.
Antoinette