The Micah and Mommy Expedition

A couple weeks ago we were studying the state of Missouri. Some people that we learned about were Lewis and Clark - they left and returned from their western expedition in/near St. Louis. To commemorate, Micah and I went out and did our own expedition of a wooded area in our neighborhood. What a blessing - auntie Hannah was here and stayed home with the younger two, (Micah and I were gone for 2 hours)! What a special time to be just the two of us, and more than once Micah declared that, much to his surprise, exploring the park was "great!" I quite agree. :-)

Ready to go with our pack of supplies.

Recording our finds under some tree bark - fungus and a worm.

We saw a doe and her fawn!

This boy sure loves finding sticks.

Plenty of droppings, and even some deer hair.

Paper-like layer under the tree bark.

Cool bent-over tree.

Bird Sanctuary

Just over a week ago we had a family adventure to a bird sanctuary.  (It just so happened to be a day with free admission too - sweet)!  It was incredible - from trumpeter swans, geese and ducks, to beautiful game birds, birds of prey and owls.  Wow, we learned lots, had fun, and enjoyed a stroll in "warmer" weather at last (the 50s). ;-)

A goose nesting, the one standing was hissing to protect her.

Not the only bird standing on one leg, need to find out why...

Beautiful trees too.

Pleased with her pine cone find.

These ones were hissing at us, guarding their food.

Australian Black Swan (I had never seen one of these).

Bottoms up!

Beautiful, bright colors!!

Amazingly long feathers.

Found an ice cream shop on the way home.

Kalamazoo-zoo-zoo

We have all been thoroughly enjoying my sister's visit the past week and a half.  She came with a few humble requests, one of which was to go to Kalamazoo.  (Yes, it is more than just a song from decades ago, it is a real place). :-)  We recently learned that there is an Aviation Museum there, so after church on Sunday we loaded up and headed south to check it out!  It really was a very cool place to spend the afternoon - dozens of airplanes, an exhibit on spacecrafts, vintage cars, and carnival type rides for the kids to ride.

A piece of an aircraft pulled out of Lake Michigan after 70 yrs!

And of course a coin funnel at the exit!