Meramec State Park- Vacation Day 3

On day 3, we woke up leisurely, then went and had breakfast with Dad and Nanoo. They decided to go visit family that lived in the area, while we went sight seeing again. We made plans that night to celebrate Ali's birthday at their camper.

After breakfast, we were off! First stop was Riverside Wildlife Center, in Stanton, MO.

At first glance, you think to yourself. Ummm, maybe we should just keep driving. But we went in, and it was wonderful!

We had a tour guide who told us all about the animals, how they care for them, how they acquired them, (most were unwanted exotic pets), and he would share a personal story about that animal. You could tell they really cared for the animals and each one was special in their own ways.

Every single worker was kind and had a smile on their face.

When you first go out into the animal sanctuary, you go by the alligators. Really close to the alligators. Really close. Close enough where they could eat you. Seriously.

After the alligators, were an iguana, chickens, pheasants, and a goat.

We also got to see a fox, bobcats, emus, and a few other animals. 

But the main attraction for me was the beautiful tigers, Jasmine and Jafar, and the lion, Leo.

After the outside animals, you go in to the reptile room. In the room they have a lot of snakes, a few turtles, a GIANT snapping turtle, as well as the move it move its, the lemurs. 

Someone was a little happy about holding a snake. 

We don't like to move it move it. At all. 

Ali would have spent all day sticking her tongue out at this guy.

Cute baby alligators

Petting the alligator

Park would not sit still

Landon petting the alligator. Parker would not go near it.

It was awesome, if you are ever near Stanton, go check them out! 

Riverside Wildlife Center

After the Wildlife Center, we went down the road a ways to Meramec Caverns. You may know this as Jesse James' hideout. Since we had toured the cave 2 years previously, and did Onondaga cave the day before, we skipped the cave tour. 

We did however, go on the riverboat ride. It happened to be the kids' first ever boat ride. They did awesome. And we learned a bit about the river and the wildlife in the river. 

A little nervous

Parker has his thinking tongue out.

This guy welcomed us back to shore.

After the boat ride, the kids "mined" for gold, rocks, fossils, and other things at the Meramec Mining Co.

My loves, with me photobombing.

Still has his thinking tongue out.

After mining, and getting some old fashioned drinks and candy in the fudge shop, we headed east on I44, and went to the Rt. 66 museum. 

The kids were not impressed with this, and had quite enough sight seeing for the day, so the museum was a quick walk through. 

Ali would not pose with them. 

After the museum, it was back to Sullivan, to go to Wal-Mart to buy Ali's birthday cake and get some pizzas and have a little birthday party. 

Papa and his namesake

Opening her puppy

Sitting with their Nanoo, one of their favorite people in the world. 

After the party, it was back to the cabin and time for baths and bed and get ready for the next day. 

Stay tuned for day 4!

Unschooling?

Before homeschooling became a reality for our family, I had heard the term "unschooling" several times and thought to myself; unschooling must be the worst thing in the world for a family to do for their kids.

And then a funny thing happened.  I found out that we already unschooled. Unschooling is portrayed by the media as "crazy" and that only "hippy, crunchy" families do it. And that kids are left to run wild and never learn to read.

In reality, you follow your kids' lead. When they show an interest in something, you teach them all about it. For example, our kids have shown and interest in our chickens since the moment we started talking about getting them. So we researched chickens with them, we talked all about them, we include the kids when we go purchase food for them, we let the kids feed them and gather the eggs, we showed them a candled egg with a chick growing inside. As a result, our kids know more about chickens than the average adult. They can tell you how much to feed them, which chicken lays which color of egg, the differences between a rooster and hen, and several other things.

But what about reading? And writing? And numbers?

What about them? I can honestly say, I haven't really worked with teaching Parker his numbers and letters, we just go with the flow. We might see a number on a sign and I will ask  him what number it is. And he tells me. He knows most of his numbers (1-20) and most of his alphabet, without formal teaching. He has learned them by watching the world around him and by me (and Sam) pointing them out to him as we go. He has also learned his shapes and colors this way as well. And do you know what I think? I bet your kids have learned this way as well. It is easy, it is natural, it is fun.

Now, am I going to continue unschooling? Nope. This fall, August 15, to be exact, we are starting our homeschool year. We will be learning in multiple ways, workbooks, hands on, field trips, and unschooling. Landon will learn what he would have learned in a public school, plus he will be learning about God. But, I will always incorporate unschooling by delving into what interests my children and teaching them all there is to know about what they are interested in.

Meramec State Park- Vacation Day 2

On our second day on vacation, we were patiently waiting for my Dad and Nanoo to join us in their camper. While we waited, we decided to check out some local places.

Ready to start the day

Our first stop was the Welcome Center at Meramec State Park. The Welcome Center had a nice museum of the things about the park and surrounding areas. We learned about the different rocks that form the basin and caves, and about the animals that live around the area.

Reading about Dolomite

Pressing buttons is one of her favorite things

Please touch table, and Landon and Parker sporting the same bed head

We got the cave around 11, and was lucky enough to get in on the 11 am tour. It was gorgeous, stalagmites and stalactites abound. Parker was fascinated with the "soda straws" that hung from the ceiling.  Our tour guide was awesome at showing things and explaining them, especially since we had such a large group. The tour itself was about 2 hours long, and was pretty strenuous at times, and Alta had enough by the time we were there for an hour, but all in all it was 100% worth it.

Soda straws

Inactive flowstone

The twins

Inactive flowstone with a little bit of active flowstone (white)

Carrot room of the cave

Lily Pad room

Active flowstone

The cave made us work up quite the appetite, so we went to the boys' favorite restaurant to eat lunch, Denny's.  And after Denny's we got the call that Dad and Nanoo had arrived. So we headed back to the park to help them set up camp. Then we visited for a while and tried to go swimming again in the river, but it had risen several feet and was moving fast, so we didn't try, plus Landon saw a snake, so he wouldn't get in even if we could. Instead, we went to Blue Springs to go wading in the little creeks. It was freezing. But was so much fun. The boys found a few rocks and tons of snails. Afterwards, we ate dinner and called it a day. 

Stay tuned for day 3. 

Meramec State Park-Vacation Day 1

Ah vacation. Sweet, sweet vacation. For four glorious days, we stayed in a cabin at Meramec State Park near Sullivan, Missouri. We had a blast!

We left our house about 9 am and after driving along Missouri's twisty, hilly back roads, we arrived at the park about 12:30. Check in was at 3, so we took a dip in the Meramec River. And I am so glad we got to spend that time in water because that night it rained, and rained, and rained. And the river rose, and rose, and rose. We were unable to safely swim in the river again. No pictures of us swimming because, as you can imagine, 2 adults + 3 small children + a river = a nervous mommy, and I didn't want to take my eyes off of the them long enough to get any pictures. But they had smiles and found rocks and snails.

At about 2 pm, we decided to try to check in a little early. And we were lucky, we were able to check in and we were in our cabin by 2:15. We carried in our luggage, all went potty, got clean clothes, and headed out to Wal-Mart for our groceries for the week.

After Wal-Mart, we tried to go swimming again, but the storm started, so back to the cabin we went.

Our cabin was awesome, we had stayed there before in May 2010, so it was nostalgic for Sam and I. When you walk in, there is a small living room/dining area with a beautiful stone fireplace. Off the living room is a small kitchenette. To the immediate right is a small bedroom, and off the bedroom is a small bathroom. No TV, no phones, no clocks. Cell service was shotty at best. It was Heaven on Earth. We had hot dogs, chips, and fruit for dinner. And then we played Battleship, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and Headbandz as a family. Very fun, and very needed. The kids were giddy with the fact that they had daddy for almost a week with no work.

After games, we were all tired, so we went to bed a little early to get ready for our next fun filled day of vacation.