Month: October 2020

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Congratulations 5th Grade Graduate

May 29th, 2020

Rachel was awarded Citizen of the Year for her school!

Awesome recognition!
Proud Dad!
Proud Mom!
Sisterly support.
They gave her the certificate and a few other “prizes” in a pizza box. They actually gave them a doughnut instead of pizza.
Great job Rachel!

Week Eleven Day Four Trail Adventure: Creek Sink Trail

This is not our first time here at San Felasco Hammock, but we are taking a trail we have not yet taken – Creek Sink Trail 2.3 miles.
Rachel thought we might be taking the 1 mile Moonshine Creek Trail. We collectively agreed to take the Creek Sink Trail instead since we haven’t tried it yet.
It is a beautiful trail!
The creek runs along much of the trail.
Swamps are cool!
We stopped on the bridge on the other “Moonshine trail” (we previously took this trail and posed on this same bridge).
Now to see what this trail has in store for us!
Anyone missing some glasses they were up in the tree as we passed by.
Cool tree! Looks like he’s sleeping.
Wow!
Cool web of vines.
Mushrooms – probably not edible.
Swamps are hiding something I’m sure!
Check out the tree roots.
We all really enjoyed this trail! I absolutely will be back to visit this trail!
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Week Eleven Day Four Trail Adventure

May 28, 2020

Week Eleven Day Four Trail Adventure: Serenola Forest Preserve Trail.

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This is a new preserve (2018) and the trail opened just last year. This is our first time here.
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There is a small picnic area right at the entrance.
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The weather has been stormy for several days now. We are in between storms. The trail is about a mile. 🤞🚫🌧️!
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One of the highlights of this trail were the red berries. The girls love to pop them. They make quite an audible 🎉.
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After picking off the berries Rachel was impressed by the flower-like remains on the stem.
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The trail is beginning to get overgrown in a couple spots, but it was still very easy going and very well marked.
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There is a second picnic area along the trail.
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Back to the trail before it rains! – We have been rained on two days in a row.
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These berries became the focus of the girls attention.
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The girls picked them, popped them hoarded them and even renamed themselves Berry Queen and Berry Princess!
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The girls were now singing berry songs 🎶.
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Impossible to get lost.
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Rock, Paper, Scissors for the title of “Queen of All the Berries”
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One guess who won 😉.
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No hard feelings.
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Really mom, we’re fine 😏.
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Luna and I are suspicious of their sincerity 😏. It was a nice little trail for a quick trail adventure between rain showers.
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Week Eleven Day Three Trail Adventure

May 27, 2020

Week Eleven Day Three Trail Adventure: Sweetwater Loop at Sweetwater Wetlands.

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This is our first time here at Sweetwater Wetlands. It was sprinkling on the drive here, but the sun is trying to peek out. 🤞🚫🌧️
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There were ponds of water everywhere!
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Several different types of birds.
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Every pond had a different bird.
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Unusual flowers too.
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Big guy”!
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Even a heart shaped puddle 😍.
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The sun was starting to come out a bit.
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Spreading his wings.
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He must have been drying his wings.
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There is no shade here, but it is beautiful!
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There were lots of ponds with varying birds at each.
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And pretty flowers too!
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Do you see him? . . . 🐊
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Another interesting flower.
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We got caught in the rain again! This is a place to come back to for sure!
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Week Eleven Day Two Trail Adventure

May 26, 2020

Week Eleven Day Two Trail Adventure: San Felasco Old Spanish Trail (Blue) and Spring Grove Trail (Yellow) – 7 miles today (not actually intentional)!

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Although we have previously been to this trail head we are taking a different trail today. The plan was to do part of the recently opened Old Spanish Trail (blue). This is a loop trail, but it is 4.9 miles long, so we intended to cut it short.
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Happy to be on an adventure.
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The beginning part of the trail is a very wide (service road) trail.
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Then we headed into the forest and came to a swamp.
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Rachel had a class Zoom meeting.
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The trail branched off further into the woods.
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Taking notes from her class meeting.
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We left the blue trail and hopped onto the yellow trail hoping we could cut off a large portion of the trail. There was some rain drops and dark clouds heading our way.
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What we didn’t realize was we had taken the long way around the yellow trail loop adding another 2.2 miles to the hike – oops! I enjoyed this tall grassy area of the trail.
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There were all kinds of interesting plants and flowers along this section of the trail.
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These were on the right side of the trail.
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These were on the left side of the trail.
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We got caught in the rain 🌧️. Slightly grumpy and pretty wet.
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Yup, wet and slightly grumpy. We were about five miles in at this point.
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We eventually made it back to the trail head. This was the longest hike of our trail adventures!
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How did you like the adventure Rachel? See pic for her response. Lizzy said, “Well we did 7 miles on a 4.9 mile hike.” They did great despite the wrong turn and the rain!
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Week Eleven Day One Family Adventure: Canoeing and Kayaking.

May 25, 2020

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About five years ago we went canoeing but that was the only time as a family. None of us are experienced at Canoeing and none of us have ever Kayaked. We were ready for an adventure 😁!
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We decided a nice calm lake would be the best option. So we went to Lake Alto.
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Rachel, “The Brave”, wanted to be in the kayak first.
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I was next. It was so much fun! We borrowed the canoe and the kayak from a friend, but it was so much fun we are strongly considering getting our own!
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While we docked the girls had fun swimming.
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Dad tried out the kayak too 😊.
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We found the attachment/the other paddle further back in the kayak storage compartment! Much better!
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Rachel and Dad had the canoe and I was having a great time in the kayak 😁.
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Rachel was excited to try the double paddle. Much better!!
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Lizzy took over the kayak for the return trip to the boat ramp. We had a great family fun adventure 💓💦🛶.