Posts filed under ‘Trips’
Owls and the Homeless: When nature and reality meet
Look, there’s an owl nest.
Hey, check out the trout lilies.
And just ahead, there’s a homeless man sleeping.
So it goes at Turville Point Conservancy on a Saturday morning hike.
Mud Season… the Joys of March
Mud happens.
Snow happens.
So does rain, sleet and some gloriously warm days.
Today we had both.
The day started sunny and warm and ended with a biting wind and sleet.
It’s a crazy weather month punctuated by Madison spring rituals like The Garden Show, Canoecopia, Bike-o-Rama and high school basketball tournaments.
It’s a month where I break out the mud boots and think, if but for a moment, about putting away the Sorels.
It’s a month at the cusp, full of weather surprises and the end of winter clubs.
What goes down must come up: Life lessons learned while skiing
What goes down...
Learning to ski is a humbling experience.
Fall, get up. Fall, get up.
Poles and skis slip and slide and get tangled up in the weirdest of ways.
That’s pretty much how it goes for first-timers,
especially as they learn to maneuver hills.
I can’t think of a better metaphor for life.
If kids can get past the initial frustrations, they learn so much. That’s why we ask kids to make an 8-week commitment to ski club. That way, they have to work through their frustration. The end result is always a joyful celebration on the last day.
In the mean time, there’s more agony of defeat than the thrill of victory, but the victory is so very sweet.
Check out these photos from this week’s lesson at Black Hawk Ski Club. They really do say it all.
African savannas and Wisconsin state parks
Outdoor adventures with kids bring curious comparisons. |
All eyes on the eagles: Eagle Days 2012
Cashel Nelson, 8, looks through a scope at the eagle overlook in Prairie du Sac during Bald Eagle Watching Days 2010 while his friend from Madison's Goodman Community Center Qarly Haywood, 8, awaits her turn.By Jeremiah Tucker, Sauk Prairie Eagle.
Randy Jurewicz, a retired biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, helped organize the first official Eagle Watching Days in Sauk Prairie 25 years ago. The event, he said, grew out of a national census of eagles organized by the National Wildlife Federation.
A flash of white: Bald eagles soar just in time for Eagle Days
A bald eagle soars over the bluffs at the Spring Green Conservancy. Even at a distance, the birds are magnificent.
Flash of white. Check.
Huge wing span. Check.
Yes, it’s eagle spotting time in southern Wisconsin.
Kids learn to enjoy winter at Indian Lake County Park
Even without snow, the kids made use of the sledding hill.
Lou and his mother didn’t look too happy as we gathered at 9 a.m. on a cold, December morning for a trip to Indian Lake County Park.
“I had my doubts,” mom admitted. But she showed up anyway along with 30 others. At the end of the day, they were all smiles and glad they came.
Despite the lack of snow and 10 degree temps, the kids found lots of ways to stay warm and have fun. Plus, Indian Lake is a drop-dead gorgeous park. The sunny, blue skies formed a perfect back drop for limitless outdoor fun:
- Kids ran, slid and rolled down a frost covered sledding hill.
- Kids played on a huge pile of wood. They turned the wood pile into a fort, a mountain or just a neat place to climb. They killed off space aliens, played soldier games and lots more.
- Kids played with sticks, the best toys ever.
- Kids examined beautiful frost crystals that coated the ground.
Sticks are the best toys ever. Note the lack of mittens.
- Kids helped build a fire.
- Kids played football and kicked around a ball.
- Kids hiked up the hill to see a historic chapel.
- Kids ate hot dogs and hot chocolate.
But mostly, the kids learned that sometimes it’s important to get up and go even if it’s cold. Parents set the example. Unfortunately, about 15 kids missed out because their parents cancelled.
We forget how warm kids get when they run around. No matter how many times we asked kids to put their hats on, most didn’t listen and took them off anyway. Go figure. Kids just don’t react to cold the same way as adults.
Winter is a great time to get outside. It’s important to help parents and kids learn how to enjoy the winter.
How do you respond to fears about cold weather?
Playing football in the morning sun. Again, no mittens. Are they crazy?
Pacific Loon on Lake Monona
Pacific Loon on Lake Monona.
You never know what you’ll see while biking.
On Monday, bike club went to Monona Terrace Convention Center and spotted two Pacific Loons feeding in the waters near the bike path. The kids thought they were ducks, but the pointy beak and diving behavior suggested otherwise.
I didn’t get the best photo, but that didn’t diminish the experience. Pacific loons do not nest in Wisconsin, so it’s always a thrill to see an uncommon bird.
I’ll try to head back there today to see if they’re still there. For more information go to:
http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/bird/pacific_loon#
Carrot Juice vs Chips: Bike for Life explores the options
Surprise: Kids like carrot juice.
Carrot juice or chips?
Raw peanut butter anyone?
What do you think kids will eat?
Turns out they’ll eat all three, but not necessarily in that order.
I didn’t think they’d like carrot juice, but they did.
They watched intently as the Willy Street Coop juice bar man turned carrots into juice with the flip of a switch. The rich, orange juice flowed out and the kids eagerly drank it up. They also loved watching peanuts turn into peanut butter in the grinder. They liked that it looked kinda gross coming out of the machine, which always helps with kids.
After they tried the juice and peanut butter, I took out chips and chocolate to talk about portion size and choices in food. They squealed with delight. Sugar, salt and fat make for tough competition. No squeals for carrot juice and unsweetened/unsalted peanut butter, but then again, they had never tried them before. On the other hand, junk food, is readily available and a primary cause of obesity in kids.
Can you just 12 chips?
Of course, the real challenge with junk food is how much kids eat.
Did you know that there are about 12 chips and 250 calories in one serving? Have you ever tried eating just 12 chips in a sitting? That’s the challenge. I offered single serving bags of chips to make the point.
The next time you sit down to eat chips, challenge yourself and your kids to eat just one serving. And, before you eat, read the ingredient label. Turns out that the nacho cheese flavored chips are loaded with preservatives, whereas simple potato chips contain just potatoes, oil and salt. Even in the chip world, there are choices.
As for the chocolate, the package said a serving was half the bar. This seemed like a lot so we talked about that. Can you eat just a few squares of chocolate and put the rest away for another day? I know I can’t, which is why I don’t eat chips or eat sugar. I shared this with the kids so they know that there’s a choice. They don’t get it, but then again, they don’t have to, just yet.
Kids are smart and while most of their food choices are made by others, I believe that this information will make a difference to them.
Perhaps not now, but in the future.
What do you think?
Bike for Life is an obesity prevention program created and run by Diane Schwartz out of the Goodman Community Center. It’s funded by the Endres Foundation and the Rosenlund Family Foundation. The group is enjoying the great fall weather by biking around Madison. Next week, we’ll head up to the Capitol.
When it’s okay to shoot a gun: Outdoor Skills Day
Ebrahim, Gavin and Juan target practice.
Year ago, shooting a gun was a rite of passage for boys and BB guns were common. Today, BB guns and bow and arrow sets are pretty much things of the past, but not at Outdoor Skills Day at MacKenzie Environmental Education Center in Poynette.
For one day each summer, kids learn how to shoot at targets, throw hatchets, cast a fishing line, cut wood, cook over a fire, start a fire without a match and lots more. I went with 13 kids ages 5 to 13 plus three parents.
At first, I was a little nervous, but once I saw how great the kids were behaving, I loosened up a bit. They were so respectful of each other and of the skills they were learning. The people at MacKenzie know what they’re doing. They made it safe.
The Bowhunters Association, DNR wardens and fisheries staff, and lots of volunteers were on hand to teach kids how to do things safely. They had the all the right equipment and plenty of room. Kids learned that shooting a gun wasn’t about killing people, but about concentration and skill. It was wonderful to see the kids so focused. I could see their self-confidence grow as they practiced. Experiential learning is so important for kids, especially high energy kids.
As a result of this trip, I’m inspired to bring an archery program to Goodman Community Center or to host our own Outdoor Skills Day. We could use a few more confident, respectful kids.
So what do you think? Do you think events like this are okay? What is your experience working with kids and outdoor skills?
Tania (age 5) and Buba (age eight) work the cross-cut saw.
Angel (age 13) shoots a muzzle loader with help from a Wisconsin Muzzle Loader Association volunteer.
Mari (age eight) gears up for archery.
Ebrahim (age 5) throws and then hits the target. His face says it all.
Gavin (age eight) gets instruction from a Wisconsin Muzzle Loading Association volunteer before taking aim.
