The only way to explore a creek - is IN it!

We love when Dad has days off from work. We get to go on adventures to new places or show him places we have already been. The great thing about nature is that you can find something new on every outing, even if you return to a familiar location.

We also love when our kiddo takes the lead. We usally find ourselves in some crazy / awesome places. Dylan's choice of direction usually has us doing things we may not of done if he hadn't actually lead.

Little secret. . . I like when we have to follow Dylan, it usually ends up getting everyone dirty. ;)

Dylan & the crayfish we caught.

He couldn't wait to put them back! Haha

This guy was fun to see. I'm not even sure how we spotted him with how well he blends 

in. We must have been scanning the area for mushrooms. . . 

The week of our outings we choose one day to get caught up with our Nature Journaling. The photos we take are a decent reference, aside from some books we have and google, of course. :P Recently, we switched to a heavier water-colour paper for the journals. (The heavier ones hold up a lot better.) After we have filled the water-colour book, we select a few favorite entires to laminate and then add them to their own folders.

The best thing is, you can always add new research to your journals. And We like to use our's when we need to find resources for an art piece, or if we need to know something on the subjet matter at hand. It's fun to go back through our work and see what we were interested on that day, and what we chose to write down as facts, thoughts or wonders.

Another best thing, is that the kiddo doesn't even know he is learning. He is so focused on his findings and looking through the photos we took, that he doesn't realize he is learning art, how to read, how to write, how to spell, history, science and even some math.

All by doing something he is engaged in. 

Something he is interested in.