The Final Wakulla Springs Day of the Summer

The Tallahassee Homeschool Group has had some wonderful programs at Wakulla Springs this summer, but today was the last one for this year. The theme was nature art.

Blaze and I arrived about a hour early, so we found a nearby trail and took a walk.





The children were shown both impressionistic and realistic nature art, before going for a hike to collect materials to draw.





This was the display that Blaze brought back:







All of these programs end with the children being able to go swimming. Since public school started at the beginning of the week, this was the quietest I've ever seen the swimming area. It was a good day for cold spring water, too, since it was 95 degrees.





There were three manatees playing and eating near the swimming area.

The Tallahassee Homeschool Group's Service Project

Today was the Tallahassee Homeschool Group's service project at Wakulla Springs State Park. Ranger Jackie Turner gave a short, impromptu lesson about local and introduced insects



and then talked about the importance of keeping the park clean for the wildlife. The parents and children were all given gloves and plastic bags and spent about an hour cleaning up the picnic area.





So excited about finding trash!







After doing a great job of cleaning and getting all hot and sweaty, the children were able to go swim in the spring.



A manatee was swimming very close to that platform.

Learning About Fossils at Wakulla Springs

This morning, we went to the Tallahassee Homeschool Group's lesson about fossils at Wakulla Spring.















I really enjoy going to these programs! They are free to attend, are entertaining and educational, and they end with the children going swimming.

It's Hurricane Season Again

It has been predicted that 2014 will be a low risk year, but people have been advised to prepare anyway. By low risk, what they actually mean is, 10 tropical storms, 5 of those storms becoming hurricanes, and 2 becoming major hurricane.

Here is a list of the names that will be used for tropical storms this year:

The hurricane season began on June first.

Florida had a hurricane preparedness sales tax holiday from May 31 through June 8.

Three days worth of supplies is recommended for an emergency kit and I just finished collecting ours for this year. Three days worth of nonperishable food for three people is a surprisingly large amount of food. I chose only easily transportable items, incase we have to evacuate (so I'm not counting our 20 pound bag of rice as emergency food, although it will be very helpful if we are stranded in the house for a few days). To make sure that we really do have 3 meals per day for 3 days, I have placed each meal in a labeled ziplock bag. All of the meals for "Day 1" require no cooking, so that if that day is spent stuck in traffic on I-75, we can still eat.

This is what three days worth of food for 3 people looks like:

One of the fun things about this preparedness plan is that sometime around October, we get to eat all this and start collecting a new batch, so that nothing ever gets kept past its expiration date.

Geology of Springs and Sinkholes at Wakulla Springs

A week ago Thursday was the last homeschool day at Optimist Park, until school resumes in the Autumn. Yesterday was the first homeschool educational program, plus swimming, at Wakulla Springs State Park.

The topic was Geology of Springs and Sinkholes.





A demonstration of acid making calcite bubble:



Taking a walk to see two small sinkholes:

Sinkhole:

Time to cool off with a swim in the spring.

We are not exactly taking the summer off from school work. Too much would be lost during a three month vacation. So, the plan is to do school work Monday through Wednesday during the summer months, attend the educational programs at the Springs on Thursday morning, and have Thursday afternoon through Sunday off. Since we babysit Thursday afternoons and all day Friday and Saturday, this will make things much easier.

The Boogie Board

Michael's has boogie boards for $5 each. I have some left-over paint from other projects. Time to paint a custom boogie board to go with Blaze's Victorian swimsuit.

The board started off as blue with a shark in the middle, then I sprayed it with black plastic paint.




Free Kraken stencil:

http://3peppers-recipes.com/product/kracken-stencil/



I used "Liquid Leaf" metallic paints to paint the gears and octopus.

Ready to go play in the water:

Happy first day of summer!

Packing continues:



We still have one more month until we move, but I'm discovering how much stuff we have accumulated over the past eight years of living in Gainesville.

Summer is for...

All those craft projects that we had no time for during the school year,





trying new things, at your own pace,





playing in water,



Spending lazy afternoons with friends:

Mango Lassi

This refreshing yogurt drink from India, is the perfect thing for this hot weather. It's filling enough to be a light meal on those days when it's just too hot to eat. It is also a good beverage to accompany spicy foods.



Mango Lassi

2 large fresh mangos, peeled and cut into chunks

2 Cups vanilla yogurt

1/4 Cup honey

1 Cup milk

Place mango chunks in a blender and puree until smooth. Add yogurt, honey, and milk. Blend well. Chill before serving.

First Day of Summer: Exploring Inner-City Nature

I may have mentioned this before, but, Gainesville has an impressive amount of "green space" inside the city. This may be because much of it is swamp and therefore can't be developed, but never-the-less, it is nice to have all these little pockets of nature all around us.

Blaze had an appointment at prosthetics this morning to adjust the leg brace and stop it from squeaking, then both speech and physical therapy this afternoon, but we still found time to enjoy the first day of summer in nature, without ever leaving the city.









The inexplicable structure made of white doors, out in the woods.







It was 100 degrees today, so after the last therapy, Blaze and I went in search of a cool creek to play in. The water level was pretty low, because we are in desperate need of rain, but it was still fun to wade around, looking at tiny fish.







The troll under the bridge:



Happy Summer everyone!