Cherokee Field Trip Adventure

My children have really enjoyed Little House on the Prairie but gained the perception that Indians were bad.  I decided to do a unit study on Indians (Native Americans) to help them to see the other side of the story. 

We have enjoyed learning more about our ancestors…both my Great, Great Grandmother on my Mom’s side and my Great Grandmother on my Dad’s side are full blooded Cherokee.  Chris also has Cherokee in his family.  Arianna got a lot of those hidden genes it seems. 

Our dear friends have also been discussing Native Americans.  We decided to take a field trip to Cherokee to learn more.

In this blog are general trip pictures.  The following 2 blog entries will be more specific….

We stayed with Nanny overnight before leaving for Cherokee.  Nanny decided to join us on our field trip and we greatly enjoyed her company!

 

Above the kids are vegging in front of the TV for a moment.  

Ari and Carden in front of the mountains

 

all of us in front of the Great Smokey Mountains!  

On our way back to Nanny’s from Cherokee we went on an adventure.  We stopped wherever looked interesting.  We found this really neat Forestry Museum that had free admission for the day.  The kids enjoyed a scavenger hunt inside the museum. 

The kids learned about the water cycle.  The pretended to be rain drops and went through the water cycle.

We got to take a simulated helicopter ride to put out forest fires.  

We went up to Nanny’s mountain house and enjoyed being on top of the world:)

The kids enjoyed rolling down the hill in front of Nanny’s mountain house.

On our way back home, we stopped by an Apple Cider Mill and learned a bit about how Apple Cider is made. 

We had a great time on our 4 day adventure!  The kids miss Carden and Kessler today!  Ryan is begging to go over to see them this morning:) 

Ari lost her 2nd tooth

She literally lost it!  She was playing with a water bottle in her car seat and I turned back and she had blood everywhere.  She didn’t even realize it.  I asked her if her tooth had come out and she checked and sure enough it was gone.  We haven’t been able to find it. We looked all around her car seat so not sure if she swallowed it or what.

The other tooth that is coming in pushed the 2nd tooth out.   Her baby teeth are so nicely placed that they don’t leave much room for these huge adult teeth.  I am interested in what her dentist is going to say about that.  I haven’t taken a picture to post because you really can’t tell she lost a tooth.  The other adult tooth just moved up into it’s place. 

She is growing up way too fast!

Castle McCulloch

We went on a field trip to a Rock Quarry/old Gold Refinery/Castle yesterday.  We had a great time despite the rain!   

The kids were excited to see a suit of armor (even if it was just in the gift shop)

This was the rock quarry.  We watched them work some while we listened to the construction worker tell us some about the quarry.  It was amazing how big that hole was.  We learned that all of the rocks in the quarry were quartz and they are mainly used for driveways and roads.

Ari took that pic of me and Ryan

The castle grounds were beautiful.  We spent some time inside of a replica of the Crystal Palace in England. It was a smaller version but we were able to tell why it was built the way it was.  The acoustics are amazing in the center of the room. (didn’t take any pics)

Here the kids are in front of the “castle” on the “drawbridge”.  It actually is not a real castle.  We learned that the gentleman that bought it in 1982, first saw the place when he was a kid.  Someone said “Do you want to go see this haunted castle in the woods?”   He ended up purchasing the property later.   The building was originally a gold refinery mill.  The building was used in the civil war as a hospital and was also used in WW1.  Now it is home to many weddings and proms. 

Lastly we panned for Gems.  This was the kids favorite activity!  They both found some beautiful gems!

If you are interested in more info on Castle McCulloch visit here.

Farming Day

We have decided to volunteer our time twice a month at an organic farm.  We want to learn how to farm as well as lessons about hard work.  Today was our first day volunteering.  We pulled weeds to prepare for some fall plantings.  Along the way, we found many neat insects and a lizard. 

After our hard work at the farm, we met dear friends at the park.  Arianna found a caterpillar (which came home with us).  She name her Lily.  The kids also put on a play of the Three Little Bears.    

Notice Ari’s caterpillar on her dress above.

Arianna was Goldilocks first.  

Here Arianna is Momma Bear and below Alana is Goldilocks.

How many kids can you fit on one stroller??

New Daisy

 

Today was Arianna’s 1st day of Girl Scouts.  She was nervous at first but had a good time with new (and some old) friends. 

Death of a Pet

Well the thought-to-be-immortal fish Daniella proved us wrong today.  I found her dead in the bowl this morning.  Arianna has taken it pretty hard.  She has cried a couple of times today.  Ryan at first tried to say that Daniella would wake up soon.  Arianna wanted to bury Daniella in her Lego Indian Jones box .  Ryan didn’t want to bury her since “she wouldn’t be able to get out when she woke up.”  We buried Daniella underneath the tree in our front yard.  Arianna put a butterfly flower in the box with Daniella.  After the burial, we sat and talked about death and our fish that lived far longer than she should have.  Ari was concerned about Daniella’s soul and if it was in heaven with God now.  We said a prayer for our fish and laid a rock with a cross on top of where we buried her.  Ari also laid one of our morning glories on top of the grave.  Arianna is upstairs now coloring pictures to put on Daniella’s grave tomorrow.