Learning at the WNC Nature Center

     The Western North Carolina Nature Center is an excellent place to learn about animals and plants native to the southern Appalachian region.  Even though Amelie and Liam are young, there were so many hands-on opportunities and activities that allowed them to engage with what was being presented to them.  One of the best learning experiences was Amelie earning her "Wild Child" patch.  Guests can check out a pack filled with gear to explore the grounds for free.  Amelie was at the young end of the spectrum for who the pack was designed for, but as a science teacher I loved this idea.  She was given an activity packet in which she had to choose 3 activities in order to earn the patch.  The activities varied from measuring soil temperature, bird watching, measuring the circumference of trees, scavenger hunts, and more.  The tools inside the pack included binocular, looking glass, ruler, butterfly net, plant and animal identification book, colored pencils, and so much more.  She chose to do the scavenger hunt in which she had to look at a picture and determine what it was, and then check it off once she found the animal in the center.  For instance, the picture would be of a tail of a deer.  She had to determine it was a deer tail and then once we saw the deer, she would check it off.  The other activity she chose to do was measure the circumference of her head and then find a tree that was close to the same circumference.  She then had to identify the tree using her guide book.  Bobby is so great at asking her good questions and helping her without giving her the answers or doing it for her.  I love seeing her wheels churning as she processes and is challenged to learn and do new things.  The last activity she chose was to draw an insect doing an activity.  She chose to draw an ant carrying it's eggs.  After this fun experience, I told Bobby that I wanted us to make a pack with all the fun measurement tools for the kids to have. ;)  Such a great idea!!

Amelie and Liam searching for the snake.  We were able to learn about the snake that we saw while hiking as well.  Liam then told anyone who came looking at the specific snake that we saw one just like it while hiking.  He made sure that they knew it did not bite us.

Hellbender, a giant salamander 

Checking out a skunk.

Amelie humoring Liam with a puppet show.

Amelie and Liam now humoring Bobby and I with a show.  I love how silly and imaginative they are!

Amelie working on her activities to earn her Wild Child badge.

Whew, it's not real!  Gave them quite a scare when they rounded the corner!

     We had so much fun that we had to go back another day.  We had a little more time and brought a picnic lunch so we were able to leisurely walk through the center.  One of the areas that the kids enjoyed hanging out in was the farm area.  They brushed the sheep and goats for a while.  They also loved pretending they were farmers and using the farmers tools.  I enjoyed sitting in the shade for a while and watched them work.

Preparing the ground for planting.  Amelie enjoys leading and instructing.  She gave specific jobs for Liam to do and he happily complied.

Planting the seeds in neat rows.

They planted and harvested many times.

Harvesting the vegetable.  I loved seeing their teamwork. 

    We also enjoyed learning about otters.  We were able to see the otters being fed on both occasions.  We learned about the specific otters living at the Nature Center as well as otters in general.  We were able to see what otters like to eat (fish) up close and talk with the caretaker of the otters.  The kids would tell you the best part was sliding down the slide and playing just like the otters like to play.

     The spider playground, cave experience, and turtle pond were also a lot of fun.  Throughout our visit we marveled at the uniqueness of each animal. Observing details like red eyed turtles are males and yellow eyed turtles are females point to a Creator who is imaginative and into the details.  I hope Amelie and Liam continue to enjoy learning about the complexities of this world and its amazing Creator!

Establishing Our Beach Living Routines

We have quickly settled into living at the beach routines. When the weather is above freezing (crazy I have to add that clause), we head to the beach for a sunset stroll or a morning spent playing in the sand. We fish, dig huge holes, play tag, collect shells, jump off the sand cliffs just to name a couple of our favorite activities. 

 

Liam and Amelie love playing with the sticks. 

Near our house is a bridge over to the beach.  Amelie and Liam love racing up and down.  We often will walk to the beach here if we are not wanting to get too sandy.

Amelie and Liam playing in a  large hole/tunnel Bobby and I dug through the sand cliff.

It took Bobby and I over an hour to dig it, but we were proud of our accomplishment.  However, we were too afraid of it collapsing to let the kids crawl through…although they didn't want to crawl through.  

Liam holding a ghost shrimp which is the bait Bobby catches and uses to fish.

Liam loves fishing just like his dad.

Amelie is an expert sand cliff jumper these days.  We race from the sea oats to jump off the cliff.

We have also enjoyed reuniting with our snowbird friends. Bobby fishes with about 4 guys regularly and they all love our kids. What I have found mildly amusing is that even people that we hadn't met last year knew us. I have had more than one person say, "Oh, you're the one who lost the fishing pole out to sea." (story here) Yes, that was me. Glad my reputation proceeds me and we have joined local beach lore. ;) Sounds like that story was enjoyed long after we left last year. 

You can see our friends spread out fishing along the shore.  Liam will walk to each of their buckets to keep tabs on who has caught what.

The town house feels like home even though most of the things within the house are not owned by us. I guess because it is familiar. We did bring a toy box full of toys with us.  It feels like a lot of toys since they were used to only having what could fit in a duffle bag.  The kids continue to love sharing a bedroom. 

Playing in (and destroying) their bedroom on a day it was icy and snowing outside.

Bobby and I have a king size bed which allows us to sleep the entire night without even coming close to touching each other. It's SO nice. ;)  We also have loved having bathtubs again…and huge ones at that. The kids have enjoyed a good number of bubble baths lately.  Since it is a jacuzzi tub, we occasionally turn on the jets which brings forth an explosion of screams and giggles.  

Bobby and I have continued to stay busy with our jobs.  We love who we work for and are so thankful that is the case. We are working normal hours again since we are on the same time zone which has allowed for us to go to bed at a more respectable hour. 

Both kids attend preschool 3 days a week. Amelie absolutely loves going. She counts the days until it's time to go again. She loves her friends and her teacher. Liam on the other hand is not as sold. Poor guy. I'm hoping with time he will enjoy going and not miss his family too much. Bobby and I have been able to focus on work as well as go on some lunch dates. We have found that by the kids going to school, we are able to have more quality time with them when they are at home. I'm thankful the preschool is such an amazing place with good staff. 

First day of school in front of the school's playground.

When it has been uncharacteristically cold, we play inside, drink hot chocolate, watch movies, and make crafts. We also went bowling for the first time as a family and the kids had a blast! 

The ball was almost too heavy for Liam to manage, but he would not accept any help.  He did drop the ball a couple of times but it never managed to drop on anyone's toes.

Amelie spent time lining up her ramp and had her own style in pushing her ball.  

When we are not playing at the beach we are going to story time at the library, playing at the "Wood Park" playground, and walking around the zoo.  Since the large castle themed playground is across the street from their school, we have spent many afternoons there playing.  Some of Amelie's classmates have joined us which makes it even more fun.  Our other favorite after school activity is to run through the zoo.   The kids love feeding the animals.  It's a really nice zoo with a good variety of animals.  We found out that the cats are fed right after the zoo closes.  Since we go an hour before the zoo closes, this explains why they are so active.  One day, Bobby decided to talk to the tigers and he got talked back to…multiple times.  At one point, the tiger stood up and swatted at the fence.  I did not get that on video but I did get the tiger talking a little.  

After 3 cages of tigers and 1 of lions (all who were pacing and vocal), I caught this video of Liam telling Bobby he did not want Bobby eaten. 

We love having the beach for our back yard. We are loving this city as well.  The community is small and offers lots of fun activities for families. We are hoping to get more connected and meet some people our age. ;)   Who knows what the future holds, but for now we are loving beach life!!

Walking on our dock on the backside of the townhouse over the lagoon.

Side Stop on the Way to Croatia: Ancona, Italy

I am sure that our experience in Ancona was atypical.  By staying in one spot (literally) in the middle of nowhere for almost 2 days, we were able to connect with the people.  We connected with our hosts as well as our waitress.  The bed and breakfast was really more like an in-law suit as we had our own little apartment connected to the house.  Amelie and Liam slept on a futon fold-out in the kitchen area.  This really baffled Amelie that we allowed such strange accommodations.  

We did not take any pictures of the property, however I found this picture on my phone that Amelie took.  I guess she wanted to make sure we always remembered the time we made her sleep in the kitchen.

Since we could only explore as far as we could walk, we spent our time at the zoo, eating at the zoo restaurant, and hanging in our host's garden. 

The first day we went to the zoo we were the only visitors.  The second day we went to the zoo was All Saints Day and we were joined by many other families.  Amelie and Liam were more interested in the playground equipment on the second day than the animals, but that was okay.   The zoo was smaller, but had a lot of neat animals that could be seen up-close.  Our favorite was the lion family, seeing ostrich eggs, getting up-close and personal with the camel, and monkeys.  Liam is mastering the art of small talk and would go to each animal and tell them his name followed by the fact that he "is doing fine."  Amelie and Liam both love climbing.  They climb on everything these days!

This mommy monkey (baby not in the picture) and Liam were amazed by each other.  He laughed and laughed as the monkey looked at him and touched the glass.

This camel was very interested in us.  Amelie and Liam were very intimidated by the size and closeness of this animal (and rightfully so), but Bobby encouraged them to interact.  However, Bobby and I grew nervous that the camel would spit on him! ;) It didn't but we all were laughing so hard at the thought of the possibility!

I can't tell if they are enjoying checking out the animal or just being able to climb.  This area contained zebras (and a baby zebra) and ostriches.

Ostrich eggs!

The lion family.  We were also able to see them up close from the window on the other side of their rock too.

Climbing, climbing, climbing...keep those little boys climbing...Climbing!!!  (Sung in the tune of Rawhide)

Liam talking to his goat friends.

Climbing on the rail to get a good look at the hippo.  The hippo was asleep one day but awake another day...blowing bubbles and rolling over in the water.  

Amelie enjoys spinning in the swing so she wound Liam up to let him spin.

I love this action picture!  As you can see he had a blast once released. 

Watching the Puma pace.

Having fun in one of the tunnel slides.

The zoo restaurant was on the nicer side, not a typical attraction food site.  Our waitress was very kind to us as she spoke little English and we spoke even less Italian.  We also found out that the items listed on the menu were for two people.  After the first day of not really knowing how to order, we had enough food to make it on the last day with left-overs.

I cannot say enough good things about our hosts.  Although they could speak some English, we did a lot of gesturing trying to bridge the language barrier.  Their son (in his 40's) came around frequently to join in the conversation and would translate.  They had a cat, Mow, which the kids loved to chase around and play with.  They also had an area with toys for their 2 year old grandson.  On the second day, they pulled out the toys for the kids to play with before we did our rest time.  They were extremely kind and generous to us!  They were constantly bringing us food, snacks, or wine.  Bobby enjoyed sitting around with other men discussing history, European economics, and differing educational systems over glasses of local wine and regional liqueurs.  You will have to ask Bobby about some of the words of wisdom Robby (our paternal host in his 70's) passed on to him.  I will give you a hint:  it was about women and wine.

If ever you want to retreat in the Italian countryside, I would highly recommend this spot!