Field Trip Friday!

I made it a goal this summer to take the kids on some field trips. I had this same goal last summer and we didn't take a single one! I'm approaching it differently this summer - they are earning their Friday Field Trips! When they have collectively earned 20 tickets in their bucket, we get to choose from our list of destinations. They earn their tickets by: being respectful, being helpful to others, doing a task or a chore the first time we ask/suggest they do it, by being polite, and by generally just making good decisions.

Last Friday, we took our first trip to Sand Creek Trail at Bethel College (my cousin takes her boys there every once in a while - that's where the idea came from). My goodness has it changed in 12 years! When I was at Bethel, it was just getting started. I remember walking on it a lot my junior and senior years. It's really beautiful now - nice landscaping at the entrance along with a "Memorial Grove" where groups can meet. There's even a beautiful community garden out there that some Bethel students had a hand in creating and developing.

It was close to home, and not a very long field trip, but the kids had a pretty good time playing in the water and in the sand cave they discovered. It was a very sultry day, so walking in the water was a welcome relief!

We'll see where the next one takes us!

The girls wanted to be twins for the day!

Isn't this a strange and mysterious looking mushroom? At
least that's what I think it is!

We're hot!

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