Medieval Times - A Field Trip

We said we wouldn't step near a mall or shopping center on Black Friday. Like a five mall radius near zone.

Instead, we decided to go to a Medieval Times dinner and tournament on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

We drove over an hour on mostly interstates to get to the castle, which happened to be located - wait for it -

at a mall! We could not believe it. It never occurred to us that the castle would be housed in a mall. Ugh.

 

 

However, the experience was worth it! We had a meaty Medieval feast complete with 1/2 a chicken and a spare rib each, and watched a tournament. We cheered for the red knight as that is the section we were seated in. Afterwards, we were able to meet the knight and get his autograph.

 

 

It was a fabulous field trip that made our studies on the Middle Ages spring to life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raspberry Picking

That apple orchard grows more than just apples. Across the street there is another U-Pick section. Raspberries, grapes, and blackberries grow there. One year, we picked grapes. This year, we opted to cap off our morning of apple picking with raspberry picking. Since we have never picked raspberries, it was a new experience for us.

Just because we had picked almost 60 pounds of apples, we were not shy about picking raspberries. Especially when they tasted so sweet!

With our five pounds of raspberries, we left the orchard. If you are doing the math...we had picked almost 65 pounds of fruit one morning!

Apple Picking in the Orchard

Every year, we try to take a trip out to the U-Pick orchard. Fresh apples, carefully selected, picked, and purchased by our family seem to be an autumn family tradition for us.

Our first orchard trip was four states away when our oldest was a babe. We were living in New England and had found a nearby orchard. We strapped our newborn to my husband and trudged through the orchard, picking a handful of apples.

Since that time, our family has increased and our children have grown, but each year, we try to get out to an orchard and pick fresh apples.

Sometimes, we count the trip as a field trip. There are, after all, many educational opportunities to be seized during our time there. Including several informative and interactive signs.

This year, we just counted it as one fun family memory!

Learning the Art of Orienteering

Labor Day weekend found us in the woods. We were camping at a state park which happened to have an orienteering course. Our oldest was enthralled, and the rest of us were along for the adventure. Well, truth be told, one of us dislikes hiking, but she made a gallant effort...actually a Herculean effort when, at one point, we had to troop through thick woods blazing our own trail as we went. It was very much out of her comfort zone, but she courageously met the challenge.

Orienteering is, according to the state park's website, "the art of map and compass reading." Basically, we picked up this flyer at the office.

It is not a trail map. Instead it reveals the area where each marker post is located. Those are the circles you see on the map. Each marker post is numbered or lettered. They look like this:

The upper left corner shows the marker post number and the lower right corner is the letter you write on your brochure to prove you actually saw the marker post.

From post to post you are on your own. With the aid of the map, a compass, and your own ingenuity, you decide how to get from post to post.

You can walk or run to the next marker.

We chose to walk, or be carried...

It took us about two hours or so to find all the markers - a bit long for little legs.

Some of the marker posts were easy to find. Others were a bit more tricky.

We found each and every one. {Mainly because it was important to our oldest son to finish the course and we wanted to support him.}

In the end, we were all glad we had found each marker post and finished the course...even our not so outdoorsy gal...after all, it counted for a day of school and she "didn't even have to do Latin."

A Definite Dollar Day Deal

We've been there before, years ago for this very same deal. Just one dollar got us into a local natural history museum. It was a deal indeed!

This time around, we started with the egg collection. It is a favorite of mine as it reminds me of all the incubators and birds my Great-Grandfather had at his house. He raised a variety of birds. It was an educational trip every time we visited him. He would always take us to see what was 'new'.

While observing the eggs a museum worker brought this little guy around for visitors to see.

Next, we went into a Nature Nook room. Though there were many hands on activities in the room, one of our favorite items was this...

a pinned display of giant grasshoppers.

From the Nature Nook, we entered the special exhibit: Bugs. There were drawers full of pinned bugs, a place to make a large felt insect,

and even a stag beetle demo.

 

However, the main portion of the special exhibit was a display of larger than life bugs.

 

Each bug was hand crafted by an artist.

The details were amazing.

A side display box showed all the tools the artist used to create the larger than life bugs.

After the special exhibit, we toured the rest of the museum and ended our time within the museum at this interactive mural featuring more insects.

 

Once again, dollar days were a fabulous deal!