Field Trip for Spencer

I had the pleasure of attending Spencer's first field trip of the school year to Dodge Nature Center today. We had a great time despite the mind numbing cold! As soon as we got on the bus, I had to pull out the camera - I got a couple self-portraits, but was then told by Spencer that I had taken enough! He obviously doesn't realize I need to document all of our fun for the blog! ;)

Once we arrived we met with the instructors for a quick lesson on what animals we may see (woodpeckers, squirrels, deer, rabbits...)and the different clues they may leave for us ( tracks, fur and the ever popular scat). Fortunately this was done in a mildly warm wooden structure...the rest of our time was outdoors. Once outside, we started our search and quickly found various tracks and scat of several animals. The only creature we actually saw was the woodpecker - I guess a group of twelve 1st graders made the animals run and hide...go figure!

After about 30 minutes, we headed over to a frozen pond and the kids were able to use kick-sleds. (It was at this time I realized the batteries in my camera died!) Finally we rounded up all the kids and it was time to head to the buses. It was a great time and I'm looking forward to our next field trip...which will be indoors!!!