It was so nice to get to come in the fall, and see all the wonderful colors of the trees. It was breathtaking. Not to mention the fact that it had rained all day, and between the smell of the rain and the damp leaves on the ground, it created this earthy heavy scent that was amazing.
We got to the cabin and explored, and made hamburgers for dinner.
It was nice to have a tv and video game free evening! We got to play the Very Hungry Caterpillar Game and Apples to Apples.
mmmmmmmmmmmmm, hot chocolate and smores....
It is our usual tradition to have birthday donuts for birthday breakfast, but I decided since we were "camping" we needed a much cooler birthday breakfast. I made red velvet chocolate chip pancakes with a cream cheese glaze. Roman's favorite color is red.
Melissa had suggested having a scavenger hunt for Roman's birthday present after she heard we were going to flint ridge, and Roman loved the idea. It was all he could talk about for the week leading up to the trip, was how he was going to get to have a scavenger hunt for his birthday present. Alan & Bourbon set it up and worked out the clues, and after breakfast Roman set out on his quest for his gift.
Then we spent some time exploring, taking pictures of trees, collecting leaves, pinecones, acorns and other interesting things we could find. Before we left we had gone to the library and checked out lots of books on trees, birds, insects, and nature so we could still learn something on this trip. The boys had to look up and see what the trees were, and dee if they could identify insects, etc.
we found these interesting looking things on some of the leaves, and wondered if it was a caccoon or egg sac of some kind. We put it in a bug container and brought it home, and learned after we got home that it is a fungus called an oak gall, and wasps help create it, and lay their eggs in it! Very interesting!
the recent rain and fallen leaves created the perfect conditions to look for mushrooms too! I have always loved mushrooms, I think the fascination with them comes with them being associated with fairies and gnomes, which we all know I am in love with. :) But I have always thought it would be fun to go on a mushroom forage, the people that do it say the wild edible mushrooms are so good and such fun to hunt. So we found as many different kinds as we could all around the different areas. We put them in baggies and brought them home, and after we got back home I checked out some mushroom books from the library so we can look them up and see what kinds they are. Alan even found a HUGE one! (no he didn't really eat it, he's just being silly as always.....)
After that we went down to the river, which due to the recent storms/floods was WAY up. It came all the way over the shore and up over the road which leads to the shore.
We ran across a beavers den, which was pretty cool. All of the wood around it had teeth marks in them, and lots of the wood had the bark chewed off of it.
When we went to Flint Ridge in August, we were saddened to learn a tornado had ripped through it and destroyed the camping area we had been staying at for years. I have in fact been going to flint ridge since I was 11, and my favorite part of it was always this little waterfall in the creek. In August we went and it was dried up, because there were so many trees that had fallen in the creek and blocked the path of the water. This time we were excited to see that the creek was flowing and full, and my waterfall, was soooooo full the entire area was filled up!!
Roman managed to catch a couple of crawdads and lots of minnows, he was super excited.
After playing in the creek for a while we came back to the cabin and ate lunch, and had a cookie cake for Roman's bday.
After we packed up and checked out of the cabin, we went to another part of the river and went let the kids fish for a while. Scott, Roman's "big", gave him a fishing pole for his birthday and he was excited to use it for the first time. They didn't have any luck, but they enjoyed trying.
Then we went over to the little lake and fished off of the dock. We didn't have any luck there either, but they still had fun. :)
After that it was time to say good bye to Flint Ridge. I'm so glad we got to go and enjoy the fall beauty of the place, we normally only get to see it in the summer.
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