Park Quest #3: Cunningham Falls State Park

For our next Park Quest we visited Cunningham Falls State Park (Manor Area) with some friends.  The Park has two different areas about 10-15 mins apart from each other. We visited the campground areas where Super Storm Sandy hit and unfortunately did quiet a bit of damage to the area.

This quest was a self guided quest where we had to follow clues to different locked boxes with more clues. Each clue gave us a new letter where we then had to unscramble to make up the word of our last locked box with a stamp for us to stamp our passports.

Throughout this quest we learned about Myth Busters. For example, Do snakes give off a smell?!? Can you hurt a turtle by touching it's shell? We also took a hike to the Catoctin Furnace where we took a bridge that was over the highway. The kids loved that!

Cunningham also has a tire park and an aviary that we visited.

Here are some pictures of our quest!

                                                                                

                                                                                                                                                                             

Park Quest #2: Seneca Creek State Park

I mentioned last week we crossed off another Park Quest and Bucket List activity! Canoeing at Seneca Creek State Park.

I wanted to give more detail about the quest and post some pictures!

The quest was at the beautiful Seneca Creek State Park located in Gaithersburg, MD. Because we are part of the Park Quest program and have our trusty Park Quest passport, we were allowed to check out two canoes, kayaks, or paddle boats. We opted for the canoe and, we only needed one for the 4 of us. We were given a map, a pencil, directions, an animal identification sheet and, life jackets!

The directions that were given to us stated we needed to follow the map to find 7 different posts. On those posts would be 3 different pictures of animal species found at Seneca Creek or in MD. We would then need to identify that species and write it down. If you get stumped there was an animal identification sheet that helped out.

Conner knew most of the animals names, he needed a little help with the different fish names. Carson enjoyed the ride and putting his hands in the water. The paddle around the lake took us about 1.5 hours. We were lucky to have a little bit of a breeze to help us along the way. If you go on this quests  or just to paddle around the lake, keep an eye out for a blue heron that hangs out there. He was so pretty. When we found him he was hunting for fish!

 After the quest we let the boys play at the fun tire park. While at the park a park ranger came over and held a short lesson on animals in MD. The boys got to identify animals by their skulls and fur.

Overall, we had a blast at this quest!

Semi Wordless Wednesday!

This past weekend we crossed off another Park Quest. We also crossed off another one of our Summer Bucket List activities!!

Canoeing!!!

Weekly Portrait Project {Week 1}

I have been following the Solar family over at The Happy Family Movement. One of their weekly posts is a portrait project where they post a weekly portrait of their children. They are collecting weekly portraits for their children for when they graduate! I am not sure if I can keep up until the kids graduate but, I'd love to try. I think it's a great idea. So here starts the 1st installment of the Giggles & Grass Stains family weekly portrait project!! If you decide to join me post your link below, I'd love to see your photos!

Semi Wordless Wednesday: Summer Bucket List #4: Fishing!!

The boys went fishing with their dad and pappy! They caught tons of fish!

I had to share this...it looks much worse than it was. He cried only for a little while getting it out. He was fine after. He went to cast his line and he did not reel it in before casting, it went out and came back at him hooking his face.  He was very lucky not to get his eye and it didn't hook in enough to make it bleed. He's a trooper!

Park Quest #1: South Mountain/Weverton Cliffs

We finally had time to go out on our 1st Park Quest of this Summer.  We chose the South Mountain quest that listed in the description, would be a 2 mile hike to the Weverton Cliffs. We were going with another family who also had a smaller child Carson's age. We were hesitant about making the full 2 mile hike up to the cliffs because we were told it was a hard hike. In the Park Quest book it describes it as a not for the faint and a 4 "Hat" difficulty. We decided we would hike to as far as we could and come back down.

We were pleasantly surprised by the young ones. They never once complained they were tired or wanted to quit. The older boys were super stars leading the way and even leaving the parents in the dust. The 2 mile hike taught us about the Appalachian trail, thru-hikers, about erosion and, switch- backs. The Cliffs overlooked the Potomac River, CSX Railroad, West Virgina, Virginia and, Maryland. It was such a beautiful view. 

We ended our quest with a trip to South Mountain Creamery which has some of the best ice cream! The boys both opted for mint chocolate chip while I got caramel sundae!

What a great 1st Quest! We can't wait for the next one!

Baseball and more baseball!

We have been extremely busy with baseball coming to an end. End of season parties, picnics and, tournament games. I am hoping this weekend to finally get a start on Park Quest. We are also hoping to make our 1st stop on the library passport later today.

It is also the last week of school for Conner. He has a classroom party today, awards tomorrow, and a "beach" day on Friday.  We can't wait for our Summer Fun to get started.

I wanted to share a couple pics from the past week!

The boys have both really loved playing baseball this season. We can't wait for the next one! :)

Wordless Wednesday: Summer Bucket List #2 - Picking Strawberries!

Great Outdoors Month: June

June is Great Outdoors Month!

Governor O'Malley's Partnership for Children in Nature kick off in June. He invites everyone to discover the Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights.

"June marks the end of school, the excitement and anticipation of summer, and the perfect time to encourage our children to connect with nature through outside activities,” said Governor O’Malley. “Celebrate Maryland Outdoors Days reminds everyone to take the time to enjoy and explore the unique sights, sounds and recreation our natural world provides.”


The activities start off on June 1st with National Trails Day!

It continues with free days of Fishing on June 1st and, June 8th.  During a free fishing day, a person may catch and possess fin-fish in the tidal and non tidal waters of the State for recreational purposes without an angler's license, Chesapeake Bay sport fishing license, or any fishing stamp normally required by the State, but shall otherwise observe all fishing laws and regulations.

Also on June 8th is National Get Outdoors Day!

Rounding out the Great Outdoors Month is The Great American Backyard Camp Out on June 22nd.

Check out more events going on in June in the State of Maryland here and here!

Summer Bucket List: Slip N Slide Fun!

The weather was finally warm enough to enjoy some play in the water. It was humid and the kids were playing outside, sweating. I recently bought a Slip N Slide to try out and thought it would be a perfect time to try it out. We could also cross something off our Summer Bucket list!

The kids, and a couple of their friends had a ball on it, once we figured out how to get the slide nice and wet!! (Soap works wonders too! ;) )

I want to look into getting another one so they can race each other. (I am loving this one!) The one I bought was just a cheap one from 5 below. It ended up breaking at the bottom by the time we were done. We followed all the rules and limits but, I guess the kids were just a bit rough.

It gave us a good hour of fun with friends. Even I wanted to jump on it and try it. They should make these for adults too!

Wordless Wednesday: Rainy Day Fun

Park Quest 2013

Excitement has hit the Giggles and Grass Stains house! Once again we have made it in to the Park Quest Program that Maryland Department of Natural Resources puts on every Summer.

Park Quest is a free program where families sign up to participate as a team (Needs to be at least one adult and a child under 16) to complete at least 10 of 24 different quests at different State Parks located in Maryland. The "quests" consist of activities like, canoeing, how to use a compass, learning Maryland's history during different periods, hiking, learning facts about flora and fauna in Maryland and, so much more. They only allow up to 1,000 teams enter the program. Registration took place last Monday at 6pm and was filled up within the first hour.

We have participated in Park Quest for 2 Summers now. It has been such a fun way to get the kids active and learning during the Summer.  We can't wait to start again. We have decided to add some additional activities to Park Quest this year to really expand our fun.  We are even hoping to add a couple minor league ball games to our trips this Summer. Visiting some local ball parks we haven't been to yet.  Here's a list of activities we hope to do before during or after park quest this year.

*Make Team T-Shirts
*Start a Park Quest Journal
*Visit Local Ball Parks
*Go Geo-caching
*Collect State Park pins/patches

*Iron on patches/pins to Park Quest duffel bags.

Here's a couple pictures from our favorite quests last year! 

Do you Park Quest? What's your team name?

Wordless Wednesday: Tadpoles

Wordless Wednesday: Bike to School Day!

Minor League hitting and Gardening!

This past weekend, the boys participated in a fundraiser for their baseball league. For every $5.00 they earned for the team they received "a hit" at The Harry Grove Stadium: The home of the Frederick Keys. Conner earned 10 hits and Carson earned 4. They both were to hit the balls into hula hoops strategically placed around the outfield. Each hoop had a designated prize! Conner got two of his 10 balls to hit hoops. He received an ice cream token and, a local bagel shop gift certificate. For Carson's league we moved up the hoops a bit, since they had a hard time getting them into hoops. Carson received an ice cream token, chips, a gift certificate to McDonalds and, free registration to Spring ball next year!! Wahoo!! What great prizes!

What fun we all had. A 5 hour day at a Minor League team's field, while seeing your boys light up every time they cracked that ball. Only thing we will remember next year, is sunscreen. We did get a little red.

We also had a great time working in our garden. We have all our vegetables in and are ready for them to grow and help us stay healthy. In our garden we have planted broccoli, green peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, and squash. We also let Carson go to the store to pick out some container veggies/fruits he wanted to plant. Carson has had the most interest in gardening. Conner likes it but seems to get bored fast. Carson picked out raspberries, snap beans, lima beans, and peanuts!! I was shocked when my husband showed me the peanuts! I am actually pretty excited to see how those turn out. We have done some research on the plants and think we are good to start planting them and see how they take off. We don't have the best green thumbs but, we are going to try and get better at it! It will be a learning process for us all!!

I will continue to check in with everyone to show you how our container garden and, garden bed are doing. We are also looking into joining a CSA. Do you know what a CSA is? Are you a part of one? How do you like it if so?

Wordless Wednesday: Our friendly grass-fed neighbors!

Our Family Summer Bucket List!

Every year we sit down together as a family and each of us comes up with ideas of some activities we want to do during the Summer. Then at the beginning of the Summer I try to plug them all into our calender with a back up activity in case of  rain or some unforeseen incident.Of course some ideas might not make it on our calender and, others not listed here might make our calendar.  Here is a copy of our list. Some are activities we did last year and, some are new ideas. I can't wait for Summer time to get here.

*Go for a hike                      *Make Family Park Quest shirts
*Take a bike ride                  *Paint a Canvas
*Go canoeing                       *Make ice cream in a bag
*Make Smores                     *Have a bike wash
*Tent camp                           *Visit a carnival
*Play in the sprinkler            *Use oil pastels
*Visit the Library                  *Family game night
*Start a Summer journal       *Go to $ movie theaters
*Strawberry picking              *Visit a nature center
*Go fishing                            *Fort Magic Fun
*Tour an ice cream store        *Iron on our patches to duffel bags
*Go to the beach                    *Sidewalk Chalk
*Go to the lake                       *Eat on the patio
*Go bowling                          *Go to a baseball game
*Have a picnic                       *Cabin weekend
*Have an Outdoor movie       *Ride a horse
*Go to the zoo/petting zoo     *Go to a new park
*Go to a pool                          *Eat Crabs
*Go to a Water Park               *Play in the creek
*Make a salad using our grown vegetables         *Go to bounce place
*Visit a Farmers Market          *Visit Grandma's
*Watch Fireworks                    *Slip and Slide Fun
*See a play                               *Go to a rodeo

** I decided to cross of the items we have done to see if we can complete them all!! **

Weekly recap!

What a fun week we had!

Our week consisted of lots of baseball, a nature center visit, starting our vegetable garden, a visit from some beautiful wildlife and, a visit to grandma's house! I'd say it was one of the most fun filled weeks this Spring.

Both my boys are involved in baseball this Spring. It takes up a lot of our time. The youngest plays on a Tee-ball team where he practices on Thursdays and plays his game on mostly Saturdays. The oldest practices 1 day a week (usually a Wednesday) and plays his games 2 days a week (usually Monday and Saturday). So for 4 days out of the week we are at the field. It is stressful and busy at times but, the boys really enjoy it. Carson wants to go everyday and see his friends and hit the ball. Conner has improved so much over the past couple weeks. His confidence is soaring. That's all we ever wanted from baseball was to allow our boys to make new friends, have some fun and, build their confidence up. Conner played in the fall and was very down on himself. Didn't think he was good enough. We have seen leaps and bounds of improvement with that this season. We are so proud of them both.

We are so lucky to live on the land that we do. There are so many wild animals that come to visit. We love to walk around and see what types of tracks we find. Deer, geese, turkey, even a fox print here and there.  This week, while sitting down at the pond we kept seeing this beautiful bird fly above us. We had never seen it before. It's feathers were very black with a peek of red/orange and yellow. We at first didn't see the yellow and thought it must be an Oriole. After taking some pictures and looking through our binoculars we finally saw the yellow. It wasn't an Oriole but, we had no clue what it was. We went indoors and researched it online. We discovered it was a Red Winged Black Bird. Such a very pretty bird. He also has a very distinct call. We enjoyed discovering him and learning about him.
Some fun facts we enjoyed were:
*Only the male is Black with a red shoulder and yellow wingbar. The female is a blackish brown color.
*They enjoy wetlands and marshes especially areas with cattails. (Which we have)
*They make their nest in the cattail brushes usually anywhere between 3in and 14 ft above water.
*One males will protect sometime up to 10 females. He will swoop and attack bigger birds and even have been known to swoop down on humans to scare them away from their nests.

We also had another visit this week from a Great Blue Heron. Again, once we saw him/her we weren't sure what it was. We all thought it was a crane. After pictures and identifying it on the internet, we discover it was in fact a Great Blue Heron (Or so we think). It is such a beautiful heron. Unfortunately, he is eating a lot of her fish. I sort of hope it doesn't stay long. But, I don't want to disrupt it in case it has babies somewhere. We learned a little about this Heron. We aren't sure if our friend is a male or female. We learned that the male are larger and have longer bills. However, we have only seen one so we don't have anything to compare it to. Among our search we also found a live webcam of a beautiful Great Blue Heron couple and their nest. We have really enjoyed watching them take after the nest.

During the weekend we took a trip to a local Nature Center. They were having an event there with venders, live animals and, a turtle demonstration. The boys tasted some herbs. Their favorite was the mint and their least favorite was the basil. They also planted some catnip for our cat Diesel. They held a couple different species of snakes, a toad and, a beautiful wood turtle. We then listen to a presentation about different turtle species we can find in out state. The boys really enjoyed the event.

Lastly, we started our family vegetable garden. The boys helped weed and dig the garden. We then decided what we wanted to plant. We decided on Broccoli, Green Peppers, Tomatoes, Squash and, Zucchini.  The boys also want to try a couple container gardens too. We're thinking lettuce, strawberries,and a variety of peas and green beans! It is still a little cool for some of our vegetables so we decided to only plant our broccoli this weekend. The boys had fun putting a bit of soil in the holes, placing the broccoli plant in and then covering them back up. It all went very fast as all things with boys do. Next time I think I will slow them down a bit more and have them each do a step with me. I don't think they took time to enjoy the moment.

See Conner is so fast, I hardly got any pictures with him. Except silly ones! ;)

Overall, we had a very fun with nature week. We can't wait for warmer weather and more outdoor activities. Come back as I update everyone on our life-cycle of the toads and frog in the pond. We finally have tadpoles!!