Weekly Portrait Project {Week 4}

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!

Behind the Camera!

Over the weekend my oldest went to a beginners photography class. He had such a fantastic time. All the volunteers were so helpful. They taught him so much. We took about an hour to walk around downtown. We saw plants, animals, architecture, patterns and, people. Conner really has a great eye for beautiful things. I was taking some photos along with him and he got a lot of things I didn't see.

After we walked around snapping photos, we went back inside where we got to rate all of our pictures 0-2. 0: being one we didn't really like or was out of focus. 1: being one we so so liked but maybe there was something a little off. 2: Was one we really enjoyed. Then we took all the 2's and narrowed it down to the best one. He got to print the best one off to hang at the local library. We can't wait to go back later this week to see it hung up with the rest of the class photos. I couldn't believe all that they did and that it was totally free!! What a treat!!

Here's a couple photos I got of Conner!

Here are a couple of his favorite shots!! The lily is hanging at the library and he titled it "Flower Reflections".

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!

Summer Fun doesn't have to break the bank!

Since making our Summer bucket list, I have had a lot of people telling me they can't make a bucket list because they don't have a lot of money to spend this Summer.

This Summer our family has decided to try and save as much money as we can. Last year, we spent a lot on trips, gas, and treats. We wanted to prove to those people it can still be done.

I have already mentioned some free programs and low cost activities already in the past month. Dig into Reading, Library visits, Park Quest, and Slip n slide fun. Some more that we enjoy are lake visits at a local State Park, Swimming, crafts, water balloon fights, playing in the creek, chalk drawing, park visits, free bowling, and so many more. There are a ton of ways you can still be budget friendly while having fun this Summer.

Last weekend, we tried out another free program for the first time. The Build and Grow program that Lowes puts on at their stores. They hold these workshops on specific Saturdays throughout the month. During your visit you are given all the supplies to make that weeks activities and a patch of completion. At your first visit you are also given a certificate, an apron and safety goggles. My boys had a fantastic time and were begging to go back. Everything is free but, you do need to go online and register for a spot at your local store.

My boys made a Monster's University wooden treasure chest. Then, they decorated them with stickers. Their chests both turned out amazing!!

Dig into Reading

Now that school is coming to an end here, we will be taking time during the Summer to keep up with our learning. We joined two different reading clubs to help keep the reading skills fresh as well as, reading independently and, as a family.

Here in Maryland, our public library has a program called Dig into Reading. It has a couple different components to it.  The first is to complete each burrow of 6 reading activities. Once finished and crossed off,  you can bring in your sheet and receive a prize. There are 3 rows of 6, resulting in 3 prizes.  Another component is, each participant is to try and read 600 minutes or more in 3 months to earn an additional prize. Lastly, there are 8 different libraries within our county. If each participant visits all 8 they will be entered in a drawing to win a grand prize.

Both of my boys are signed up for this program for the first time this year. We look forward to visiting each library for events/programs.  It will also be the first time Carson will have a library card! He is very excited to be able to check out books.

There is also a free program being offered through Barnes and Noble. Each child (grades 1-6) is asked to read 8 books and record them in their journal (downloaded) and to let them know to whom you would recommend each book, and why. Once you have done that, you can turn in your journal for a free book of your choice. (Off the suggested list)

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!

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!!

Continuing our Pond Study

We are continuing our pond study this week with learning the life-cycle of our toads and frogs. However, I wanted to share with you something we did last week to learn the difference between our new little friends in the pond.

Last week, while taking our walk around the pond the boys were pointing out what they saw. They kept calling out frog, toad, bull frog but, they had no clue what was what. I shared with them the difference between the amphibians. I talked to them about their appearances, and where they lived. After discussing with them these difference. They went around telling me which was which. They got most of them correct.

The next day, I wanted to test Carson to see if he remembered. I found this really cool free printable over at Deceptively Educational of a frog and toad. I printed that out on some heavy card stock for Carson to paint. After he was done painting them, we discussed which one he thought was the frog. (The drawings are a bit hard to tell the difference) He figured out the frog was the one with the skinnier, longer legs with webbed toes. The top half of the two drawings really had no difference, so we discussed what in real life was the difference between the frog and toad's skin. Carson continued to tell me the toad's back was bumpy and the frogs was smooth. To represent the toads bumpy skin, we glued on some beans.

Lastly, I helped Carson cut out the frog and toad and we glued them on to their correct habitats. I was really impressed that he remembered most of what we learned out at the pond the day before. He really enjoyed making these. We have since removed them from their habitats and added brads to make them moveable. Carson has been hopping them all around all weekend!

Welcome to Giggles and Grass Stains!

Hi everyone!

I'm Shannon. I am a mom of 2 active, fun boys. We live in a pretty big city in Maryland. Some of you may already be following me from Momma on the Run. I appreciate you coming on over to my new project!

For the last three years, I have been blogging about my weight loss and running experiences. However, for the past couple months I've been having a hard time getting motivated to write a blog post over there. It's not that I don't still enjoy running. It's just not something I'm doing as much of. The races and training for them were taking up a lot of my family time. Not to mention my PF injury.
My blog post were pretty scarce.

I have been thinking about starting this new blog now for about three months, and finally it's here!! I have in the past heard things like "You're so busy with the boys" "You are so creative with crafts for the boys" "How did you make those?". I figured why not just share them all in one place.

So, enter in Giggles and Grass Stains!!! A blog about my adventures with my family. Trips, days out, crafts, fun activities..etc. During the warmer temps we are always outdoors getting into something. Getting outdoors at least once a day is something our family is very adamant about. We wish that more children and families would spend their time outdoors getting to know nature. I hope that my blog might even help a family see how fun it is and get out there.

Please stick around! Add Giggles and Grass Stains to your favorites list, your blog rolls etc. and, come back and check out what we've got in store. Right now, the boys and I are working on a couple fun things we can't wait to share!!