Saturday, November 8, 2008

Friday's Field Trip: Spanish Point

I have lived here in this area for 21 years now and I never knew what a great hidden treasure we had right here in our own backyard - Spanish Point in Osprey Florida

We attended the Adventures in Learning Prehistory Program which was of interest to ME and CJ who both love digging up the past. I had to prep ME ahead of time that we would not be digging up dino bones. He didn't like that idea, he said "the only archaeologist I want to be is a paleontologist"

We learned about local history, prehistory 5000 years ago. We learned about middens and the artifacts they hold and the clues these provide to prehistoric life here in Florida. The grounds are beautiful, I felt so at peace being one with nature as we walked along the trails.

We had the honor of spotting an Osprey in a tree eating his morning catch.

I have to admit the boys were a little disappointed with the archaeological dig site at the end of the program. After I explained that the artifacts were real and that they were actually handling pieces of our past they got over their disappointment.

I try my best to not build things up to much for them but they still manage to expect BIG things all the time. I guess that's not such a bad quality to have in life, after all we want our children to have big hopes, to reach for the stars, to want to achieve bigger and better, right?

Overall it was a great day, a successful trip and we all learned something. We are already planning another field trip to Spanish Point in February to explore the other areas not covered in this trip, the pioneers, the Webb family.

After the trip some of us went to nearby Potter Park to have lunch and let the kids run free. I so enjoy my adult time with the other parents while the kids are off playing.

Yay for a great day!

On a side note I didn't bring my camera so no pictures to share :(

1 comment:

The Four Week Vegan said...

Sounds like a great fieldtrip. Digging stuff dino bones would have been more fun, but it sounds interesting none the less. Oh and a fieldtrip followed by park play is really a great combo :) Thanks for posting.