Fake Camping Day!

I love fall weather and spending time outside in September and October but try as we might, it didn't seem like Craig and I could find a weekend in September to go camping. But we figured we could spare a day. So he shifted a day off to a Wednesday and off we went!

First stop was Missouri Mines museum to learn about the history of mining in our state. The outside is run down and desolate but in a sorta pretty way. Makes me want to take somebody's senior picture.

We got to see the old equipment they used.

I wish we had gone to this place when we were studying rocks and minerals last spring. They had a huge collection of rocks from all over the world. Very interesting. I thought I took a picture of one specific one that amazed me but I can't find it. It had all these spikes that looked so delicate and thin but it came all the way from India and I couldn't imagine how they transported it unless it was stronger than it looked. But I'm pretty sure my kid could have destroyed it in about 2 seconds.

I love how our poor screen deprived kids are were so excited to watch the 12 minutes movie made in the 1950s. Yes, it was literally made in the 50s. And even if it hadn't told me that, I would have know instantly. Something about the narrators voice. It painted a pretty rosey picture of the process as the men entered the mine all happy and smiling and carrying their little metal lunch pails but was is interesting about that is that in this day and age, I seem to only get the opposite. It always good to see a different point of view. 

Craig's gotta get his instagram shot it ;-)

Okay, see this deer of rust? Something must have been on the original sign to cause it to rust that way but what? Inquiring minds want to know!

Overall, it was a bit pathetic. I mean, the combination of run down rusty buildings and empty museum (we didn't see any other visitors while we were there) was just so sad. But not your fault, little museum, we enjoyed you. But it was time to head on to...

Elephant Rock

Before we got too far down the hike, I realized this would be a great place for Fall pictures so I called each kid off for a mini photo session. I know I'm biased but could they be any cuter? Although I do wish I had done a better job of wiping the PB&J rom Norah's mouth before we started!

I've been practicing and I'm getting better with my portraits but I think I need to get faster with my candid shots. These kids just move so fast. I have about 10 cute pictures of Jonah but he's fuzzy in the them all because he cant' be still and my flash was being wonky. Oh well, next time!

I'm pretty sure Norah is thinking "Finally, time to hike and climb without mommy stopping us for pictures!" 

We are working on Insects as our nature topic of the season and Lucy is working on her American Heritage Badge for that subject too so we looked for as many kinds of insects as we could find. It wasn't a super warm day and I was worried we wouldn't find many but I think our end count was 14 different types!  Jonah kept counting non-bug things which messed me up so it might have been 16 but I'm sure about 14. We couldn't identify them all but I'm quite happy with that!

And this is why I took individual pictures at the beginning. It doesn't take long before Jonah is done cooperating with picture time. 

The view at the top is great. But they found a tiny fly floating in a puddle of water so they couldn't really be bothered by stopping and enjoying it. 

Craig teaching Norah to stick her hand in unknown holes in nature. Hmm, not sure about that. 

So we saw rocks and bugs and played at the playground but the fun didn't stop there. Last state park - St. Joe's. The kid's favorite part of a real camping trip is just playing and scootering around while we sit. So we went to the day use area and because it was a Wednesday afternoon, it was pretty deserted. They scootered around the playground and empty parking lot and played at the playground while Craig and I tried to relax and read in the few minutes between taking someone to the bathroom, pushing someone on the swing and taking on or off someone's helmet. It was very relaxing ;-)

We finished the day with some hotdogs and then s'mores on the grill. I have to say that I think roasting a marshmellow over charcoal is better than over wood. It goes slower so the middle melts without the outside getting too done. A bit more scootering and bug hunting then we changed everyone into jammies before heading home to bed. I gotta say, a day of camping fun but still being able to take a shower and sleep in my own bed is not a bad thing!