Black Point

The weather has been hot but dry lately, which is allowing us to be outside exploring and learning all in one.  This past weekend was spent at the beach, and since there is only so much sitting on the beach that I can tolerate, Dan and I took the boys hiking at the Black Point Fishing Area in Narragansett, RI.  If you time it so that you arrive at low tide, there are a plethora of tide pools that can be explored.  As you walk down the trail, there are many gaps in the shrubbery that allow you to hop on down to the rocks.  The boys had so much fun climbing over the rocks, and looking at the various patterns that were in each rock.  They also had fun just being kids and using those gross motor skills to climb.  We ended up climbing all the way over to this massive rock that was next to a fishing vessel that was starting to bring up their catch.

There were also a ton of other boats out in the water, and Pierce was able to remember from the Boat book they are reading in story time, the names of the different boats.  Dan found a blood worm for them to look at, and then he found a tidal pool that had a ton of seaweed growing with little fish that lived in it.  I found a tidal pool with about a hundred snails, which the boys had fun picking up and watching them come out of their shells to finish eating their food.  We also were able to teach the boys just how fast high tide comes in, and how slippery rocks can be once they are wet.  To us, since we love to climb the jetties and cliffs, that is an important safety lesson for them.

As we were walking out, they noticed all of the different colors in the flowers, and how they all smelled different.  We looked at trees that had grown all crooked due to various storms throughout their history, and we were able to show them how the ocean does erode the land.  It was so nice to have that time together with Dan and for him to be a part of the learning process.  All too often we are just passing the kids off from one to the other; he works days, and I work nights.  Some days he works 16 hours, so the kids do not even see him.  I absolutely love summer, and I am hoping that the boys will certainly catch on to that and enjoy it as well.  So far they are, and for tomorrow they are requesting to go back to the beach.  Sorry boys, but that is not going to happen.  We need to get some groceries in this house instead.  :)

Have a great night everyone!