Kittredge Jekyll Island Trip

Boarding the charter bus was quite the scene.

The Kittredge 5th graders take an annual four day, three night trip to the Jekyll Island 4-H center to close out the year. Jackson was not sure if he wanted to go on the trip with his 150 classmates but by the time it was over he had a great time and was glad he went.

The accommodations were on par with a Philippine prison but no one seemed to know the difference. As you can see, it didn't take long for the shenanigans to begin once the kids got into their room. Steve went on the trip as a chaperone and slept in the room next door. Yes, the kids were alone in their bunk room that quickly stunk of shoes! 

  

This was the scene at the mess hall prior to each meal. The place was actually very efficient and moved the kids through quickly.

The schedule was packed from dawn to dusk! Everyday we had two hour and a half classes before lunch, 2 more after lunch, followed by an evening event after dinner. Then, lights out at 10:30 pm... it made for a long day for the chaperones especially!

Our group name was the "Squids."

Our group kicked off our first class with maritime forest. They started beach side on the sand dunes to learn how the forest started and ended in the beautiful canopy of the maritime forest.

The Squids stopped to take a picture on a huge oak tree called the "grandfather."

Shell collecting

The beach class was interesting because we learned how the beaches form and change due to the effect of the ocean currents and other factors.

This shell phone works great. Hi mom!

Super Jax elevating over the beach. It was usually in the mid to upper 70's, but Jax never took off his hoodie.

Seining and Nets started off with a class preparing the kids to identify different species and reviewing the parts of a fish. Jackson must have studied his pre-work diligently because he seemed to know all the answers.

Preparing the seine or dragnet for the first round of fishing in the sea. The kids caught all kinds of little fish and creatures through outstanding teamwork.

Jax is learning how to identify a barnacle under the microscope prior to visiting the dock to catch them in the wild. Stiv thought  the the dock outing would be the least impressive experience, but the kids loved catching little shrimp that were everywhere.

I caught  10 shrimp in one swoop!

Dad and son before heading out to the marsh. The group all had to wear waiter boots to keep dry... they weren't enough for most the kids.

The group entering the marsh... still dry.

The marsh ended up being one of our favorite classes as we got to play with fiddler crabs, eat sea pickles, slosh through through water and rub mud all over each other.

Humming

Fiddler crabs were all over the ground. In fact, they look like they were the ground until you started to walk toward them and they would all scatter. The kids learned that if you hum to a fiddler crab they crawl out of their shell... it's true, try it!

Stinky marsh mud made for great face paint. As a chaperone, all Stiv could think about was how much the kids already smelled.

 

The north beach was a spectacular site that we could not capture with a photo. At low tide, the beach is vast and open for miles with giant "driftwood" looking trees spread up and down the beach.

The slough was a cool class as the kids got to sift for tiny creatures. We even saw a rare soft shell turtle! 

Jax was proud that he had the coolest find in a tadpole with its hind legs grown out. The water scorpion was cool too.

The last night we celebrated an awesome trip with fun around the campfire. We told silly stories and sang even sillier songs before calling it a night.

 The trip was such a fun learning experience and we had a blast together. This was an amazing trip that father and son will always remember and talk about many years from now.

Spring Briarlake Baseball

Jackson could barely support himself with the helmet and gear on.

 Jackson has been playing in the Briarlake Baptist Church baseball league for years and this year Catie decided to play with absolutely no experience.

Even though Catie was the tallest and most physically intimidating girl on the team, she was the only 2nd grade girl and enjoyed hanging with the "older" girls. She is such a gamer and good sport, always giving it a solid effort with a good attitude.

Just looking at this crew you can tell they are players!

Jackson all ready to pound the ball into the outfield. The Braves were a great group of kids that made for a fun season. The team had some good hitters but the fielding could have used some improvement. Bad News Bears anyone???

Catie was a big surprise! She started out totally afraid of the ball (just like her dad) and had no idea where to be in the field or what to do when the ball came her way. By the end of the season, she had developed an understanding of the game and was one the most consistent hitters on the team.

Catie Cooper!!!

Catie is a member of the Northlake Children's Chorus and really enjoys singing (we are not sure she is ours) and performing. One of their recent performances was held at NorthLake Mall.

Notice the fancy outfit...

Several of the girls participated in a piano recital at the mall before the chorus performance. Not wanting to be left out, she volunteered to play a solo guitar performance for all the lucky patrons at the mall. She was nervous but played confidently and put on a great show.

Ann participated in career day at Kittredge Magnet School presenting to about five classes. Jackson was proud to have his mom talk about being a doctor and letting everyone hold a real human brain! The real brain never fails to amaze...

Mrs. Franklin's 5th grade homeroom class learning about the human brain. Jackson was lucky to have the reigning teacher of the year as his teacher.

Easter

We have obviously gotten too busy, as we neglected to post our Easter pictures and are months behind our posts in general!  We had kind of an uneventful Easter this year and even had to cancel the annual Escoffery/Schwartz Easter egg hunt due to weather... kind of a bummer.

Now that we have been in our house for almost 10 years, the Easter Bunny is running out of fresh places to hid the kids' baskets.

Abby has to be a scrapper to find any eggs competing with her older siblings! 

The master egg finder seemed happy with himself. The smile soon faded when he tried to get out of church.