Day at the Beach!

great blue heron

to be honest, I never thought I'd enjoy living in Florida, but I've found many advantages, such as living so close to the beach! Never in my life have I spent sooo much time at the ocean, and I really, really love it.

today in particular, we stopped at the local beach and just hung out all day. I myself didn't get in the water, but Joshua had a blast splashing around. I found myself wandering around along the shore, snapping pictures of anything that flew by. :)

Cumberland Island, GA

I've never ridden on a boat before, so today, I was rather nervous, because dad and I were taking a ferry ride over to
Cumberland Island, Georgia.

We got up reeeallyy quite early that morning and drove over to St. Mary's where the boat docks are.

Dad and I bought our tickets, and stood outside with the other fifty-or-so people who'd be taking this journey as well. The "tour guide" preceded to tell us important things, such as when the boat would be coming back to bring us home, or where all the bathrooms on the island were.

     


And let me tell you, I was pretty freaking nervous about this boat ride, especially because it was over an hour long.

...But I have to admit, it was also pretty awesome to be on a boat.


Upon arriving at the Island, you had two options: 1 being you could follow the tour guide, or 2 you could just wander by yourself. Of course, Dad wanted to just go by ourselves... at least we had a map.

Our first stop was the beach, then we headed to the ruins to check out the fallen-down castle.








This island is actually an interesting place - the first thing that I was excited about was the wild feral horses that live on the island. It's an estimate of 150 in total that roam free here. (we even got to see one!) Along with the horses, numerous other animals live here as well. You have the white tailed deer, armadillo (which we got a close encounter with!), alligators, wild boars, and even raccoons.

So many years ago lived the Spanish Settlement & the English Settlement, but now the only people residing on Cumberland Island are the ones who work here, there is no stores or restaurants on the island.

I won't bore you with all the information about this islands past and such, but I hope you at least enjoy the photos I took, it was a fun day :)





 one of the animals we saw, which just so happens to be a common sight around here. The great blue heron, one of my favorite birds that loves to stalk fish in the water.

Ingles Farm

I love adventure and going new places, so I was rather excited that we'd be going over to the Ingles Farm here in Virginia! The farm, also known as Ingles Ferry, is a great example of what life was like back in the 18th century. We got there on a Sunday morning just before they opened, the air was still cool and no one else was there touring the farm except us!

Me wearing wooden shoes, imagine walking in these!

It was a very educational experience and yet very enjoyable, we learned about different weapons and tools used in the 18th century, about how people would have lived and survived, also about the clothes they wore and what kind of food someone would have eaten. Joshua was especially interested in learning about how to make bullets, and was very happy to see their example of how to shoot a gun.

We learned about Carding Wool and using a Spinning Wheel, something I'm already familiar with, My mother uses a droop spindle and we card wool all the time! I enjoyed petting the Hog Island Sheep, they felt like a sweater!

•  Ingles Farm Hog Island Sheep, they are a breed of sheep descended from animals first brought to Virginia's Hog Island in the 1700s. During the 1930s and 1940s, storm conditions forced the island's residents to evacuate, leaving some sheep behind. These sheep adapted to the environment free of human intervention, becoming feral.

 
A lovely lady sat us down, and she told us the story of Mary Draper Ingles, about her being captured by the Shawnee Indians and the tale of her escape, it's a very interesting tale, I could imagine going through something like that! Click here to read more about Mary Draper Ingles

Flax Flowers, just before harvesting

 

 

 

 

• Flax is grown both for its seeds and for its fiber. Various parts of the plant have been used to make fabric, dye, paper, medicines, fishing nets, hair gels,cloths,ropes,high quality paper and soap. Flax seed is the source of linseed oil, which is used as an edible oil, as a nutritional supplement, and as an ingredient in many wood finishing products.

After which we learned about Flax, and I got to help in the process of making flax! In the end, this will become a piece of clothing, or can also be used as flax seed (something we eat in our house!) and many other things. It was such a wonderful day, and we all learned so many new things. It's interesting how things from the 18th are not all too different from what we use today.

Ingles Farm

Berry picking

Not only does the campground we're staying at for the summer have two apple trees, a plum tree, AND a peach tree, this area is surrounded by black berry bushes! I walked down the road a bit, and there is almost even hundreds of black berry bushes. I spent almost all morning out there, I don't think there is any black berries left because I done picked so many! We decided to put the many bags of berries I picked in the freeze, a camper doesn't have much room I thought it would be best to freeze them all, so in the next coming months I can eat them in smoothies, salads, or even make some jam! My mouth waters just thinking about it...

Storms and power outage

Heatwave, humidity, storms, lightning, thunder, rain, winds, destruction... what a way to start the summer!

It all started on June twenty ninth- Mom and I had just gotten home from attending an event at the state park, when dad announces that "Bad storms are coming" I knew it was going to rain that night, but I didn't realize how bad it would then become. Everyone in the campground started to put their awnings up, I was standing outside when the clouds became black as night, and then the wind started. A wind that was said to be 60-80mph, and I defiantly believe it. The cool breeze was refreshing from the days humidity, but it was so strong I felt as if I'd be lifted off the ground. The trees started dancing in the wind, you could feel the camper shaking and rocking back and forth. I honestly have never seen a wind like this in my life! Tornadoes of dust swirled around in the air, taking rocks and other objects around and around with the dust. My aunt said that her neighbor "had just gotten home when the storm hit" getting out of their vehicle and putting her little three year old daughter on the ground "when the wind literally picked her up, she started flying away!" she had to grab her by the arms, luckily the girl is OK. I could never imagine being picked up by the wind like that.

A tree limb fell right on top of a camper, destroying their awning and creating a large hole in the roof of their camper. Dad went out there with a flashlight, despite the strong winds, many other people went out to join him. After the wind had died down a bit, you could see many flashlights shining in the dark, going all which ways checking out the damage in the campground. By morning many of the people had left and gone home, except for us few that live here. There was four-five generators all running at once, it was so very noisy outside, plus the the fact the temperature was a hundred and ten degrees outside and one hundred percent humidity, it felt miserable. Along the road many huge trees were knocked down in the storm, for almost four days we had no electricity or power. Luckily our motor home as a battery, and we also have a built in generator. Though it still meant no showers or water for awhile!

 

The next day we all pitched in to started cleaning up parts of all fallen trees and branches, no one was hurt here though four campers had branches/trees come down on them. In the area, it was estimated an entire two million people without power, they were opening cooling shelters for people in need. Luckily we've had our power back on for a few days now, though the heat is still tremendously hot, and many people are still without power. People in the stores were fighting over lanterns, bottled water, and water jugs, you could tell they were getting desperate! I am thankful that we are blessed to have cool air conditioning and water.

Libraries and Parks

I love books, so it's only natural for me to love the library! Our family makes a stop to the library at least twice a week, and currently since it is summer the library has their Summer Reading Program! I love going and doing crafts, so far I've made Dream Catchers, Dream Journals and Dream Paintings (the theme this year is 'night') They also have many other events, such as their animal programs- this month we've learned about Owls and Bats!
 

After stopping at the library, we enjoy checking out several of the local parks, one of which is actually on the river! I love going and finding clam shells, toads, snails, and even fish (if you can spot them!) There is also many trails you can go and walk, Joshua and I enjoy riding our bikes and making new discoveries by the water.

The beginning of a new avenue...

Hello and welcome to my blog. I'll start by introducing myself....

My name is Leah, as you can tell I am free as the wind in the summer evening, and I'll soar like a bird if you let me. I love travel and adventure, it's my life's purpose. I enjoy learning new things, some of my interests are photography, art/painting, writing (I love poetry), nature, and being active.

Currently we are living in a 30ft RV, it's myself, mom, dad, and Joshua. (Joshua and I are both homeschooled.) I also have two older brothers- John, who is in the Navy, and is currently going to school in California. and Robert, who is living in Wisconsin with his fiancee and their recently born son. I was raised in the Midwest, and spent almost my entire childhood in Wisconsin until we decided to pack up and move down south. Four years later and after moving three times, we're hitting the road. Currently stationed in the New River Valley in Virginia, we're starting our adventure of traveling the United States.