Weekly Fieldtrip - Wilderness Road Regional Museum

I woke up suuuppeerr early at Meghann's house, needless to say I was pretty exhausted! We made sure to pack a lunch and we caught a ride to the community college with her older sisters, and from there we got picked up by Ginger, who surprisingly took us out to eat that morning, it was nice :) 







A whole group of us homeschoolers met at the Wilderness Road Regional Museum for our weekly fieldtrip! There was at least 30 of us in total, if not more, it was a huge group! 


"Located in an 1800's era house;  owned and operated by The New River Historical Society and contains local area books, records and exhibits." is just a brief description of where we went. 





The enormous old house is filled with tons and tons of artifacts that were from this area. We learned all about the people who lived in this area of Virginia, the clothes they wore, the food they ate, how they lived their lives. 

accurate representation of our relationship

some of the kids making butter!

After our several hour long interactive fun fieldtrip, we headed over to the park for lunch :) It made me really happy to spend time with friends! We all ran around and hung out for awhile. Meg, Austin (my boyfriend), Jess, and I went for a walk in the woods before Meggie had to leave :( 
Later on we played a game of catch and hung out at the playground before it was time to go home for the day.

homeschool train

Kayaking on the New River

I'm an adventurer and I love anything that gets my heart rate moving, so when my dad said we're taking the afternoon to go kayaking on the river? I was absolutely thrilled. :) Of course, the kayaks weren't our own, my aunt lent them to us for the time being. We got up reealllyy early that morning and headed over to Radford, Virginia. My mother and brother dropped my dad & I off, and they met us about 5+ miles down the river.

I was pretty excited because this was my first time kayaking on the river!

It was interesting going over shallow parts in the river, especially because you could see all kinds of fish and water-grass.

I'd say we spent at least two hours kayaking, and it was a blast. I got to see big birds - such as heron - that I've never gotten to see up close before.
I also noticed numerous turtles, and certain areas where an entire flock of birds had sat on some rocks. They were spreading their wings, letting the morning sun warm their feathers.

We did struggle at a few points, such as when I got stuck in the rapids.

I tried to paddle fast as we kayaked over them, but I ended up getting stuck on a rock! It was really scary, especially with all the rushing water around me.

I was really nervous, but luckily dad  and I used teamwork and we were able to continue downstream.

Right near the end, dark clouds covered the sky and it started pouring down rain, but by the time we got to the shoreline (where mom & Joshua were waiting for us) the sun came back out :)

Riverfest

Here in the New River Valley of Virginia they had a small local festival, with many vendors, craft tables, games, live music and food all throughout the day.

The Radford Library had a table set up with crafts and an area with games, so my friend Meghann and I decided to volunteer and were 'helpers' all afternoon. We both enjoyed helping out with the kids and interacting with people, it was a lot of fun! At the gazebo there was local bands playing bluegrass and folk music, occasional we'd jam out and dance to the music! :)

• The Riverfest was put together to bring the community together, helping to support local businesses along with raising money for charity.

Along with the day-long events at the riverfest, there was a "duck race" where you would buy a rubber duckie -the proceeds going to a local organization- and they would toss the ducks off the bridge and into the New River.

It was an exciting race, watching over 600+ ducks float down the river to the finish line! Of course, things didn't go as plan... many of the hundreds of ducks started floating further down the river than they anticipated. Apparently they spent all afternoon trying to round up all of them!