Nature Outing to F.E.N.C.E. - Wetlands Study

Our nature group explored the wetlands of F.E.N.C.E.  It was a beautiful day to get out and hike.

We started our exploration by hiking the Mountain Laurel trail up the hillside.  We discussed erosion and the cause.  It had rained extremely hard a few days prior to our visit.  We noted the stream that flowed along the trail.  The banks had been cut away by large amounts of water.  We talked about what could be done to help prevent these things.

At the top of the Mountain Laurel trail, we found it connected to the paved Wildwood trail.  This trail is handicap friendly and has several placards identifying various types of vegetation along the trail.  We walked the loop of the Wildwood trail and took in the beauty of wild azaleas in bloom with other small wildflowers popping up.

We traversed back down the Mountain Laurel trail and continued to the Pinewoods trail. This area is repetitively flat and easy to navigate.  It connected to the Hardwoods trail which begins to wind up the hillside.  With the rain we have had, footing on the Hardwoods trail was muddy.  The boys enjoyed the jaunt up the hillside and the descent back down to reconnect with the Pinewoods trail.

Finally, we made it to the pond area.  There is just something about water that the kids gravitate towards!  At the pond, we discussed the wetland area and the purpose of the pond in this setting.  There is a boardwalk trail that is over the bog area.  We learned about plant and animal life in the area and why wetlands are important to the overall ecosystem.

The kids gained a better understanding of wetlands and we had a wonderful time enjoying nature.

Adding a few touches to the Avalanche 365MB

I want to have a theme for the interior of the Avalanche.  I decided to go with dragonflies.  We have tons of them around our site and I love watching them.  So, I thought I would bring that bit of nature inside our creekside retreat.

I guess I'm a bit different than many that want to paint the interior of their trailers.  I love the wood look and just wanted to bring in accent colors.  It is still a work in process, but this is what I have done thus far.

I found the water color dragonfly place mats on Amazon.  They feel like fabric, but are easy to clean with a rag.

I placed teal dish towels in the kitchen area for a splash of color.

I bought two ceramic soap dispensers and one soap dish from Walmart for the kitchen.  My friend from church used her Cricut machine to make vinyl decals for them.  It adds another pop of color to the kitchen island.

The sofa needed a bit of color and I discovered two dragonfly pillow covers on Amazon.  I had a couple of older throw pillows from home that I placed inside the covers.  They worked perfectly.

My fleece camping throw still works with the decor since I am mostly going with a nature theme.  We love that little throw!

I am still working on adding a few more touches to bring in the dragonflies.  I will post more when I get them added!