4-H Clear Kayak Adventure

We booked with amazing trip with CMERA for our 4-H club. We had a few spots open so were about to bring some non-club members and friends. We went up north to the Weeki Wachee River. The kayaks were completely clear and we could see everything the spring fed waters. We saw a lot of manatees and were able to observe them for a long time. We even saw quite a few calves in the warm waters for winter. We had a biologist guide who filled us with knowledge of all things along the river. I love doing outings with CMERA and 4-H.

Only half of the kayak crew. We were all cold, hungry and wet!

Gall Hike with Ms. Christine

Today our club had a guest speaking and hike guide, Ms. Christine Leonard. She is a grad student at USF and part of her studies have led her to have learned a LOT about galls. Galls are made by various insects so this topic was perfect for our 4-H Entomology club. We learned what we need to look for, found samples, identified samples and even looked inside samples. It was really amazing how many various ways galls appear and how much we had overlooked them in the past. We are now junior gall experts and are eager to share our knowledge with the world!

Farm City Day – Heritage Village

This year for Farm City I was also a youth volunteer. I showed up really early to help the organizers set up tables and chairs for the various groups. I also helped the Farm Bureau set up their entire booth. That was tough because I had to unload boxes and boxes of pies and they all looked so yummy. I managed to not eat them! Then I swapped over to help out the 4-H clubs that were arriving to get their spots and get set up. We didn’t have a lot of club members come out so I had to run our booth with Emmerson most fo the day. Maleah came the last hour since we had to leave a little early. I had fun helping kids play our carnival games.

Tampa Bay Watch Field-trip

Today we went to Tampabay Watch for a fieldtrip to learn about marine ecology. We started our day with a strict safety and behavior briefing. We got life vests and loaded the boat. We were told not to move, stand up and do anything distracting. We could not see what was really going on but we enjoyed the boat ride either way. When we got back to land we got to see the critters that were caught in the nets. We learned a little about each marine animals. My favorite was a tiny little seahorse.

We then went to the classroom and used microscopes to look at some of the water that they brought back. It was teaming with life. We were able to identify a lot of the micro organisms. Our final activity was to create a sea creature that took the longest time to get to the bottom of a bucket of water. Liberty and I worked well and ended up in 2nd place. Oh well. It was a fun day all around.

SPC Honors Society Picnic

Today we had a fun picnic for the SPC Honors Society. I had a fun time playing all of the games. E and Mom went off on a walk for most of the event but came and watched the games at the end. I signed up for a donut eating contest. This sounded like a GREAT idea, I regret this choice a lot. My tummy hurt all afternoon. I am enjoying getting to know some of the other SPC honors students.

Donut eating contest? Sign me up!
Reconsidering my choice…