Outdoor Adventures | 2017 edition

Between family hikes, bike rides, and chances to paddle, we had a great year outdoors in 2017. In addition to time as a family spent outside, Daniel also was able to make several excursions to ride dirt bikes with friends in Prentice Cooper Forest this year. The kids and I enjoyed our almost weekly Friend Friday's –– which included many outdoor adventures. Jack and Daniel also did several father-son activities, sometimes just the two of them, and sometimes with friends. When homeschool kicked off for us, Jack and I started doing almost weekly hikes as part of our school week. I'm so grateful we have been able to continue to carve out time for the things we love and to do them with a family, and also with friends. May 2018 be just as adventurous!

January
First Hike of the New Year: Old Stone Fort | Manchester, TN
Mabbit Springs | Signal Mountain, TN

February
Long Weekend at the Beach | Saint Augustine, FL
Biking the Tennessee Riverpark's Newest Section | Chattanooga, TN
Girl's Weekend and WaveRunner Snorkel Safari | Grand Cayman Islands

March
Rainbow Lake | Signal Mountain, TN
Gulf Specimen Aquarium and Alligator Point | Tallahassee, FL (area)
Spring Break Outside | various places
Greenway Farms with Friends | Hixson, TN

April
Coolidge Park with Friends | Chattanooga, TN
Friends for Life (Rainbow Lake with friends) | Signal Mountain, TN
Friend Friday: Picnic at Greenway Farms | Hixson, TN
Friend Friday: Aquarium Fountains | Chattanooga, TN

May
Family Date: Paddling at Chester Frost | Hixson, TN
Mother's Day Mountain Biking Excursion | Springer's Ridge in Chattanooga, TN
Memorial Day (soggy) Bike Ride | Signal Mountain, TN
Summer Kickoff 2017: Mushroom Rock | Signal Mountain, TN

June
Lost Sea Adventure | Sweetwater, TN
Mountain Biking with Kids: Edwards Point | Signal Mountain, TN
Dirt Bikes in Prentice Cooper | Suck Mountain, TN
21 Miles (on the Virginia Creeper Trail) | Damascus, VA
Grayson Highlands | Damascus, VA
Friend Friday: Big Soddy Gulf | Soddy Daisy, TN

July
Voyles Cousin's Week | Greers Ferry, AR
Paddling with Kids on North Chick | Hixson, TN
Cummins Falls | Cookeville, TN
Rock City | Lookout Mountain, TN

August
2017 Canadian Vacation in Cottage Country | Orillia, Ontario, Canada
Father-Son TKO | Prentice Cooper, TN
Solar Eclipse (Totality) | Cotton Port Wildlife Management Area outside of Dayton, TN
Five Senses Nature Hike in Green Gorge | Signal Mountain, TN

September
Injury while hiking to Mushroom Rock | Signal Mountain, TN
Seed Pod Nature Day | Signal Mountain, TN
Friend Friday: Greenway Farms Picnic | Hixson, TN
Hurricane Irma Cousin Weekend: Hike to Rainbow Lake | Signal Mountain, TN
Mini Beast Nature Hike at Mabbit Springs | Signal Mountain, TN
Friend Friday: Big Soddy Gulf Picnic | Soddy Daisy, TN

October
Reflection Riding Center (Monday Nature Day with friends) | Lookout Mountain, TN
Joyce Kilmer Wilderness Among Trees (family hike), Cherohala Skyway, NC
Greenway Farms Nature Day (family archery lesson and hike) | Hixson, TN
Father-Son Hike to Mushroom Rock | Signal Mountain, TN

November
Glen Falls (Nature Day) | Lookout Mountain, TN
Mushroom Rock (Nature Day with Mommy and Daddy) | Signal Mountain, TN
Dirt Bike Date_Prentice Cooper | Suck Mountain, TN
Raccoon Mountain (Nature Day) | Raccoon Mountain, TN

December
Winter Birds Nature Day at The Boulders (Nature Day) | Lookout Mountain, TN
Toccoa River Swinging Bridge | North Georgia Mountains
Amicalola Falls | North Georgia Mountains
New Years Eve Hike at Green Gorge | Signal Mountain, TN

Spring Break 2017: Play

While we did spend a portion of Spring Break in Florida visiting family, most of our break was spent at home, playing and doing fairly low-key activities.

We have enjoyed our long weekend with cousins. Sad that it is coming to an end. #springbreak2017 #floridawithcousins #voylescousins #wildandfreechildren #optoutside #kidsoutside #mohaus2017

A post shared by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus) on Mar 20, 2017 at 9:05am PDT

We had been go-go-go for the previous five weeks and I was feeling the need to take it slow. I think it was necessary for all of us.

While we did some fun things in Florida, play was also an integral part of our days there. Jack and Isaac happily played in their cousin's back yard: imagining, digging, running and being free. We also visited several parks and Jack had his first opportunity to go fishing.

The play time was great for them and it gave my sister and I a chance to catch up. While the beach was fun, these memories of unfettered play with their cousins are the ones I hope they hang on to.

Even though the weather was cool (especially for Florida) the kids still managed to get wet every single day. I don't know what it is about water, but it draws kids like a moth to a flame!

Once we were home from Florida, we took things easy. We got up every morning and made pancakes.

We had play dates with friends: swimming at our Y and playing at various playgrounds.

Took the kids to one of our favorite parks then promptly ripped my pants on the big slide 😳 The kids had a blast though. #thepumpkinpatch #signalmountain #lifewithkids #mohaus2017

A post shared by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus) on Mar 28, 2017 at 1:59pm PDT

And we also went to the library to pick out new books, and then spent time at home reading and playing board games.

It was slow and perfect.

When childcare is full at the Y, you just take your big kid with you to do the outdoor workout 💪This is Jack demonstrating push-ups and jumping jacks that he did during my workout. #bootcamp #lifewithkids #workingoutwithkids #HIITworkout #mohaus2017

A post shared by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus) on Mar 23, 2017 at 11:00am PDT

Spring Break 2017: Gulf Specimen Aquarium and Alligator Point

Jack will often tell me that he wishes we lived closer to cousins, and while that would be nice, there are perks to getting to visit family in a different state. On these trips to visit family, we always spend as much time as possible visiting and playing, but we also make sure to do something fun.

On past visits we have gone to St. George Island to swim, taken an alligator boat tour at Wakulla Springs, visited the Tallahassee Jr. Museum, and gone spelunking at Florida Caverns State Park.

On this particular trip we had a jam-packed day planned for Saturday. Our initial plan was to visit the Gulf Specimen Aquarium in Panacea, Florida. We grabbed lunch at Momo's Pizza in Tallahassee before making the 30-minute drive to Panacea. I'll share a food post later, but the pizza slices at this place are gargantuan!!

At the aquarium there were quite a few touch tanks where the kids were able to touch and examine various sea creatures including all kinds of crabs, starfish, sand dollars, and much more.

There were also look only tanks that housed fish, several nurse sharks, sting rays, a large sea turtle, and even an entire tank devoted to octopi.

Izzy and Levi, my niece and nephew, loved the touch tanks and we very interested in touching every possible creature.

My sister, Angela, was accommodating and helped to get any creatures that they had difficulty picking up or were just too afraid to grab – like the horseshoe crabs. I was impressed by her willingness to touch everything.

Jack was a little more cautious with touching the animals. He was curious but didn't necessarily want to touch it all.

Isaac mostly wanted to do his own thing, pushing the stroller around to where he wanted to go. He did touch a few things and even held a couple of shells containing small crabs.

Overall it was a successful outing.

When we finished at the Aquarium, we thought it would be good to find a park to let the kids burn some extra energy before heading home.

However, we made a wrong turn and missed the park that Angela had in mind. As we drove, we realized we were close to Alligator Point and that we might be able to find a beach.

So on a whim, we decided to drive out to the end of Alligator Point. It was a beautiful drive, though part of the road was washed out next to the beach which involved a detour, but even that was kind of neat to see.

Since we had not planned on going to the beach, we didn't have swimsuits (though we did have one towel in the car and several changes of boys clothes). Angela and I thought we had enough to make the beach worth it, so we found a beach access and walked out to the Gulf, fully clothed.

Angela and I enjoyed sitting in the sun, watching the waves and two kite surfers. Izzy combed the beach for shells and briefly waded in the cold water.

Jack and Levi managed to get completely soaking wet from wading in the waves – which were a decent size and pounding the shore quite furiously. 

And Isaac discovered that maybe sand isn't so bad and even spent some time plopped down and digging (a first for him!).

When we got back to the car, we used water bottles to clean sandy feet, we dried Jack and Levi off as best we could with the one towel and then changed the two of them into dry clothes (yay for extra clothes in the car!) and then we were on our way.

The car was surprisingly sand free by the time we were on our way, which was a bit of a miracle considering our lack of beach preparedness!

We enjoyed Alligator Point and are glad to know that there is a nice beach for swimming within an hour of my sister's house. On our way home we stopped at Angelo & Son's Tropical Shrimp Trader Company for dinner and then we found that playground that we were originally looking for!

At the playground the kids burned the last of their energy. They had a foot race out to the pier and chatted up a fisherman, who kindly answered their questions and didn't seem annoyed that three busy kids were asking him all kinds of questions.

Jack informed him that he wanted to go fishing and he planned to catch a shark and then eat it. The fisherman laughed and said that he wanted to go fishing with Jack!

It was a lovely, though busy, day. Isaac was asleep as soon as we got in the car. And we played a comical game of "Would You Rather" with the other three. Example: Would you rather be eaten by a shark or a hippo? The kids all came up with funny questions and it was a fun way to pass the time on the ride home.

We arrived home with four tired kiddos. They all were tucked in shortly after taking baths. Another successful cousin day in Florida.