Ft Pulaski

We ended our trip by visiting Ft. Pulaski.  Fort Pulaski National Monument is located between Savannah and Tybee Island. It preserves Fort Pulaski, where in 1862 during the American Civil War, the Union Army successfully tested a riffled cannon, the success of which rendered brick fortifications obsolete. The fort was also used as a prisoner of war camp. The National Monument includes most of Cockspur Island (containing the fort) and all of adjacent McQueens Island.

This kid hasn't slept in the car in over 4 years....so I think this was a successful trip!

Day at the Beach

The 4H Center offers an option to tack on an extra day at the beginning or end of your trip for a small fee.  OK in retrospect the fee wasn’t that small.  As a matter of fact it ended up being the price of a crappy hotel room.  As a mother of 3 told me “I think we should have gotten a hotel room somewhere so we would at least have access to a pool”.   I guess the advantage of staying in the dorm an extra day is that you don’t have to move your stuff to a hotel.  Anyway we opted to stay an extra night so we could spend Friday at the beach and do a few other touristy/educational things.

After sleeping in we hit the beach, or according to my phone we hit a few blocks off the beach....

 

We had never been to Tybee Island before and it was just fine.  However on the whole I would not choose to go to Tybee again.  Yes it is quaint (sort of), but I prefer the dining and shopping options of Hilton Head.

One thing we found on Tybee was the pier and pavilion. 

Ice cream and junky nachos make my kids happy!

The beach filled up quickly and we had a great time.  "T" even overcame his fear of going into the creature filled water.  He also forgot his water shoes.  A few years ago that would have resulted in a major unrecoverable meltdown.  But after a moment of thought he opted to wear his flip flops in the water.  He must have some sort of super human toe strength because he kept those flip flops on in the water and waves for hours.

We opted to just look at the lighthouse.  It was a unanimous vote...no one wanted to climb stairs in the 90 degree heat.

"J" shows off her new shirt.  She has a new shirt because we ran out of clean clothes.

4H Day 2 Part 2

Our next class was called Surf Sleuth.  First we learned a bit about fish anatomy then we headed to the beach to find out what was in the surf.  Of course due to new pesky University rules (keep the kids alive sort of rules) we weren't able to go very far into the surf.  Still we were able to find quite a few "things" in the water.  As a matter of fact we found so many creatures in the water that my son refused to go to the beach the next day since he was now intimately familiar with all the creatures lurking out in the waves.

 

If they ask for a volunteer...can you guess which two hands shoot up first.  I really wish my dear children had the good sense to at least know what they are volunteering for before raising their hands.

 

 Here we are learning to use the big nets.  The classes were divided into K-4 and 5-10.  I love that homeschool kids get to work with different aged peers.  "J" actually ended up with the older group and I am quite happy to say she really held her own.  I was also surprised to see how much my son knew about all the topics we covered.  I certainly haven't taught him these things...

 

We stopped to watch some dolphins swimming close to the shore.

 

"T" takes a turn.

Disclaimer: I brought my good DSLR and three lenses...sadly I didn't bring a charged battery so all these photos are courtesy of the iPhone (many taken through my water proof neck pouch.  I guess we will just have to go back again so I can take better photos

.

 

Finally after dinner we went to Squid Dissection class.  Can you guess which of the following kids had to leave because they were "grossed out" and making gagging sounds and threatening to vomit...

If you guessed the boy then- ding ding ding you are correct.  Poor kid. 

He made it all the way to the lens of the eye before losing it.

 

Scissors...brilliant.  I guess giving kids razor sharp scalpels would be a bad idea. 

"J" finds the beak of the squid. 

 

Looking into the rec hall as the sun sets on an awesome learning experience...

as I take "T" back to the dorm to recover.

 

4H Day 2 Part 1

Good morning....rise and shine it's time for class!  Try not to be jealous of my view.

 

 

After a hearty breakfast (think a little better than school cafeteria food) we went to Marsh Ecology Class.  There was a classroom portion where we studied marsh water under a powerful microscope and learned all about plankton.  Next we walked out to the marsh on campus and learned about the zones of the marsh and finally we boarded a bus for another area of the marsh where we got really down and dirty.

During this class I learned that my kids

1.       Have a lot to say

2.       Aren’t good at raising their hands

3.       Know a surprising amount

4.       Are not at all shy

5.       Have a LOT of confidence

6.       My son doesn’t like getting dirty At ALL.

7.       My daughter loves getting dirty.

Learning about the zones of the Marsh

 

 A feisty Sea Robin

 Seeing the animals in the touch tanks

Studying marsh water

 

Identifying zones and creatures of the marsh

 



 Learning about why the marsh is muddy (you don't want to know) and catching crabs.

By the way kids...the mud is made up of decomposing plants and animals and animal poo....

After lunch we had Crabs and Critters class.  We learned about habitats, body temperature regulation, camouflage and a lot more.  We also learned which native snakes are poisonous and what purpose all the snakes serve in our ecosystem.  AND we got to touch lots of creatures.

Touching the big gray rat snake

 



 

Getting up close and personal with a baby alligator.

Then we went outside to meet a few tortoises.  This Gopher Tortoise was my favorite.  I had to restrain myself from kissing him right on the face.

 

Well maybe not my absolute favorite...inside we got to meet a Diamondback Terrapin.  AMAZING!  And we learned why they are threatened and what we can do to help.  This isn't the actual terrapin we met.  The one we met however was even more beautiful than this photo.. and her skin...her skin was soft as silk.  

 

4H Day 1

After settling in, we had to meet as a group for orientation and ice-breakers.  Now let me tell you, I was completely on-board with the kids doing this…but I wasn’t planning to participate in any way other than as official photographer.  I can say that having to play games in the hot sun on the concrete almost did me in.  I didn’t want to touch any of my body-parts to anyone else’s body-parts when I was sweating profusely.  Quite frankly having to meet someone and touch your knee to their forehead just seems a little sadistic.  The kids however thought it was a hoot.

After the horror that was getting-to-know-each-other we went to Beach Ecology class.  Each class started with a classroom portion then we proceeded to a location (beach, marsh, etc.) for the remainder of the class.  In Beach Ecology class we learned about the 5 different zones of the beach.  Let me see if I can remember…

1.       Dunes

2.       Dune Meadows

3.       Berm

4.       Wrack Line

5.       Intercoastal

See, I learned A LOT on this trip.  I hope the kids did too.  We learned about what makes up each of the 5 zones and why they are important to the ecology of the beach.  Then we boarded the bus to go see the zone for ourselves.

Kids in the front, reluctant parents in the rear.

 

I can't figure out why we couldn't get in the water.

The instructors were quite simply amazing.  As a former (paid) educator, I was constantly

 impressed by the teaching techniques they used.



Every point was emphasized with multiple hands on activities.

"T" explains his model of the 5 beach zones to the group.

 

The instructors were always willing to answer questions....1000s of questions.

 

In-between classes there were plenty of things to do to keep busy. 

After dinner there was a camp-fire presentation.

 There were songs and skits and lots of opportunities for the kids to get involved.

 

The instructors sang a very silly song for us.  They were really fun and talented.