52 Adventures in 2021
Adventure 1: January 4 2021
Gilberts Corner Regional Park in Loudoun County Virginia
We took a hike at a local spot we've not been to before. It was short an easy, but also had a streem and some forest for the kids to go trail blazing! Some friends meet us and we learned a little history from our area, found a cool geocache that was definitely a little love note from the Lord for my hedgehog loving girl! We learned how to use the timer on my phone so now we are going to get lots of fun group pictures! 🤣
2: January 11 2021
Leopolds Preserve in Prince William County
A fun easy walk with our adventure buddies. We found 2 more geocache while walking. Learned a bit about the areas history. Found some out buildings and even an old outhouse! Definitely a place we would stop and walk again!
Bears Den in Bluemont Va
Today we brought our golden, Gunner, and met some friends for the less the 1 mile hike up the mountain to the beautiful overlook. Bears Den is one of our favorite places The boys played war in and around the rocks, my friends son even used his medical kit to bandage up a scrape. The girls hiked around and rock hopped while the mamas chatted. It was a beautiful afternoon!
4: January 13 2021
Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Park
Located in Middletown Va, near where rout 66 and interstate 81 meet. Belle Grove Plantation is beautiful and apparently an important place during the Civil War. Unfortunately Belle Grove is closed but we still drove by and found a super cute geocache located on the property. Millie left the hedgehog travel bug she found at Gilberts Corner. Hopefully he's off on some fun adventures! This will be one of our first field trips when it opens and we are able to walk through it!
We headed across the street to the walking trails where the battle at Cedar Creek took place. The national parks museums are still closed because of COVID but I printed out the Junior ranger packet before we came. Thankfully we can still walk the trails and learn hands on history even when the world is still shut down! This battle was a fierce one. We learned that due to fog it was hand to hand combat and out of 164 union soldiers 111 lost their lives. The Confederacy had all but won the battle nestled in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, but at the last minute the Union was able to pull out a victory. The walking trails weren't long or strenuous, but they were beautiful. It was humbling to look out over a field where so many Americans lost their lives. Fighting for what they believe is a character trait I hope to instill into my kids and being in a place like this helps reinforce that value.
5: January 14 2021
Todays adventure was a road trip. We gathered our neighbor friend and headed to Richmond. The VMFA has an Egyptian artifacts exhibit that's only in town for another week. We have mostly focused on American History in our homeschool so earlier this week we rented a few books on Egypt from the library to helps prepare our learning. The exhibit was mostly artifacts that were found underwater. It was very neat to see all the stone work and learn a little history. We all decided our favorite was the cow!
We still had some time before we needed to head home so we headed over to the Civil War Museum on the James River. The museum was really well done and we were literally the only people there! So many different guns, uniforms and artillery to look at inspired a war among the boys, while the girls looked at all the things! It was a nice follow up to yesterday's adventer although we didn't see Cedar Creek mentioned anywhere.
After walking through the museum we walked a short way to find a geocache along the river banks. My youngest wanted to play in the sand a bit, but I hurried everyone along. If I could go back and do today over I would have lingered longer on the shore for him. Sometimes I get so focused on the learning I forget the playing is just as important.
"Lunch" was Chick-fil-a at 4 pm. We stopped on the way home and this Chick-fil-a had a duck pond near by, so we ate with the ducks! Its was a beautiful adventure!
6: January 16 2021
A Walk Through the "Wilderness"
Some of our bestest buddies live near Wilderness Battlefield in Spotsylvania Va. We went for a visit today and talked them into hiking with us. We wanted to show them our new found geocache skills. We found an easy one near a cemetery and then decided to try our hand at a more difficult one near by. We did the math and then walked the 1.1 miles through the wilderness, literally, to find our treasure. It took us completely off the path, through the woods, marsh and streams. After walking further then what was described we didn't make our goal, the geocache. But funny thing is, treasure isn't found in the end result, its found in the journey. And our journey was fun! Even in the middle of winter we found signs of life everywhere. We found animal droppings (deer) and an antler. We found beautiful fungus growing on fallen logs. We marvled at Gods goodness in taking care of the earth by decomposing fallen trees into dirt. And moss. Beautiful moss was everywhere. The bright green among the, seemingly lifeless brown and gray, was a true sign that life is still abounding. Ofcoure my outdoor loving girl pick all the different veritys she could find to bring home.
We found huge fallen tree and even an area where we could choose our own path....over, through or under.
Everyone chose a different way, but we all ended up back together on the other side. A beautiful metaphor that even though we are all on the same journey, our paths may look different.
"Failing" to find the geocache was a beautiful "blesson" (my word for 2021- its like a blessing and a lesson all in one. My goal is to always be on the lookout for a blesson this year!) Even though we didn't meet the end goal, we talked about how in life we cannot be end result driven. We need to be process driven. Did we have fun? Did we learn something along the way? Did we spend time making meaningful connections? Then I'd say today was a success! I'm so glad to have people our lives who will take the road less traveled with us!
7: January 30 2021
"Our Secret Spot"
Todays adventure was at our secret spot.....that's not so secret anymore. The Aldie Park is a beautiful nature preserve. We have been playing in the creek there for years, back before it had hiking trails. This is the first time we actually hiked on the trails. Usually we come in the summer and the kids splash and play in the creek while I read a good book.
We brought my parents and our neighbors with us. At the start of the trail just over the bridge there is a fun geocache to find. So, of course we introduce our family and friends to how it works, because apparently, that's what we do now.
The trial is an easy walk with some hills, but the view is beautiful! Its definitely a great place to go for a walk if your looking for an outdoor activity. Bring your puppy and then stop at the Aldie Cafe and grab a bit to eat after.
Snow Day Sledding
Yesterday we got some snow, so today after a trip to the gym and running lots of errands we decided to not do our school work and fo sledding instead. It was a fantastic 3 hours 😳. The kids made some friends, shared some sleds and had a blast. Gunner watched his pack intently to make sure they all came back up the hill!
9: March 3
Loudoun County
We visited the museum with a few of our homeschool co-op friends. The inside of the museum was closed due to covid but they had 3 stations set up outside. The kids learned about horses, old tools and black Smith work. It was ok, nothing new that the kids hadn't already heard, but being with friends was nice! In true Mullins 2021 fashion we found a geocache on the property!
10: March 8
Rockingham County
Our friends were headed to spend a couple days at Massanutten and graciously invited us to join them! Since I love a good road trip we of course packed our bags and hopped in the car! On the way down we stopped at Rout 11 Potato Chip Factory. They weren't giving tours because of covid but we did buy the sampler bag of potato chips and chowed down!
I'm a sucker for a good side road. The highway is great for getting somewhere fast, but one can miss so much just flying through life at 75 miles and hour. God has been working on my heart lately, reminding me that the destination isn't really the end all be all...that there is joy in the process. Beautiful, unimaginable joy. Whether that process is homeschooling, or marriage or driving down the road. There is joy to be found in it all. So, of course we traveled down rout 11 for a ways and found a beautiful spot where some brave men fought for our freedom. This was the Battle of New Market and was called "The Bloody Ceders." This regiment lost 30% of its troops (to death, injury or being taken captive) but fought courageously! I love learning history on the go and taking every chance I can to remind the kids that many lives were lost and much was sacriced so that they can walk around freely as they do! And, of course there was a geocache! Millie found this one after we all had been looking for a while!
After settling into the condo, we headed to the indoor water park at the resort. 2 moms, 8 kids 4+ hours of lazy river and water slide ridding, and not a single picture to prove it. It was fantastic, you'll have to trust me!
11: March 9
Natural Bridge, VA From the resort we drove a little over an hour south to visit Natural Bridge. During our hike we saw the bridge that George Washington surveyed and carved his initials into rock over 300 years ago!
As we walked under the bridge we got kissed by the ground water falling though the ceiling, which was pretty neat! Further down the hike we stepped into the cave where men gathered supplies from the earth to make gun powder. Thomas Jefferson stood in this cave and maybe even leaned against these same walls!
Farther down there was the lost river, which it's origins are still unknown and a beautiful waterfall at the end!
Before we left we took off our shoes and dipped our toes in the water! It was freezing!
On the drive back to the resort we stopped to see the Woodrow Wilson Museum in his birth place. Unfortunately due to covid hisbirth home and librarywere closed. I'm not sure why one building would be open but not the others. But we've learned to take what we can get when it comes to adventures and learning on the go! The museum is small but well done. The staff was super friendly and were genuinely excited to have so many kids in their museum (something that isn't always the case). We saw his presidential motorcar, learned his wife was an amazing artist, but the kids favorite part was the WW1 trench that was set up downstairs. They had a recording of sounds of the war praying. It was a great addition to our history lessons!
13: March 10
Quicksburg, VA
We took the opportunity to squeeze in one more adventure on our drive back home. The walk through the caverns were beautiful.
My dinosaur loving boy even found a shadow that looked like a T-Rex!!
14: March 14
A Walk Through the Woods
After church we went to my inlaws to have lunch and take a hike through the woods. My father-in- love had a specific destination in mind that we never made it to. But in lifes true beauty, we got to enjoy the process instead of the destination! We walked 2 miles, found 2 tortoise shells and crossed several creeks. It was a beautiful afternoon!
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