A Trip to the Wildlife Refuge

Tony and I didn’t want to waste our Saturday morning sitting inside the house but we didn’t have any idea what to do. We were sitting at the table contemplating another trip to the mall’s play area when Tony found an advertisement in a magazine about a free activity at a local nature refuge.

We didn’t really have any idea what we’d do there, but it was a nice day and we figured we’d at least get the two little ones out for a bit.

The refuge is set way back in the woods down a long winding road and if we hadn’t read about the place in a magazine we’d never have known it existed! The building itself was huge and there ended up being plenty to keep us all busy.

I didn’t get many pictures because we were busy going from one thing to the next. The first station we visited was a craft station. The kids used a toilet paper roll and some string and cotton to make a bird nest builder. The idea is that the birds will use the string/cotton/ribbon to make their nests. I have no idea what this craft was called, but the kids were happy to make it!

Another station we visited had covered boxes in which you had to stick your hand inside and then guess what you touched. There was a snake skin, bears fur and something else I can’t remember. I hate those things and couldn’t bring myself to put my hand in the box even after the kids did! It’s just freaky.

There was also a huge display area in the back of the center where many different animals were set up. Among the many different displays were otters, wolves, turtles and several species of birds. The very back wall had a huge panel of windows and binoculars where you could look out onto the water. We showed Harper a large flock of geese that was out on the water, but he wasn’t too interested…he and Dakota were having much more fun climbing up and down the step stools to the binocular stands.

Before we left we hit up the music program. I can’t remember now who the musical guests were, but my kids couldn’t have cared less. They invited all the kids up to the front to play with maracas and dance and sing along and neither of my kids were interested in the least, and as soon as Dakota shouted “EAT” we knew it was time to pack it up and go. Harper was totally thrilled with the folding seats in the auditorium though! He loved sitting in them and folding up inside them…ah, to be three and so easily amused!

All in all we had a good time and it was a great way to spend an hour and a half keeping the babes busy.