Family Reunion

On Friday, April 15, a segment of my clan, my mother's father's side of the family descended from Grace Lawler convened at the Shackup Inn in Clarksdale to celebrate our shared DNA.  We ate Abe's Barbeque and an assortment of potluck sides (I brought fruit salad, well it was just grapes and pineapple, because Winn ate all the watermelon).  We were supposed to gather at Cherry Hill Cemetery in Dublin, MS but we got rained out of that plan.  I had never been to the Shack Up Inn and it was really a cool spot to poke around. The whole place is like an eclectic piece of art.  It was fun to introduce Winn and Meredith to long lost cousins and really just getting out of town, even an hour's drive away was refreshing for all of us.

Wonder Walks

Since the beginning of March, Winn and Meredith have been taking a class called Wonder Walks.  The class meets at the Whirlpool Trail off of Chucky Mullins Drive.  We walk down the main trail which is actually an old railbed, but then quickly veer off to one of the single-track trails down into the woods.  It is led by Katie Boyle, mother of 2 little ones, whose enthusiasm for nature is contagious and inspiring.  It's been a glorious spring season.  When we started, the only green was patches of moss on a brown forest floor, but now ferns are unfurling their fiddleheads, the canopy has leafed out and mayapples have bloomed.  Meredith and I have class on Mondays (what a great way to start the week) and Winn and Daddy have Saturday mornings (though Meredith and I have tagged along frequently on Saturday mornings).  I think Winn's favorite part is wading in the creek that runs through the woods (up to his waist, much his Daddy's dismay).  Yesterday, we made nature journals and collected leaves and flowers for them.  The kids have built forts, made sandcastles, pressed flowers, read stories, made up stories and slid down steep bluffs.  Katie says that when she shows them something Winn always has something to add to her observation.  Yesterday, they were observing a water spider and she asked what humans would need to be able to walk on the water like the spider.  Winn piped up and said that we would need water skis and then another little boy quickly added that we could make them out of bamboo.  It's so wonderful to have the opportunity to explore the Mississippi woods in our own backyard with a group of other young children and parents.  It makes my heart happy that Winn and Meredith already have such a love and appreciation for the great outdoors.

Katie explaining how to make nature journals

Winn collecting items for his nature journal

Mayapples, the first green to pop up from the forest floor