Thursday, April 19, 2012

Fieldtrip

Our Valley has built a new Visitors Centre with great displays.
We went to visit and play.
I created a scavenger hunt to encourage the families to look all around.
They searched, found and counted what was on the list.
 Oysters
  are in the tank
and the mussels are hanging.
It was easier to count how many strings of mussels than 
how many mussels all together.
 
I love this orca display.  
With the metal kelp below and the acrylic water makes it appear beautifully authentic.
 Mountain biking is very popular,
 even inside with the children.
Although we couldn't ride the bikes we could still climb over the trail.
At one time, our valley was predominantly old growth forest.
But with time, community and economic growth the forest has been disappearing.
This tree display just called for the children to come inside.
They waited their turns to climb the ladder
to peek out of the two little windows.
We're fortunate to have a variety of year round activities.
Our mountain offers wonderful skiing
and the ocean boating or kayaking.
I brought a couple of stools with me so the younger 
children could reach this great interactive display.
Wherever they touched, pictures would appear
and change.
But the favourite, well at least my favourite, was
the marmot display.
 Here I am doing my best marmot impersonation.
We were able to crawl under and pop up through the hole.
 
We said hello to the marmots above ground then the children pointed out to me that there were more marmots underneath.
I have to admit that I didn't notice the little critters when I crawled in there.
Once we finished with our scavenger hunt.
We headed outside to be the first group to try the new playground.
I overheard families saying that the visitor centre is a great destination 
for rainy days.
And to show off to company.