Over Memorial Day weekend, my in-laws visited from Maryland. Wanting to find something new to explore that is appropriate for both older and younger people, I researched the upcoming Wake County Parks & Recreation events. I found a fun event at Historic Yates Mill County Park called “Messing About with Boats” that featured a reading from The Wind in the Willows and boat-making craft. The event was super affordable at $2/person, only 1.5 hours long and for ages 6+. I formally registered everyone except Claire (who’s only 3) knowing that she would enjoy the story and “help” the adults with their crafts. The entire program exceeded my expectations!
The instructor started the class with a coloring activity as the participants arrived. We colored paper animal masks of characters Badger, Toad and Otter from the book. Then, we constructed our masks with either popsicle sticks or string. After the coloring activity, the instructor presented material about the mill’s history and different types of energy. She catered the presentation to all age groups and made it especially interactive for the young ones. Next, the instructor walked us through creating a boat from an Altoid box and powered by stored-up rubber band energy. She related the craft to the energy lesson and also read from The Wind in the Willows story.
After everyone finished making their boats, we headed outside to the docks to launch our boats. Sure enough, our wound-up rubber bands caused the plastic paddles to propel the boats a few feet into the water. The instructor came prepared with a net to scoop up the boats so the kids could try again. The entire program was a perfect combination of creating, science, and hands-on experimenting for this age group.
After the program finished, our family enjoyed a picnic lunch near the water. Ashley found a quiet spot on the dock to read while Claire continued to perfect her boat launch. Then, we walked a short ways to the old mill and snapped pictures of the dam. Finally, we headed back towards the main building and crossed the bridge over the pond admiring how many turtles we could spot.
While we’ve been to Historic Yates Mill County Park several times in the past, I’d never registered for one of their programs. The morning’s activities were perfect for our mix of little ones and grandparents. Each Wake County Park features a monthly newsletter that you can subscribe to for staying in the loop about upcoming programs. I look forward to finding another great event to attend soon!
Thumbs up: age-appropriate programs, instructor’s knowledge and enthusiasm of subject material,
Thumbs down: nothing to report
Once the girls finished in the natural play area, we walked across the parking lot and open field area to the bird and butterfly garden. The butterfly garden has a short trail surrounded by natural butterfly habitats of lilac, Queen Anne’s Lace, daylilies, eastern blue star and more. The butterfly garden leads into the shaded bird garden that features a mulched trail with several feeders, bird houses, and informational guides. We heard and saw a lot of birds flying in and around the gardens, but my bird identification skills are pretty pathetic – maybe some adult birding classes are in my future!
On a cloudy summer day we headed to Annie Louise Wilkerson Nature Preserve Park to explore the nature playground and do some light hiking. It’d been awhile since we’d 
After our short hike we walked through Dr. Wilkerson’s former home, which has been renovated into an Education Center for the purpose of being a nature park research center. The front room is a mini museum of Dr. Wilkerson, highlighting her career and time she spent on the farm. We didn’t visit the other parts of the center, but the 
After our visit to 
Over New Years we spent time with dear friends at their parent’s new home in Murrells Inlet, SC. I’ve known Jennie since 6th grade and Bill and Jennie’s husband, Gary, became fast friends over a decade ago when we first met Gary. With growing families and distance (they’ve been in Columbus, OH) our time spent together has been few and far between. Lucky for us they are moving to the Greater Raleigh area this Spring so our families will get more time together, which is great news for us and our kids, as they’ve all become fast friends too!
The weather was unusually warm around New Years so shortly after arriving we took advantage of the remaining sun and made the short drive to Huntington Beach State Park, located at 
The next day we returned to the park to explore the Education Center, which is only open during daytime hours and offers daily feeding times where you can watch and learn how they feed several of the animals. With about two dozen animals to look at and learn about, we spent well over an hour in the center. They have a touch-tank with a horseshoe crab and stingray, a star fish, baby alligator, terrapins, snakes, turtles, and some hands-on exhibits about the nearby environment. The tanks are at perfect heights for little ones to get in on the action. After we exhausted the Education Center, the kids enjoyed a snack on the outdoor benches and we ran along the boardwalk overlooking the saltwater marshes. We learned about the numerous inhabitants – spider crabs, stone crabs, snapping shrimp, oysters, alligators, and lots of birds. Even though we didn’t see any of the 50-100 alligators living in the park we saw several oysters and lots of birds up close!
Blue Jay Point County Park is an outdoor mecca for people of all ages! We visited Blue Jay Point County Park about a month ago after hearing so much great news about the new 
After some playground time, we headed towards the covered pavilion where the Laurel Loop nature trail begins. This was such an ideal walk for young kids – it is a well maintained unpaved trail with lots of shade, has several benches and picnic tables throughout, is only 0.2 miles, allows for a short walk by adjacent Falls Lake, and loops you back to the playground area. All of the girls from ages 18 months to 4 years old loved exploring this trail, especially finding the dozens of caterpillars along the trail.
We then headed outside to the nearby fenced-in garden area for a much deserved picnic lunch. After our lunch we walked all throughout the gardens learning about the different herbs, flowers and vegetables they’ve planted. The biggest highlight for me was the “pizza garden” where they planted lots of basil and tomatoes. The biggest highlight for the girls was spotting butterflies and checking out the resident turtles and water snake in the small pond area.
In early Fall we headed out to Durant Nature Preserve with some friends to enjoy their weekly Wee Walkers program (Thursdays from 10-11am). Having never visited Durant Nature Preserve before I’m glad I attended an organized program that guides you and the kiddos on a short walk through the park because this nature park is huge! Durant Nature Preserve is located at 
We hiked along the eastern side of the park following the Pine Ridge Connector, Pine Ridge Trail and Lakeside unpaved trails. Our guide stopped several times along the trail to point out a variety of flora and fauna. We saw a little bit of everything: wasp nests, leaf poppers, water striders, water frogs, mushrooms, mosquito fish, poplar tulip leaves, muscadine grapes, dogwood berries and a real turtle! The kids (ranging in ages from under 1 to 5 years old) were most impressed by the turtle walking along the trail, but it’s been fun to see how Ashley gets excited when she sees dogwood berries in the backyard! The neat part about the Wee Walkers program is that each program is different because it’s based on what’s going on in nature that week and it’s FREE…what a deal!
We are always on the lookout for something fun and different to do outside the house especially in the early evenings after nap time. When we attended the Neuse River trail expansion grand opening some folks from the Walnut Creek Wetland Center were there explaining their programs. I remember them saying their center was open late each weekday, so we finally found some time with our good friends to get out and explore the center.
