Greenways: Lake Lynn Trail

Summer vacation, day one . . . I actually wasn't really planning on starting our Greenways tour today since it's a Friday, and I thought I'd give the kids the first day of summer off, and then be ready to roll out all my PLANS on Monday. But, when I asked the kids what they wanted to do today Nathan said he was ready to walk on a Greenway, and who was I to say "no"? I picked the Lake Lynn Trail because it was 2.2 miles, paved, and the trail went in a loop so that we wouldn't have to backtrack.

Lake Lynn Trail turned out to be a great Greenway to try for our first day! We parked the car and walked up some steps to the start of the trail. The weather was fabulous -- mid-80's and sunny with a slight breeze -- and the trail (alternating between pavemet and wooden boardwalks that crossed over Lake Lynn) was mostly shaded by the wooded area surrounding the lake. When we started walking we immediately came upon 6 ducks resting in the woods.

The kids were so excited, especially when the came right up to us, wagging their tails and "begging" for food. Noah was so excited he stared counting the number of ducks we saw. As we walked around the lake and the kids talked the whole way. They talked over each other, excitedly, about the things they saw and also about shows they had watched and what they had done the night before (when I had been at book club). We walked up a short path so the kids could play at a park, and I had a moment of pure gratefulness that they are still young enough to want to play at a park. After a few tricep dips on a bench I even joined them on the swings -- I can't remember the last time I was on a swing, leaning back, feet up toward the sky, eyes closed, the summer breeze warm on my face. It felt good!

When we got home I gave them new notebooks for the summer (5-subject, to include journaling, writing, math, book reviews, and doodling), and instructions for journaling about our Lake Lynn Trail adventure. Here is what they wrote.

Noah: Today we saw 103 ducks. When we walked a mile we saw a hairin (sic). We did not know we were going to see a hairin (sic). We saw turtles. Then we went to the park. Me and Nathan played Star Wars. Nathan said he wanted to swing and I did too. Mom said we should start walking. We saw 47 ducks. We saw 9 more. Then we walked all the way. We went home. I felt good about my first Greenway.

Nathan: Today was the first day of the summer We walked 2.2 miles around Lake Lynn. We mainly were in the shade of the treees. We also saw wildlife, such as ducks, geese, turtles, and another bird. The other birds were black and green and had a red thing on its beak. The other birds acted like dogs too, first what they did was walk up to us and beg, and then they wagged their tails. The ducks kept following us. The turtles swam away and the geese chased us. That's it for day one.