Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge - May 24, 2020

Today our adventure was inspired by seeing a friends pictures from the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge.  This is one of the stops on the Scenic Route, but we didn't stop here before.  At the entrance to the refuge there is a fenced dog park, which could be fun to bring Frankie to another time.  Only the drive-through portion of the refuge is open, but when the trails open, the girls and I want to come back and explore there!

Since I was driving, Zoey was the designated photographer today.  This was perfect since she needed to take some outdoor photography to complete her Outdoor Art badge our troop worked on at our last virtual meeting.  

The drive itself takes about 30 minutes and offers lots of great photo ops!  Signs along the way remind you to stay in your car.  There are lots of areas to pull off for a "closer" view.  We saw turtle, frogs, dragonflies, various birds and ducks, and some deer!  Definitely a fun little adventure that we'll do again in the future.

Cedar Creek Grist Mill - May 16, 2020

For our adventure today, we decided to go shck-out one of the stops on the Scenic Route we didn't explore much of on our first go round.  Lily had said she wanted to explore the covered bridge area some more, so off we headed to Cedar Creek Grist Mill.  The mill building was closed, as I expected, but the trails were open.  It was a short adventure, taking us about 30 minutes to explore everything there was to see.  Definitely a great pit stop, but not much else.

I took a couple great pictures, but then we were on our way!

Family AdventureTtime!

Today is my hubby's Saturday.  So we decided to go on an adventure. I did a little research earlier in the week and decided we'd head up to the Mt. St Helen's Visitor Center area (the visitor center itself is closed due to COVID-19).  So, instead we checked out Seaquest State Park, which just reopened yesterday.

It took us just over 45 minutes to get there, with rain storms off and on the whole way.  When we pulled in there was not another car in sight.  The rain had tapered off, and it was mostly just dripping from the moss covered trees.  We put our jackets on and headed out to explore.

There was a couple trails, but this is really more of a campground with a day-use area.  Lily and I fell in love with the potential of Girl Scout activities that could happen there.  We found a trail head and started into the woods.

We saw a bunch of slugs, a couple worms, and tons of weird little mushrooms on fallen logs.  We also saw a jackrabbit and a tiny mole that looked like it had been dropped by a bird from the trees above. There was also a cute little "Yurt Village" that we all thought looked like a lot of fun.

                                                  

Once we explored as much as we could there, we decided to venture back to Moulton Falls on the Scenic Route we took last week.  From Seaquest it took us about an hour to get to the falls in Yacolt.  We hiked down to the rocks at the falls and explored a bit before heading home.

It was a fun day, and an easy day trip.  A great little escape from being stuck at home.

Let's try this again...

So today is day 7,958 of our COVID-19 quarantine...Ok, it's really only been 34 days, but I swear they're the longest days in the history of human life.  I was "laid-off" from my beloved job a little over a month ago and the girls haven't been to school in about a month and a half.  Our schedule during the week is really going well, it helps keep us all sane, but then on the weekends, when we try to go "schedule-free", all bets are off. The girls are cranky, and they argue and they yell (which makes me cranky, too).  And I just try to get through the day without ending up on the news.

Today, though, I decided we needed an adventure.  I love going out and not having a destination in mind.  Josh does not find that enjoyable, so it's perfect for today, when he's at work.  I thought maybe we'd go hiking, but I didn't know where.  To be honest, in the almost 6 years we've lived her we haven't really explored much.  So, I knew I didn't want to go to the same place(s) we also go, but I didn't know where.  SO we got in the car, got me coffee, the necessary fuel for any open-ended adventure, and started on our way.

I knew there was a park out in Hockinson we'd been to once or twice that I thought might have trails, so we headed that way.  I had a general idea of how to get there, but it snuck up on me and we drove right past it.  So, we just kept going.  We took the next "major" looking road and that brought us into Brush Prairie.  So, from there I thought we could go to Lewisville Park or Battleground Lake.  The turn to Battleground Lake came first, so we followed it.  At the end of the road, the park was closed.  It was at a T in the road, and if we turned right we would be on the Clark County North Scenic Drive, so we turned right.

I had never even heard of this drive and had no idea where it would lead us, but we had a full tank of gas, full bellies from our McDonald's stop and all the time in the world.  So, why not?

We drove for a while and got to Moulton Falls.  I thought that would be a great place to stop and wander for a bit, but there was no parking, even in the "overflow" (way to quarantine, Clark County)! So we kept going.  A short while later, Zoey said she needed to pee and was ready to go home.  We had just gone through Yacolt and Amboy, which both had spots we could have stopped, but of course she waited until we were back in the middle of nowhere.  So, when we came to Cedar Creek Grist Mill we pulled in and miraculously found a place to park.

The mill is on the west side of an adorable covered bridge and has a cool old building and a couple little trails.  We didn't explore much though, since the primary objective at his point was to find a toilet for Zoey (and this place was not secluded enough for a forest pit stop).  I did take the only pictures of our journey however before we continued on.

Eventually, we made it into LaCenter.  We were at this strange intersection/traffic circle with casinos on every side when I saw a couple gas stations.  So we stopped and got snacks and took a potty break.

Back on the road, only to discover that LaCenter and Ridgefield are not very far apart! We had made it to what we thought was the end (Lily looked up the route we were on to see where we were going), so we got on the freeway and headed for home.

It was only after we got home that I pulled up the map of route and realized we missed a whole section that would've completed the circle and brought us back to Battleground, where our adventure had begun.  So, this adventure will have to be completed on another day...maybe tomorrow..maybe next weekend.  All I know is that this was the first time in at least 34 days that my children have been together for more than 20 minutes without someone screaming or whining or crying and I loved every minute of it!

Trauma Informed Care or Re-victimization?

As I was driving to work this morning, I had a thought; in the last year and a half most of the Professional Development training we have been to has focused around "Trauma Informed Care" and "Adverse Childhood Experiences" or ACE's.  Now, while it is important to understand how trauma effects young children and the lifelong effects this trauma can have, I feel like we are beginning to take it too far.

I am the director of a state-funded preschool program for low-income high-risk families.  Most, if not all of the families in our program have some degree of trauma in their young lives.  When we think about the behaviors we see are we viewing them as typical preschool behaviors, effected by their life experiences or do we just see these children as victims of circumstance.  When I enter a new classroom and am immediately told all the challenging aspects of a child's behavior and none of the amazing things they can do, what should I do with that information. 

While I agree that we should consider the backgrounds our kids come from, we also need to consider what that information means.  Does it mean we treat them differently, or their parents?  Does it mean that if you tell me this child comes from a home with abuse, homelessness or an incarcerated parent that I know that doing steps A, B, and C will fix the issues this child is having class? 

No, there is not one fix for any behavior, typical or not.  Every child is affected by their ACE's differently based on their own personal resiliency and temperament.  What works for one child doesn't work for another, ACE's or not.  So, I wonder, if we are trying to come from a "Strengths-based" approach to learning and teaching, how then does focusing on what is wrong in the child's life help them?

What would happen if we made posters of each child with all the amazing things about them and hung them around the room for everyone to see and remember, even when things get tough.  Is it easier to "handle" a tough situation when you remember that this child is talented, smart, caring and just might need a little extra love?  I think it is.  I think that by connecting to these children on a human level, and putting their past and their circumstances aside it is easier to be compassionate and really get to the heart of the situation.

Just because they're having a bad day doesn't necessarily connect to their past traumas.  Everyone is entitled to have a bad day.  It is our job as Early Childhood Educators to help them thrive, even when thy're just not feeling it that day, that moment.  If I am truly a compassionate human being, like I strive to be, then it shouldn't matter where you came from, what your family is like or what even what just occurred.  Compassion should be unconditional and given equally and fully.  I think taht is the best way to combat the ill effects of ACE's.

Park 2 - Wy'East Park

Up next in our adventuring was Wy'East Park.  Also not far from home, this park shares it's fields with Wy'East Middle School.  First off, the parking sucks.  You have to park on the street (which is a main road, lots of traffic) and then it's a short walk around the corner to the play area.  There is a sign reminding you to clean up after your pets, but no doggie bags, like most parks have available.

This is also an older, small playground consisting of 3 playstructures.

This is actually 2 structures, not connected... for the bigger kids.

And this is the structure for the little ones.  The posts are missing the balance beam that would be across them, normally.

Zoey didn't really enjoy either of the smaller structures, being my cautious child.  She would only play if Lily was with her and only went down the slide once.  She had much more fun picking dandelions in the grass.

We probably won't go to this park again, but at least we know why!

Park 1 - Bella Vista Park

We decided to start our challenge close to home.  Bella Vista Park is located just around the corner from our apartments.  We walked there once or twice last summer, but Zoey was really too young to play yet.

But not this year!  Sadly, my picture of the small play structure disappeared, but she loved it.

Lily enjoyed playing on the bigger structure as well...

But she moves to fast to be in pictures, usually.

This is a small park, with just the two play structures and a huge field of grass.  It's great because it's close to home, but could do with some updating as the wood is weathered and the girls were done playing quickly.