Getting our tree

After the creek clean up (see previous post) we headed out to what appeared to be the middle of nowhere, South Carolina to find a tree farm.

We drove for quite a while down a dirt road -

Then we turned the corner and saw this beautiful, amazing site ! so many trees. We hit the jackpot. I cannot begin to tell you how happy I was to see this site. At Halloween I was so disappointed not to be able to find a farm to pick pumpkins that we never did get any - I refused to buy them at the grocery store or a parking lot.

This site more than made up for it.
And a tractor ride! This turned out to be the ferry that takes you out to the trees. Once you find your tree, you stand by it and the tractor guys comes by and cuts it down and throws it onto the back, then you hop in and it takes you back to the stand. Too cool!
So we found our tree - do you think it will fit on the tractor??
I guess we better go with this one instead.. It will fit in our house better I think. Cute !
Sorry Sage for making you climb into the sleigh - but that's what moms do : )
Adeline seemed to enjoy her first tractor ride! Don't worry baby in this family there will be many more of those!
We came home set up our tree and had a great time decorating it. I will post pics of the tree next. The ones I took came out blurry .. but here is a pic of our Fireplace mantle all decorated - too cool that we have our own fireplace mantle to decorate this year!

Adopt a Stream Reed Creek Clean Up

We heard about the Adopt a Stream clean up at Ryan's homeschool nature club. His Nature club meets at the Reed Creek Nature Center and they had their first clean up day this weekend and we headed out to help !! Boy was there a lot of trash! Some of it washed in from the creek and some of it the neighboring houses dumped things back there. Shame,shame.

We did not have any hipwaders to hop into the creek (don't worry mom the snakes are hibernating right now) so Tony improvised and used a long stick to push trash to the edge of the boardwalk

So that the boys could fish it out. Great team work boys - oh and I held the trash bag.
There were plenty of non-watery parts to clean.
We were all amazed at what was out there. Those trash cans had been thrown out there too, but they came in handy to pick up the smaller pieces of trash.
Adeline and I did our best to help out. Most of the time I was the trash spotter and bag holder - and I did a darn good job doing that!!
Adeline watched
As the boys helped to bring the trash up to the center. They did an awesome job helping out! They even had a lot of fun doing it. We found out that the Adopt a Stream program heads out to the creeks regularly and we can join them! Hurray, many naturey (is that a word) adventures to come. This Friday we will learn about amphibians and listen to frogs in the swamp. We are also going on a night walk to listen for owls. We will even be able to look for microorganisms and check the chemical levels in the creeks - good stuff!

That was not even all the trash everyone found. There were about 18 volunteers. Afterwards they had a yummy lunch for us and t-shirts!!
Ironically this sign is posted as soon as you walk to the boardwalk. I know of at least 18 people who will be abiding by that sign.