Another good day...

We had a field trip which really was 3 in 1. We went to the Mineral & Lapidary Museum, Team ECCO Center for Ocean Awareness, and Skytop Apple Farm. It was a blast! 

It was exciting to head up the mountain back to our old stomping grounds...I miss the mountains...

In Hendersonville, NC there little downtown has lots of painted bear statues.  We parked near this one and Jake and his friend Gabe who rode with us laughed at the back...

A loud, but not to loud group of adults and kids at 9:15 on a school day standing together on the sidewalk?..Gotta be a homeschooling group! We love our homeschooling Co-op and we love Classical Conversations.

We broke up into 2 groups because there were too many of us to fit in the little museums together.  We started off in the Mineral museum.

The free stone everyone got as we were leaving.  Almost everyone got the grab bags that had 5 different minerals in is for $1.  After we went to ECCO Jake's buddies wanted to ride with us so we had a car load of boys auctioning and trading their mineral. :)

Next stop: ECCO.  Who knew there was an ocean awareness classroom in the mountains of NC?

They did a fish Scavenger hunt and had a blast. 

This little guy had some issues.  He would look at you and open his mouth really wide.  I think he was cussing us out in fish language.  I say that because after he looked you with a wide mouth he would turn around, suck up some sand and...

...spit it at us.  He wasn't a friendly guy.

His neighbors were quite friendly though.  A little creepy...but friendly!

On to Skytop!

The 3 Musketeer's  getting ready for the hay ride.

Or maybe the 3 Stooges would be a better name for them!

They had a bamboo maze that was pretty cool.

Jake picked his first apple.  It was pretty slim pickings this late in the year but it was still fun!

I really wanted to stay up in the mountains and go to the Romney rally that was in Asheville (mere minutes away) but Gabe had to get back for football practice and Jake had to get back to pack for his first Boy Scout camp out the next day.  Life is good!