Feeling Swamped

In a couple of senses of the word. How is it that summer hit with all its "free" time, and yet I still feel just as overwhelmed by my to-do list? Maybe it's that my family is home with me all the time so I feel the need to do things with them. I know my blogging has dropped off the last few weeks, but I am hoping to get back on track with that.

One reason for the craziness is summer travels. It seems there have been a lot this summer. While I love to travel, each trip takes planning, packing, being away, unpacking, and cleaning. My most recent adventure was to visit family who live outside the New Orleans area. When we visit, we love to do some different local things. Of course, there is the obligatory trip to Cafe du Monde and the French Quarter, but this trip we added a few new things. We visited a New Orleans cemetery to see the beautiful sculptures and graves. We did a trip to the Aquarium of the Americas since it had been a long time since we had visited (plus I love sea otters). We visited the new Infinity Science Center beside Stennis Space Center (which is small, but nice... and they are adding sections in the future).

Finally, we did a swamp tour. My husband and I had been on one years ago, but our children had never been. And my son is entering third grade, the year when wetlands are the ecosystem studied in his district. Also, I have taught that third grade wetlands unit the last two years in long-term assignments and have fallen in love with the swamp myself. I know, it sounds crazy to hear "fallen in love with the swamp," but it really is a gorgeous place if you take the time to look. I snapped tons of photos while on the tour, so I thought I would put together a Swamp Powerpoint Presentation with some of them that show the various topics covered in the wetlands unit.

The presentation uses the photos as a launching point for discussions on such topics as ecosystems, food chains, animals adaptations, living and nonliving things, and natural/human-made changes to the swamp. I hope you enjoy this little glimpse into the Honey Island Swamp in Pearl River, LA.