Grand Prize Winner!!
One of the things that we learned to really appreciate when we were living overseas in Finland was the love of the great outdoors. The Finnish culture starts teaching children about their surroundings with nature at a very early age. My daughter in Grade One there took a field trip to the forest. The children jumped onto public transportation and headed out to a forest area. Their teacher took them on a scavenger hunt to find things and the gathered and talked about the items found. The cool thing is this was a “Fall” trip and they would return in the spring to compare what they see. I was able to join my daughter’s trip to the forest and this really stuck with me. It is something I want to continue with my children now that we are back in the US. It something I would like to continue in the classroom when I return. It is important to embrace nature and learn from it!
We have done several camping excursions, day trips to State Parks, visits to National Parks, and family walks within our own community. Being in Southwest Austin we still have plenty of green space to enjoy and explore. We have picked prickly pear and made syrup from it, picked peaches, picked olives, visited an Organic chicken farm and Mill (Coyote Creek), visited various Texas Vineyards, hunted dove on our family farm and much more.
Christian found this cool contest that the Texas Parks and Wildlife put together for an upcoming TV series idea. Of the hundreds of entries submitted his idea was the Grand Prize Winner! His idea came from something he did with girls at one of the Texas State Parks. The went snorkling at Lost Maples State Park. You can see the video he put together from that adventure. Christian’s idea was “Snorkling Across Texas”
Texas Parks and Wildlife liked his idea! One of the exciting parts of this winning idea is that our family will get to take part in one of the shows. We believe this will take place in the spring. Our family is very excited about Christian’s winning idea! 
Hope you can take the time to slow down and embrace and enjoy what is surrounding you and the great outdoors!!