How often have you wished you could travel back in time and land in the setting of your favorite book?  This weekend we landed inside our books.  We traveled along the Illinois River to Pere Marquette State Park.  This beautiful park, on the bluffs of the Illinois River, memorializes the travels in the book,   Father Marquette and the Great Rivers by August Derleth.  Marquette, a Catholic missionary, traveled the Great Lakes and explored the Wisconsin, Mississippi, and Illinois Rivers, bringing the message of salvation to American Indians.

 We also crossed the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers yesterday.  The rivers' muddy waters were busy bearing 7-9 barges, heavily laden and lashed together.  Quite a different sight than that in The Captain's Dog  and The River Between Us .  The Captain's Dog  by Roland Smith journals the travels of Louis and Clark through the eyes of their Newfoundland dog.  The River Between Us by Richard Peck is set in Southern Illinois where the Mississippi River divides Union and Confederate camps.  (5th-8th grade reading)

 Hiking along the great rivers on a warm sunny spring day concluded with racing the storms back home just before tornadic winds hit for a second time in two weeks.  Sometimes we find adventures in our every day lives, sometimes we find them in a book.  But a more perfect day cannot be found than landing inside the pages of our books.

          Dad:     Blue At the Mizzen by Patrick O'Brian

         Mom:     The Da Vinci Deception by Mark Shea

13 year old:   The Captain's Dog by Roland Smith

11 year old:   H.M.S. Surprise by Patrick O'Brian

10 year old:   Father Marquette and the Great Rivers by August Derleth

Just finished our  family Read Aloud:  The River Between Us  by Richard Peck

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Posted by cyndiegirl72

Your children are blessed and beautiful. We will be landing in the book The Yearling in the fall. The state park in which the author visited as a child is very close to our home. The springs described in the book are still pristine. I can't wait. We will also get the 1950's version of the movie after we finish the book. We have to wait for fall so all the snakes and gators are sleepy for the winter. No reason to get bit. This will be my first year of homeschool. If you get a chance check out my old blog at cyndiegirl and my new blog at cyndiegirl72. Love your blog I'm going to add you to my friends list so I can come back.

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Posted by joyfulhomeschool

Ahhh, what a beautiful thought and how fun that you got to experience that! Those are some great pics of your kids.

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Posted by TeachingDad

We love outings - Looks like ya'll had a great time. The area looks really nice and withe leaves starting to come back I'm sure its a feeling of spring fever. We have just about done all the outing we can around here. But any outing, away from the day to day is a great day. When my son was younger, and I wasn't at home I would sometimes just call in sick and we would go to the zoo and the park to have lunch. I loved doing things like that. We still do it now, just not as often - oh and I don't have to call in sick!
Always Learning - Always TeachingDad

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Posted by LadyMother

I didn't realize you are a flatlander! I am amazed at how far you can see [and not be on top of a mountain]. A good looking group too - no nose rings or tattoos. You certainly are an avid bunch of readers. I am totally impressed. Not a Regency Romance in the list! I guess you didn't get the dumbing down message.

Miss Meg

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