What a gorgeous day not too long ago. We knew we
had to get outside of the house and the boys had an inner tubing date with the Pay It
Forward 4-H Club. The group has great leaders. They typically do
service projects and learn how to help in their community, yet this weekend
they were taking the kids inner tubing for a fun afternoon!
To inner tube at Ferrettie Baugo, you pay an
entrance fee at the gate (currently $4/car for in county or $5/car for out of
county). It is just over the line into St. Joseph County Parks. Pay for tubing
at the front gate, too, getting a tag to give permission and access to the
tubing hill. I asked about the lower age and the gate attendant told me 3, so
we did not get a pass for our youngest, who is only 2. Our tag said it's not
recommended for under 3. While he was interested, I was happy taking turns
entertaining him on the sidelines. It was great to be outside for a longer
time.
The bigger guys and my husband headed up the hill!
The youngest followed! He was interested in sliding down, but I distracted him
a bit with some other things, like snow! Stacking tubes as Loose Parts Play was
fun!
The tubes made an excellent place to hide!
We explored plants in winter while hanging out. I
realized I didn't even get pictures of the hill--it was fun to go down, but is
certainly fast! Some people go down, up to 5 tubes together. There is a bit of
physics involved. I found myself contemplating with the boys about which
position in the chain of tubes should have the heaviest person to go the
fastest. While we don't have pictures this year, here are pictures and a blog entry from
another year. Also, check out our winter guide for other fun activities in
the area.
The marker at the top of the hill says 452 feet!
That's a bit of a walk uphill, but completely worth it. My oldest found snow
that had formed large rectangles he wanted to share with me.
It was just nice to look at the brown trees and
shrubs, hearing the birds, and absorbing winter.
Snow balls and snow banks were
also fun!
One even tried sleeping in the
snow, like they do in Norway.
My little explorer needed to blaze his own trail
around the tube building.
It was also fun to see die hard disc golf players
in the park! They were out for a tournament, mentioning they even went out the
weekend before when most of the county was shut down due to the snow storms!
That's dedication!
They play throughout the park, walking between
stops. They each have impressive gear--I thought they were doing cold weather
backpacking!
Action shot! It looks like one group is TeamWaka
from Wakadisc.com.
Another is the Southside Disc Golf Club. I admire these guys
for finding something they like that gets them outside on a regular basis!
Admittedly, I've never tried disc golf, but maybe we should! With boys getting a little older, they may enjoy this game of skill that keeps people outside on a regular basis. Have you tried disc golf? If you're interested, the South Bend Tribune ran an article last year about options in the area. Find it here!
