Family Outdoor Hour: Nothing Like an Oak

I made some notes on this photo over on Flickr. If you click the photo, it should take you over to Flickr to read the notes.

My oldest son and I had the opportunity to take a long walk together and enjoy the oaks and pines along the walking trail. He has such long legs that he ends up way in front of me most of the time but that gives me a chance to snap a few photos as we walk. He stops every now and then to let me catch up.....yep, I feel like an old lady.

Oaks make me happy. I love the variety of oaks with their different shapes and here in California we have quite a few to study. Last year we kept track of a Live Oak growing in our backyard. We also have quite a few scrub oaks in the back of our property.Here is a previous post on our oaks: Oak Challenge Entry


There is nothing like the smell of warm oak leaves in the sun.


Oak galls fascinate me and the boys think they are pretty interesting as well. Oak galls are basically abnormalities on plants caused by insects. We noticed that there are not as many as usual this autumn and we wonder what that means.


I love the shape of oak trees and this one at my dad's house is a big old oak. I took an informal poll of my three boys and asked them which they preferred: oaks or pines? Two oaks and one pine.....I think if I had to make a quick answer without thinking too much I would pick oaks as well.


We have noticed how different the acorns are from different kinds of oaks.



We had a wet morning to observe the oaks in our backyard but I really like the way the wetness brought out the texture in the bark.


Here are leaves from one of our oaks. We are assuming the red parts are the new growth. We will have to keep checking to see if we are right.


I really like using the Peterson Field Guide-Western Trees book for our tree identification. The color plates show the leaves, the buds, and the acorns. Once you get an idea of which oak you think you have, there is a reference to a page number to read the narrative account along with a photo and range map. You can find the tree guide listed on the Autumn Series Squidoo lens (scroll down to the additional resources section).

We made leaf prints last week with our oak leaves and they are included in our nature journals for this challenge.

These challenges are helping us stay motivated to get outdoors which is always a good thing.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom