Oh, this little girl and her critters. The number of pets in our home changes daily. While there are only few that are able to be overnight pets (I've had to make a rule that all containers, jars, etc. have to be emptied before dinner time), we have many pets that are just friends for a day. Recently all the little frogs around our house have come out of hiding and are found EVERYWHERE. (Just yesterday I found one in the garage, thankfully still alive!)
Each one that is found is carefully scooped up and brought to a little home for frogs (A cardboard box filled with carefully selected vegetation, rocks, twigs, and a bowl full of water). During their brief visit, they are protected, entertained, and introduced to many new friends.
Although I am sure that they enjoyed their short visit to their little frog santuary, I can almost hear their little sigh of relief as they are carefully placed back into the wild and can be on their merry little way.
A few moments from yesterday:
Yesterday we braved the roads (remember they don't plow the roads here since it doesn't really snow that often so the cities have no plows) and bought some winter necessities that didn't fit from last year then ventured to a nearby park that had a small sledding hill. Although it wasn't nearly as fun as last year's hill in Iowa, it was still declared, "the best day ever!" on our way home with, of course, many verses of Let It Snow sung at the top of their lungs.
When we moved back to Western Washington, I kept telling my kids that it doesn't really snow here in the winter. In fact, growing up there were many winters in a row when we didn't see any snow at all.
Well, the weather is proving me wrong.
About a week ago we saw on the forecast that there would be a 30% chance of snow today. We kept watching it creep closer and closer to today's forecast thinking it would disappear, but it stayed there and not only is it snowing today, but it also snowed yesterday.
Soon the snow will be gone and whether or not we see more of it this winter, no one knows. But for now we are enjoying the moment and my kids have declared today a no school day for playing in the snow, drinking hot chocolate, and for singing Let It Snow at the top of their lungs.
It seems that the most fascinating discoveries are not found in your backyard or on a nature walk, but in the most random everyday places. During our regular outings of errands and life appeared the most random discoveries of new and exciting things about living in the Pacific Northwest. Mostly it has been Mushrooms (of all shapes, colors, and sizes), but this long guy also decided to slowly cross our path.
Open windows, open Toes, green grass, climbing trees, birds all around, mud pies, and grass stew marinating in buckets in the backyard. From sun up to sun down, we've been getting reacquainted with springtime. I can hardly contain them indoors. Breakfast is being eaten on the way out the door, homeschool "recess" has been reinstated, and there's been picnics. Oh my, has there been picnics.
All day long it's, "Mom, can we have a picnic today?" or "Today is a great day for a picnic." or "Let's have sandwiches for lunch so we can have a picnic." Picnic. Picnic. Picnic. That's all that's been talked about around here. So the other night when Kevin had late class and I just happen to be going through a dinner slump, I asked my girls what they would like to eat for dinner. The answer was easily supplied by my two little picnic obsessed girls, "Let's have a picnic!"
Just as the sun was starting to, we headed out to the park with our picnic basket and our new picnic blanket in tow. The blanket was inspired from the book, Handmade Home. I had to alter it a bit because I had better luck finding pillow cases (at 35ยข each) rather than sheets. It's backed with some thrifted wool fabric, machine quilted with strait lines, and bound with pillowcase scraps. I can proudly say that he whole thing cost me less than $5.
That night we ate. We giggled. They played. I read. We picniced 'til the stars came out. Then we packed back up and headed home. Just as we were about to leave Becca declared, "Mom, this is the best picnic EVER!" So it was, Becca. So it was.
We have a great opportunity through our homeschool group to participate in IOWATER (a volunteer water quality monitoring program). Not only do the kids get to learn first hand how we affect our water supply, but they learn how to be an active part of helping to make things better. They perform a few tests about the quality and clarity of the water then search for and identify water bugs.
Our most recent trip led to the discovery of some baby Dragonflies. Something that most of us had never seen before (because rarely do you dig through the mud of a stream with a net looking for bugs). After that, things just got muddy. And we left with some very muddy feet, clothes, socks, and car. But in order to really get to know nature, you really got to get right down in it. And that's what they did.
We set off yesterday to see some rare Eastern Skunk Cabbage. If there was an award given for the hardest nature preserve to find, this one would get it. I got lost three times. With GPS. Rest assured, we did make it there in one piece and, thanks to everyone else getting lost, we were the first ones to arrive.
Now, this is usually where I would take the time to defend myself, but those of you who know me, know that I really don't have a great sense of direction. For example: All I had to do was make a frustrated noise while driving and I heard my kids ask, "Mom, are we lost yet?" Ahem. Moving on...
A couple of hours in the woods can lead to some great discoveries. Not only about the small and big things you'll find there, but of nature, of God, and of yourself. We found fungus, flowers, a hallow tree you could climb through, animal tracks, a tiny skull, and that Becca is very good at seeing snakes. She found two, in fact. Luckily, they were the non-poisonous variety.
In the end it was all worth it. And yes, we did see/smell the Eastern Skunk Cabbage. Lots and lots of it. They are a sure sign of spring, I'm told. We also have started some big plans for more hikes in the woods and, perhaps, I may be able to get more people on my side to start some camping. Although that, I've been told, is not a sure thing.
Images from our nature walk this week:
::freedom::
::mud::
::secret hideaways::
::with secret tunnels now exposed::
::a flock returning home::
::a home that weathered the storm::
