I love Mondays

Today was our 3rd nature walk and I find that I spend all week looking forward to this time outdoors.  Waiting for me to finish getting water bottles ready to go, the kids went outside to play and quickly came to inform me we couldn't go.  Their reasoning?  It's too cold outside.  70 degrees and they're too cold.  Boy we've been living in hot climates way too long.  After Izzy changed into some pants and every child had their own sweatshirt on, we were on our way.

This was our first find.  I was showing the mom's who missed last week that the leaves on this flower plant are velvety.  The hairs that make it so soft are not visible to the naked eye.  I wish I could have everyone touch these leaves because it's amazing how smooth they are.  Amber also pointed out the coloring along the edges of being the perfect white.  Don't those look like the perfect leaf?  

Did anyone else notice the extra addition to the plant that we almost missed spotting ourselves?  Look again.  Do you see that spider?  He was huge.  Noah's dad used his pocket knife to get him to spread out and pose for the camera.  Lots of cool markings on this guy and short black hairs on his legs.  That was a really cool spider and a great way to start our nature hike.

Someone discovered these bird feathers and left them stuffed in a tree branch to share w/ others along the trail.  Gorgeous how blue they were, wonder what kind of bird they come from.  Andrew wanted to bring one home, but I suggested we leave them to share w/ the next hikers on the trail.

Andrew thought this plant was cool.  Some kind of grass that has all these stems that look like fireworks.  He said it was cool because it looks invisible.

This was one of the coolest finds of the day.  Noah and his dad were flipping over rocks hoping to find something cool.  Sure enough, they found a scorpion.  They collected him in a jar to show everyone and we kept him on the walk letting different kids take turns carrying him.  Later, someone caught a little dung beetle in their bug catcher and the kids all wanted to see what would happen if we added the beetle in with the scorpion.  It was lucky that dung beetle had us adults there to veto the crowd.

Part of the paved trail.  Sorry I didn't get any pics of the unpaved road.

The observation tower.  Look at all them kids.

Izzy next to Noah journaling the scorpion.

Andrew next to Alex and Zoey.

The end of the hike calls for some really hungry kids enjoying peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  We sure wore them out.

But after lunch, it was quick to the playground yelling "Who wants to play freeze tag?"  I'm so glad we have this group every week.  All the kids love it.

And Alex ... I was so proud of this little girl.  Last night we discussed if she could be a big girl and walk the whole way.  I was amazed at how well she did.  Almost halfway after the observation tower, she was done and I carried her the rest of the way to the park.  She had enough energy to enjoy the slide for a little bit.