Nature Explorers

We met some friends at Woodglen Vista Park this morning and had a great time. We played on the playground for a while, then went exploring. There's a creek that runs through the park, so we searched for tadpoles, threw rocks in the water, and had fun splashing and stomping around. It reminded me of all the fun times I had with my sisters and cousins when we explored the creek near my grandparents' house.

Eliza was excited to find dandelions along the way. She shared them with her friend Brooke and Audrey too. She named her flower Megan after her friend in Texas, then later decided to rename it Miss Nicole after Megan's mommy (since she has a doll named Megan already).

Eliza leading the way through this grove of trees.

Eliza, Audrey, Brooke, Michael and Lincoln.

All the kids enjoyed throwing rocks in the water - this is becoming one of Audrey's favorite things to do lately. What do you expect when there are so many more boys than girls in our playgroup?

Eliza wrote her name in the sand and then put some leaves in the stream to watch them float. She was cautiously trying to stay dry, only tiptoeing through the shallow water.

Audrey started copying the other kids and walking through the shallow water - not at all concerned about wet shoes and pants.

Eliza checked out the berry bushes on the other bank.

Then she went searching for more dandelions, and was excited to find one of the seed head ones to blow into the air. She was definitely more interested in the flowers around the creek than the actual water, unlike Audrey...

At this point, the boys were happily running through the deeper part of the creek. Audrey figured it must be fun and followed them in...

Now what?

Oops!

Not so happy to be soaked all the way up to her hips! She wasn't sure what to do, but when I just laughed it off, she went on with the fun. Somehow, she didn't get her nice new shirt wet at all!

Eliza made her way up the hill and found some other pretty yellow flowers. All the kids followed her up and were excited to find some nice, big pine cones too! After that, we headed back towards the car.

Audrey was excited about the dandelions too - as a "second best" thing once we left the creek.

After all, she loves doing whatever Eliza does.

When we got to the car, I stripped Audrey from the waist down and put a dry diaper on her. Eliza took her shoes and socks off, and we rode home like that. I fear I will have some stinky laundry to do, but it was totally worth the enjoyment we all got from our adventure.

We sure brought home a lot of loot too - A dandelion named Nicole (unfortunately all smushed and wilted), 3 large pine cones, and 3 big river rocks for painting.

(please excuse Audrey's crazy, messy hair - she kept losing the headband she was wearing, and I figured I'd better put it away to keep it dry)