It's school vacation week in the town where our Monday
Homeschool Classes are held, so we have a week off from classes. So we decided to spend our "free" day at our favorite park. (Here the kids and their
friend B cut across a soccer field on their way to adventures in the woods.)
When we first arrived, we found B studying this male Canada Goose. T said that B had been sitting there for about 20 minutes, fascinated with the goose, who was napping by the time we showed up, totally non-plussed by the boys hovering over him. A short time later, his mate left her nest on a small island on this pond, and he woke up, greeted her, and both swam and bathed together while the boys excitedly made observations on their behavior. It was really cool!
Later, we went for a hike in the woods. It was a beautiful day, not really warm, yet very comfortable for hiking, and although it was generally breezy, it was fairly still in the woods, which made for some very pleasant walking.
We rested for awhile on a bank overlooking this really cool bog. Lots of skunk cabbage was emerging, and I shared some skunk cabbage facts that I was just reading about yesterday in the Old Farmer's Almanac. For instance: since bears are very groggy when they first emerge from their dens in the spring, one of the very first foods they eat is skunk cabbage -- the strong odor draws them to it and makes it easy for them to find sustenance right away.
The kids rest on and explore a fallen white (paper) birch tree. It was about an hour loop (1 1/4 miles), pushing it a bit for our little troopers, given that they'd already logged about a mile's worth of walking before starting out, but they stuck with it and had a great time. J is definitely ready for longer/harder hikes, but Zoo Boy continues to struggle with his lack of stamina. Hopefully he'll grow out of that the same way J did so that we can explore deeper into the woods on future ventures!
It's school vacation week in the town where our Monday Homeschool Classes are held, so we have a week off from classes. So we decided to spend our "free" day at our favorite park. (Here the kids and their friend B cut across a soccer field on their way to adventures in the woods.)
When we first arrived, we found B studying this male Canada Goose. T said that B had been sitting there for about 20 minutes, fascinated with the goose, who was napping by the time we showed up, totally non-plussed by the boys hovering over him. A short time later, his mate left her nest on a small island on this pond, and he woke up, greeted her, and both swam and bathed together while the boys excitedly made observations on their behavior. It was really cool!
Later, we went for a hike in the woods. It was a beautiful day, not really warm, yet very comfortable for hiking, and although it was generally breezy, it was fairly still in the woods, which made for some very pleasant walking.
We rested for awhile on a bank overlooking this really cool bog. Lots of skunk cabbage was emerging, and I shared some skunk cabbage facts that I was just reading about yesterday in the Old Farmer's Almanac. For instance: since bears are very groggy when they first emerge from their dens in the spring, one of the very first foods they eat is skunk cabbage -- the strong odor draws them to it and makes it easy for them to find sustenance right away.
The kids rest on and explore a fallen white (paper) birch tree. It was about an hour loop (1 1/4 miles), pushing it a bit for our little troopers, given that they'd already logged about a mile's worth of walking before starting out, but they stuck with it and had a great time. J is definitely ready for longer/harder hikes, but Zoo Boy continues to struggle with his lack of stamina. Hopefully he'll grow out of that the same way J did so that we can explore deeper into the woods on future ventures!
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