Price Nature Center, again but different

Since we enjoyed our time at the Price Nature Center so much yesterday, we thought we'd go again today. This time, the older kids took their bikes and Kevin planned on running. I stayed with the younger kids and watched them play on the playground. A few mosquitoes, of course, but not too bad. The girls enjoyed running around, and the bikers and runner enjoyed their exercise. It was a nice family evening.

 

Stop at the farm

After our walk through the woods at Price Nature Center, we stopped by Greg's house/farm on the way home. We thought we'd see how the pepper plants the kids helped plant had grown. It was really fun to visit with them. The kids saw the guinea hens, played with the dogs and cat, went into the corn, saw the peppers, and fed the cows. It was nice just to chat with Greg and his wife, about all sorts of different things.

 

The field of peppers.

You can tell there are different types of plants,

because of the different colors.

 

All the kids were happy to see Oscar.

Emily got stung,

but survived.

Kemiah enjoyed the fuzzy caterpillar,

but it didn't survive.

All the kids touched the electric fence,

and survived.

Price Nature Center

The weather was perfect for a walk so that's what we did after we ate lunner after Church. The funniest part for me was listening to Harmonie "talk" and point as we walked through the woods. She was telling us all sorts of things - if only we could understand her. 

 

Ben noticed this leaf with white things on it.

We stopped and saw them wiggling.

Not really sure what they are.

Ben calls them "Bugs of Paradise"

A seed pod, with the two triangular seeds we found inside.

Kemiah caught a masked robber frog.

For the first time I was infront of the group.

Not for long!

Family picture.

The trees are really growing sideways.

 

It was a very nice walk. Maybe if I do this enough, the baby will come early. Or I'll just be more uncomfortable and she'll still come late. Either way, it was a nice outing with my family.

She did it again.

She said it was loose, and I didn't even want to see. She kept playing with it, and eventually she was able to get it out, before bed. I can remember loosing that kind of tooth - the bigger ones. I even had dreams where all of the back ones were one tooth and so I pulled out this really big tooth. Yuck. I'm glad she was able to handle it on her own. I guess she knows she has to and she just does it.

(I'm writing this on 9/11 and I don't think the tooth fairy has come yet. What a slacker! Maybe I'll go do that right now, while she's in school.)

Bound to happen... but still so sad

Last night, after we sent the kids to bed, Kevin and I sang to the girls. Then we headed down to Ben's room and he was pacing. He asked if he could stay up and take care of Strike. Kevin and I both looked in the tank and Strike was on his side at the top of the water. Still alive, but obviously not doing well. We helped him get clean water, removed the fish, cleaned the tank and stuff, then put in the new water and hoped maybe it would help him. A few minutes later we noticed the fish wasn't with us any more. Ben wanted to bury him so we decided it would be best to do it that night, and not wait until the morning. Ben wanted him in a Ziploc bag, so that's what we did. Ben picked the spot and Kevin dug a hole. I watched and was supportive. He was so sad. We told him he probably wasn't anything he did, or didn't do. We told him this is what happens to fish - that most goldfish die soon after you bring them home. He handled it very well.

 

Today he picked all the weeds out from around the spot, picked flowers, made the marker and made it all look so nice. He has talked about planting flowers that will grow each year so that we will always remember the fish he had for four days.

 

Harvesting Day

I know it is Labor Day, and most people take the day off from working but not our family. Kevin decided this was the day to harvest the rest of the stuff in the garden. He dug up onions and potatoes, while the kids picked all the corn that was left and tossed it to the chickens. It was sort of incredible to see all the food.