My kids are quite the little explorers and we love to go on hikes and check out the woods. This time of year is a super nice time to go. The leaves are just barely starting to bud, the thorn bushes aren't all big and over grown yet, there are no ticks out yet, and the streams aren't over flowing or completely dried up. There is just the right amount of water trickling through.
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| My kiddos exploring the wooded area behind our house and the little stream that runs through. Yes, that would be my daughter wearing a dress, and hiking through the woods. To be fair, I was getting some pics of her wearing a dress that my Grandma made for me when I was a little girl. It's the only dress I have left that my Grandma made for me and I've been saving it for years to get a pic of my daughter wearing it. So since the weather was so nice today, that's exactly what we did. |
Also there aren't too many animals awake and out and about yet. Even the snakes are still mostly asleep, which is a good thing! Also the poison ivy hasn't grown up yet either so that's a relief.
The kids had a great time walking through the streams, trying to climb some trees, turning over old logs, and walking out on tree roots that were growing over the streams. The mud was a little squishy, but it wasn't too bad. No one got stuck in the mud at least.
They were kind of sad when it was time to come home. They really enjoyed hearing the birds chirp, and wondering what animal might be sleeping in a few of the dens we found (but stayed far enough back from that we didn't wake up anything and upset it by poking around it's hole).
We saw a few water bugs skating around on the water and the kids were fascinated by that. They wanted to bring them home with them, I had to tell them that nature stays in the nature, not in my house. I was kind of disappointed we didn't find any garden snakes though, but glad we didn't find any other kind of snake either, ha!
I've always felt like it was a good thing for kids to be able to explore the woods and nature and find out about the world around them. This spring and summer we're looking forward to checking out some other state parks in our area for some hiking, there are many great state parks in our area and we are excited to check them out! (Photos from over the summer at another local lake in our area, and a lake in Iowa).
Checking out state parks is always something that I did with my Mother and Grandmother when I was a child and it's something I really enjoyed and am so happy I can do with my own children.
Sometimes it's just good to get muddy, and sweaty out in nature! (Photos are of my kids from about 2 or three years ago out exploring a lake in our area).
Now if only my husband felt so kindly towards hikes and nature, it isn't always the easiest to get him out and in nature. He doesn't like the bugs, or the fact he gets too hot and sweaty and a little cranky when he has to hike and climb. He's missing out on a great way to spend time with his family (though we DO usually get him talked into joining us). I'm not sure how he survived doing cross country running when he was in high school, or how he survived the Boy Scouts, but apparently he did, ha! It's so much fun to see the children's faces light up when they discover something interesting to them. Right now they are really in to finding bugs! I'd rather encourage their curiosity than to make them afraid of everything around them. Bugs and mud aren't icky and gross.
We're looking forward to camping this summer, so we'll see how that goes!
We are just having so much fun enjoying this weather, though we know that the rain will be starting up soon. There's always about a month of nothing but RAIN that puts a HUGE damper on our exploring. We then usually have to wait another month for it to dry out enough to go do anything, and by then the sticker bushes are growing, and so is the poison ivy, and the ticks are starting to come out in the millions. I don't particularly enjoy the thought of mosquitos and ticks feasting on my children. If we could do nature without the mosquitos and ticks, it would be fantastic. Those are the two critters I seriously cannot stand.
Aww yay for spring! Now get out there and enjoy it!
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