Our Outdoor Adventure

Until I was twelve years old I lived in the middle of the woods up in N.H. It was a great place to live. There was a pond nearby where my sister and I spent hours searching for tadpoles and frogs as well as avoiding very large snapping turtles. We also had a lake that we could walk to and swim in. My dad would take us hiking regularly, and I have great memories of just taking drives through the mountains with the family.

Even though I do enjoy the outdoors, it has been a while since I have just took a walk through the woods. Sad, I know. We are not a camping family. It would be nice to say that we do, but I don't really see that happening any time soon. Kudos to all you out there braving camping with your small kids. I am not that courageous. I have visions of bear attacks and children getting lost in the woods.

So anyway, I decided to take the kids for a nature walk yesterday so they could experience walking through the woods and looking at, well, nature. I took them up to Nolde Forest which is literally five minutes away. They were so funny. Emily wouldn't get out of the van into the "jungle" until I assured her that there were no tigers in the woods. Alicia was more worried about bears. No bears, I told her. In fact at this point I figured all the animals were heading for the hills with all the excited noise my little ones were making.

The kids had a great time looking in the creek for fish, crawfish, and of course snakes. Much to Alicia's chagrin and my relief we didn't see any snakes. We did see a fish and a lot of water bugs. Emily swears she saw a frog. Both the girls were delighted to see a chipmunk. Ethan seemed satisfied just to throw rocks and sticks into the water. It was a nice little adventure though, and the kids got to experience, even for a little bit, life in the woods.

Alicia, Emily and Ethan very excited to be hiking through the woods!

Looking for bugs