Farewell to February

The parents and kids took to the trail at Goose Pond Mountain State Park with abandon. Cooped up too long by winter's winds and ice, fourteen Nature Strollers hit the trail on a sunny 40 degree Saturday. Ginny, catching up with the strollers, proclaims "This is my favorite group. No one cares if I am late. We don't have to bring snacks for everybody, and no one expects us to do anything but have fun."

Good friends and new friends meet up on the trail. There are expressions of joy at being able to get outside again. The three and four-year-olds lined up at the pond's edge with their "fishing poles." It was there we spotted some bullfrog tadpoles active in the cold water, and we heard three-year-old Sawyer's latest question for his mommy "Why is nature so mysterious?"

Was it only a year ago, that Sylvana went on her very first nature walk?

Just like this time last year, the kids were were able to touch and smell the first wildflowers of spring, the skunk cabbage. Not exactly as sweet as a rose, but perhaps more welcome.

On a sad note we found a handful of black feathers made us worry that one of the red-winged blackbirds that just returned from the South this week had met an untimely end, then again, maybe all the fox or coyote got was feathers for lunch. The kids enjoyed sifting through the dirt, pretending to plant a garden, and drawing with sticks. Sawyer, realizing how dirty they all were getting, invited the child next to him over for a bubble bath.

In the parking lot on the way out, Acadia declared Jacob King of the Rock, and herself Queen. Another successful winter walk with plenty of make believe thrown in.