Summer fun

Today we went to Mimi's backyard for some nature fun. While there, Elijah caught and played, er tortured a baby toad which he named Zacchaeus. Poor Zach's whole body shook while his little heart was beating as he was carried in Eli's hand, put inside and outside of an egg carton, slid down a dolly stroller, captured in a butterfly net, and trapped in a baby pool that didn't have much water in it. I coaxed Elijah to release his "pet" into the rock wall, which he did, but I wondered if little Zach died of a heart attack after all the "fun"!? Will Elijah get warts, or is that an old wives tale?

The last time we were at Mimi's backyard we scared the baby bunnies out of their burrow, which was a lot of fun, albeit frightening for the poor babies. They were gone today. Both big kids checked. :) However, there are baby wrens in the birdhouse...perhaps we can scare them out of the nest next week? ;)

We picked the last of the wild raspberries, Noah climbed into the baby pool with his clothes on (there are two pools), Elijah sprayed us with the hose, Sophia chased butterflies, the kids and I ate lunch, and the highlight of the day was that we caught the first big butterflies with Sophia's net. She's caught many, many of the small white or yellow butterflies, but today, I caught her a male and female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, thanks to Mimi's gargantuan Butterfly Bush.

It was a lot of fun for them to be outside and to explore. Our kids really like being outside and they especially love Mimi and PopPop's backyard because it is rural and there is so much more wildlife at their house. Mimi & PopPop's backyard = unlimited nature study. Thanks Mom!