Time spent in nature

Today we went to the Nature Center with Maggie (neihborhood friend of the girls) and her mom. We had a great, super-hot day. We first followed the turtle path and actually saw some turtles (imagine that!).

We were a bit jealous of how cool they probably were; although, we weren't exactly jealous of the green water they were swimming in (YUCK!). Maggie's mom was kind enough to bring KFC for lunch, so after visiting with the turtles, we grabbed a picnic table and scarffed it down. I haven't had KFC in forever! Next was the butterfly trail where we saw frogs on lilly pads,

and frogs in the mud,

but no butterflies.


I took lots of pictures of the flowers and trees, and I took some of the girls as they explored an old house from the early 1800's.






I really like these of Emily; they are much cuter printed out, though. I'm going to take them back on a less sunny day and take more shots of them. I like them in the window.

I bought Hannah, Emily, and Maggie disposable cameras to take their own pictures as we walked. I noticed they weren't taking many pictures, so I asked them why not. "There's nothing amazing" was the unanimous reply I got. Nothing amazing?! Here we were, right smack dab in the middle of the most amazing thing God created--nature in it's purest form--and they couldn't find anything amazing. So, I started pointing out things that were amazing: the way a tree grew, the streams that have carved their paths into the earth, a bee sitting on a flower stalk, a group of plants that grew in unison. I realized then how hard it is for us to see the amazing little details of our lives. That we get so busy with the day to day, that we put our blinders on and fail to see the real beauty that surrounds us. I made a decision today, while in the Nature Center, that I am going to help Hannah and Emily learn to see the little amazing details that surround them every day so that they don't reach old age and wonder where the time went.