Nature Walks – Hidden Pond Nature Center

Took our first nature walk of the summer today at Hidden Pond in Springfield.  Such a lovely place tucked away in the city.  You’d basically never know that  you were surrounded by civilization by looking around.  Well, except that you have to drive through it to get into the area.

There were several turtle sightings but none caught on camera very well.

Katy stopped to draw the fungi on the log.  We were trying very hard to slow down and really see what we could find.  Enjoying the small things that in our haste to finish the trail we might have missed.  The calling of birds, the fallen logs, the bugs and tracks.

We followed the path of this creek for quite a while.  The girls had fun having races with leaves.  They found water bugs, minnows, animal tracks and all sorts of interesting tid bits.

Steven found tons of wildlife for us.  Too bad it happened to be the mosquito variety.

All of my girls are talented.  I’m not bragging, they just each have very different abilities that they excel in.  Lizzy is a keen observer.  We jokingly call her the “Eagle Eye” because she’ll spot things that no one else sees unless she points them out to us specifically and we strain our feeble eyes to find the object.  She found several things today that I had to go back and look for because I couldn’t see them the first try.

We saw quite a few of these little guys about.

Lizzy stopped to sketch the butterfly.  About this part of the trail is when Steven and I began to chat about our different approaches and thoughts about the trail and nature walking in general.  He walks in with a goal in mind.  He wants to finish the trail.  He wants to ford the streams and walk the paths, cross the bridges and finish.

I, on the other hand, want to meander through the various highways and byways.  I want to stop and smell the roses, so to speak.  I want to slow down and really look around to see what there is out there.  Tiny butterflies, feathers on the path, berries, deer tracks, strange black dragonflies that we’ve never seen before.

We sort of balance one another out, he and I.  If he was fully in charge of the walk, we’d get in, get out and be done in the minimum amount of time necessary to complete the trail.  If I were fully in charge, we’d be there til Christmas.

Everything was so quiet and peaceful here.  Hard to imagine we were just 20 minutes or so from our house in the hustle and bustle of  D.C.

Emily, of course, found something creepy crawly to play with.

Weather wise, we couldn’t have picked a better day to go.  Barely out of the mid 70’s, overcast, super weather and nothing like the typical July here.  We all wore long pants even.

Lizzy had to show off her bubble making skills.  She’s such a kook.  She always makes me laugh.

Thus ended our first nature walk of the summer.  We plan to go at least once a week to various places around here.  I have oodles of options bookmarked for us to try.  Will be sharing more as we go.

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Filed under Home Education, Nature Walks, Through My Eyes