Spring at the Park

The park in early spring is always fun.  The water is still usually high, but things are starting to grow again.  It always amazing me what is blooming already (and what has been blooming all winter!), the Pacific Northwest being so much different than the climate I'm used to.  It was early March at this time.

We learned our first winter here that one must always wear their rain boots when out and about enjoying nature.  Puddles, mud, and overflowing ponds and rivers, not to mention the practically ever-falling rain - water everywhere.

For this particular adventure, we were armed with a pond water catching devise, a devise the kids and Ethan made inspired by the ladle the children made in the book The Boxcar Children.  They made their ladle out of a can and a stick.  We made our scooper out of a plastic peanut butter jar and a stick . . . good thing the kids are always adopting sticks wherever we go.  

The purpose of catching pond water was to do an experiment for Maria's science.  We were able to study different microorganisms with our microscope.  That was pretty neat to see living things moving around on our slide, although it's been quite an adventure learning the proper ways to use our microscope (I didn't find the manual that came with it particularly helpful).

Libby is constantly loving flowers, whatever they are.  She, and the other children, definitely can see the beauty in the different seasons at the park, or wherever we are.