Friday, June 18, 2010

Crayfish, Salamanders and Dragonflies, OH MY!

















Today, after going to the grocery store for food for our picnic in the park, and after going in the $ store for cat food, [b/c I managed to forget it in the grocery store...something to do with a baby flipping out in the sling and Max running the cart into the back of my leg and Sam having to go pee twice in 15 minutes (he never went the 1st time, according to his brother who went in with him, he played in the sink instead) I managed to forget catfood]... and after the cartwheel in yet another store incident, see last post... we went to the park and I let it all go and regressed to a seven year old and taught my children the joy of wading in the "crick" (thats how we yinzers in Pittsburgh call it) aka, stream or creek. We have done this quite a few times in this same creek, but today was just different for some reason...
















It took me back to childhood when we would play in the woods and creek by my grandparents house ALL DAY!
















I taught them how to s-l-o-w-l-y turn over the large rocks and to look for crayfish and salamanders.






















We also watched some gorgeous green and blue luminescent dragonflies all around us. We also learned a bit about the bird-n-the-bees when they kept mating and an older kid kept pointing out how they were "doin-it"....thanks kid.... but I must say, it was quite interesting to me and my mom-in-law too, we found ourselves being quite the voyers into their private moment :) and if that was not bad enough I had to take pictures of it...
















(they almost form a heart when her tail end goes over his head and his tail end...ok, yeah, you get the picture :)


















My mother in law met us at the park and tended to the baby so I could really spend some time with my older boys.
















The boys got to see their first crayfish, which Max insisted were scorpions, and we also spotted salamanders, watched water spiders and their cool shadows, chased after little minnows and rescued a few caterpillars stranded on the rocks...

































It was also quite refreshing to submerge my toesies in the cold waters!

After playing in the creek we had our picnic lunch of watermelon, nectarines and BING cherries! The boys also played in the water fountain to cool off more.

4 comments:

  1. what incredible shots and wonderful adventures

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  2. You ARE ALWAYS getting out :) im slack lol. i cant seem to get out with these 3 lately... wish we had a cool creek like that to go 2...

    love the dragon fly shot, they showed the whole mating process of them on LIFE the other day, it was really interesting! and yup they pointed out the heart shape 2, very cool. God had fun making those small details :)

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  3. lol Drea, we are out and about OFTEN! :) Some days I question myself though! Like, why did I take three kids into three stores? love where we live because not only are we surrounded by great parks, we have about 3 or 4 creeks close by that we can play in.
    And I soooo wish I had a macro to get better shots! I tried the poor man macro, flipping my 50mm around, but the dragon flies moved too fast!

    Thank you Vicki and nocton :) for stopping by and taking the time to comment!

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