We walked, climbed, made and floated bark and leaf boats down the creek, ate dark chocolate and managed to spend two hours of our lives very pleasurably.
Vivian is now more than half-way through her Magellan Miles - Marathon Kids marathon. It's been great to see her square her shoulders and lengthen her stride each week. She's almost old enough for a multi-day backpacking trip of 3-4 miles a day. Evan is our resident naturalist. He settles down for a good look at every leaf and bug and flower and bee. Sometimes he covers several feet in an hour.
Today there was a profusion of daddy long legs and black fuzzy caterpillars. There were thousands of daddy long legs on the trails and they'd scatter and run as we approached them. The kids squealed though I tried to explain that they aren't venomous (they are in the same class as spiders - arachnida - which also includes scorpions and ticks - but all four of these are in their own separate orders and the creatures in the daddy long leg order do not make webs or kill prey by injecting venom).
We also saw hundreds of black fuzzy caterpillars. As we were leaving the park I noticed one hauling his ass across the street. He was moving so fast his fuzz was pressed against the side of his body. I bet he broke the speed record for caterpillars. When we got back home I googled to find that these caterpillars will metamorphose to the giant leopard moth.
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