Fall Stream Trip

A tiny shell

Walking through the mud

Looking for shells

We found some fungus growing on the fallen tree! Last time we were here this was under water!

Walking together through the water

Found one!

Turning over rocks, searching for crayfish

What's inside?

Silly Sophie

Finding rocks!

More rock finders

Waiting quietly for the ducks to float our direction.

Here they are!

We found some prints in the mud and tried to figure out what kind of animal left them

The dead crayfish

Crayfish burial and funeral

Climbing the tree bridge across the stream

Finding a place to float the bark boat

Finding rocks, again!

Leaf Boat

Bark Boat

Great Friends!

Checking out the water under the bridge

Cool Spider Web

Nature girl! The bugs know she loves them, he wanted to come home with her!

The leaves are already beginning to change!

Today was such an awesome day! The children have really been noticing the change in season's these last couple of weeks-not only has school started at the elementary school which is really a sign of fall-but the cicada's are no longer making their humming noise all day long, the squirrels are busy collecting their nuts, we aren't finding any caterpillars anymore, instead we're seeing many monarch's flying in the sky! These children are so much more connected to nature than the average child- they notice and see even the tiniest change. It's such a great joy to show them with their own hands, eyes, and hearts rather than reading about the change in books!
Today we decided we would really see the change of seasons when we took a trip to the stream. We hadn't been there for a while and the last time we went there were red winged black birds, minnows, crayfish, butterflies and even some larger fish all over! Now things have changed, the water is cooler, the birds are beginning to fly south and the crayfish have burrowed under the mud and the minnows are no longer swimming in the sun.
We had the greatest time checking it all out! Franziska was the first to find a crayfish unfortunately the poor guy was dead. We decided right there that we would bury him and give him back to the earth he came from. We had a nice little crayfish funeral at the edge of the stream. Kroix and Isa enjoyed filling bark boats with rock people and floating them down the stream- the stream isn't very deep but it has a bit of a current so sometimes the boats really went fast! Franziska made a couple of leaf boats and sailed them with tiny shells she found near the shore- they were adorable! We also climbed on a fallen tree. It feel perfectly over the stream and made a bride from one side of the stream to the other. We didn't get very far on it, but Hayden sure is a climber! He can and will climb anything he sees without a bit of fear in him!
We all waited quietly for the ducks to float near us and then tried to feed the ducks some of our crackers. I think we scared them because as soon as they got near us they took off and flew directly over our heads! It was pretty neat to see!
Milan, Amani, Kennedy and AJ loved looking for rocks the most. They hunted for rocks the entire time we were at the stream- and really found some cool ones! Amani has definitely been to the edge of the water a few times, he knew just what to do and certainly wasn't afraid or worried about taking a trip to the stream! He'll fit right into our class (we knew he would!)
Dru is really a sand girl, she likes the water just fine, but prefers to be playing in the sand!
We all had so much fun, it was the perfect day! The we will hopefully make it to the stream another couple of times before winter. It's difficult when we have school age children coming and going all throughout the day but on no school days we'll be able to go on longer day trips still.
We enjoyed lunch in the grass near the stream and then walked home. Our walk home was full of surprises too! We found a sweet little grasshopper that perched on Franziska's jacket and didn't want to leave! She walked a few blocks with him on her back, it was so cute! We thought we might be bringing a grasshopper home with us!