The nature walk

I had a chance to go along on a field trip with Sydney's class last Friday. It was a beautiful day for a walk in the woods of Hartley Nature Center. And so many other parents had volunteered to chaperone, that I only had to keep an eye on Sydney and two other kids.

 

And none of them fell in the water.

 

(A point I couldn't help but make with Jeff, because guess what happened to someone in his group when he chaperone'd AJ's class at Hartley last year.)

 

 

Our trip focused on trees: the parts of a tree and what they needed to grow, how you could tell if a tree had been cut down, versus chewed on by a beaver, that sort of thing.

 

Sydney was not impressed.

 

Sydney is not much of a outdoors girl, it turns out. I lost count of how many times I heard her say some variation of, "Bears are in the woods. Can we go back now? Are bears going to eat us? Are we done now?"

 

The highlight for her was finding a really big leaf, which ou can sort of see if you look for it in the above photo. She's holding it in her right hand, but it blends in with the background.

 

Once back in the relatively safe clearing near the main building, Sydney at last relaxed. "Aren't you glad I picked you to come with?" She asked. "You were my first choice."

 

Well, yeah. But the competition wasn't that tough. Her only other choice let's kids fall in the water.