A Beautiful Fall-like Day

It has been a long hot, humid summer!  We have tried to spend as much time outside as possible, but I have so often heard, "it's too hot!" from one child or another many times over the past few months!  We have finally had some very nice cooler, less humid days recently.  We have celebrated by spending LOTS of time outside on these nice days.

Today we joined a group of our friends, also homeschoolers, for some time outside.  First, we checked out the critters in Bear Creek.  There was an abundance of life to observe, and I was somewhat surprised to see how many organisms the girls and I could identify.  We found tons of dragonfly larvae; toe-biter beetles; tadpoles in all different stages, sizes and types; frogs; damselfly larvae; snails; and several other organisms I'm sure I am forgetting right now.  I will also say that the girls amaze me with the fearlessness with which they enter the murky, muddy water.  They just walk right in!

We were lucky enough to have daddy along on this adventure!

Hands full of tadpoles!

After a brief intermission for soccer practice, we returned to our friends for a bonfire and collecting of some nocturnal creatures (mainly moths) for observation.  You can't beat a great day in the out of doors with friends!

Creek Days - Spring Edition

We are so fortunate to belong to such an active homeschool group filled with wonderful people!  One of the members arranged creeks days for the group back in the fall, and then again this spring.  We have had such a great time learning about all of the incredible things that live around the creeks and ponds in our area.  Today's trip was to a section of Bear Creek, and was by far one of the most exciting adventures yet.  Being spring, the area was just teeming with life.  I really wish that I had taken my camera, but I did not.

What did we see today?  Well...
water striders
different types of tadpoles in great quantity (bullfrogs, American toads)
several different types of frogs (in fact Hailey caught a spring peeper)
a large turtle floating in the water
a couple of smaller turtles
several species of fish
a garter snake attempting to eat a toad, and then giving up after quite a long time and spitting it out
beetles
a lizard
a water scorpion
midge fly larvae

To top it off, we had a PhD student form Mizzou join us who studies aquatic invertebrates.

What an incredible morning!