Is There Anything To Do Out Here?

Urbanites probably wonder what people who live out in the country do for fun. Turns out, all kinds of things!

After the cardboard box derby, the kids returned to my aunt and uncle's house for a campout, bonfire, dam-making in the stream and most exciting of all??! Hunting for snakes!  [did I hear you just shudder? Me too.]



Uncle Bruce is directing 3 four year olds on how to put up the tent. The two Girl Scouts helped too!



It was just starting to rain [again]. I think there was some urgency in getting the tarp put on the tent.

All the kids ended up camping outside and made it through the night. After an early breakfast, Cousins Jamie and Ashely took the kids to the nearby stream to build a dam (this was after the trip to the nearby pond with Cousin Joe to see the beavers. Sadly, the beavers are no longer there).  I don't know a child who doesn't love traipsing through the mud and water while hopping from rock to rock and looking for crayfish and salamanders. 

Cousins Jamie and Ashley with Olivia and Ana in the creek.



Diego is wondering how to climb over the log.



Olivia is the perfect outdoorsy girl!

Ana found a  bunch of crayfish and some fossils.

After dam making, the kids headed back to the house where lo and behold.....the flower beds are full of snakes! In all seriousness, we saw no fewer than 4 garter snakes in the same flower bed. Just hanging out, sunning themselves and thriving in the flowers and bushes along the side of the house. My nephew Kevin loves to hunt for snakes. He is now brave enough to even attempt (with some success) to pick them up.  All three of my kids thought the idea of hunting snakes was great. And while they were becoming braver and braver by the minute, none of them reached out blindly without a stick to actually catch one.  Until this happened...

I walked outside to find that Diego and Kevin have herded 4 snakes into a pile at the edge of the garden. Diego sits down on the step next to Kevin, who is crouching over the pile of snakes. Kevin reaches out and picks up a snake, looks at it, decides he is a little nervous and deposits the snake in Diego's lap. Diego didn't make any sudden moves, but rather just stood up so the snake would fall to the ground. Me??! I screamed and screamed until I made everyone nervous and we all ran away. The end.