Jack the Naturalist

I love the sound of locust in the summer. Its such a soothing sound that takes me back to a simpler time. I remember finding the shells on the tree, but I honestly never knew what one looked like until Jack turned 3 and began hunting for bugs. I think that year we had 10 shells in a bucket, set aside for a collection. He is such a boy. Since that time, he has continued finding these lovely creatures. Just yesterday he found one just laying in the grass. We took the opportunity to take a photo with his new little buddy. He even showed it to Ella and let it crawl up her arm. Eww!!! She isn't girly enough yet to know that is disgusting.

Two years ago we found a praying mantis in our front landscaping. Jack had it crawling all over himself. I was surprised how hard it was to detach it. Those things have sticky grippes on their feet. We kept it in a jar for a few hours, but it was so big we didn't want it to die, so we let him go.

Then today, after our 7 inch rainfall (see pictures below), we were at the park checking out all the water and we found a little frog jumping through the wood chips on the playground. I had Jack catch him and put him in a paper bag. We went home and made a "habitat" for him. We discussed what that meant, and we even looked online to try to see what kind he is. From what I can tell he may be a chorus frog, but now that I look at the photos he may even be a little toad. I told Jack what he ate, and he went to work collecting bugs for him to eat. Good thing for the frog, Jack is an expert at this.

Here is a view of Falls Park. Simply amazing, and it was even higher then when this pictue was taken.

Here a few shots of one of our favorite parks, lovingly called "stinky park". But that is just by our family. That bridge usually leads to our city wide bike trail system. Its currently out of order. The tree above is usually about 5 1/2 feet off the ground, and about 15 feet from the waters' edge.