A couple of weeks ago, Billy had the chance to attend a day camp at the Nature Center. He remembered going last year with Kevin and was thrilled to get to go all by himself this year!
While Billy was at camp, I took the other boys exploring around the Center.
We saw some-what wild turkeys …
Strolled through tall grasses …
Fought off very persistent mosquitoes …
Checked out tunnels made from tree branches and twigs …
We covered over a mile’s worth of trails and Rusty was a trooper. He just kept going and going. He did get a little slower the farther we went …
I was already carrying Tommy…
so Rusty had to hoof it …
This look-out tower was a fun stop. Ricky liked the super-powered binoculars.
Ricky remembered the mouse hole from his summer camp last year and was excited to show it to Rusty…
Rusty was excited to pop out the other side …
Tommy and I were excited to sit in the shade and have some water while they explored the mouse hole!
It was getting hot and poor Rusty’s legs were about to give out, so we found the directional sign and decided to head to the parking lot …
On the way, we admired the collection of bird houses on display. Rusty loved this one that looked like a man …
Ricky thought I needed my picture by this big flower one …
It wasn’t quite time to pick Billy up from camp, so we drove to the far side of the Center and the boys explored the big tree houses.
Ricky was sure he was looking at the beautiful temple through the binoculars. I checked it out. I felt just a little bad explaining that it wasn’t the temple … it was a factory. “Oh, but it is beautiful!” he said. Beauty is totally in the eye of the beholder.
The tree houses were really just platforms built around some huge trees, but Ricky loved climbing all around. Rusty was a bit nervous on the upper levels and Tommy made ME nervous because he didn’t seem the LEAST bit nervous!
It was time to pick Billy up and he was very excited to tell me about the tarantula and other fun stuff he got to see and do. He even got to paint a big, old spider to take home with us …
As we walked past the bird houses again to the car, Ricky filled Billy in on what we’d been doing. I love spontaneous brother love!
Ricky got to go back to the Nature Center last week for his own camp. His lasted all day and he enjoyed it a lot. He gabbed the whole way home about the goo they made and the rocket launchers they played with and the other games they played and the boy who was his friend and how I hadn’t put a note in his lunch like I did for school (bad, mom!). Ricky had been a little hesitant to go that morning, but you would never have guessed it that afternoon.
Sign us up again for next year …