Bear Creek Nature Center

The weather here is bizaare. Not only can it change dramatically from one day to the next, but even within the day itself. Most of the time it is sunny and blue skies, but Friday and Thursday it was foggy. The fog here is not like anything I've experienced before. It looks like you are up in the clouds. You can actually see it come rolling and blowing in over the mountains and then this white air envelopes everything. I decided earlier in the week to plan a few outings for the kids, a luxury of homeschooling. Unfortunately, I planned them for Thursday and Friday. I get the kids buckled in the car and we head down the driveway, only this time there is no mountain. Infact I can't see anything but a little bit of the dirt driveway maybe 10 feet in front of me and then it's just white. It's so thick that I couldn't see traffic lights. I would know I was at a stop light because the cars in front of me were stopped at approxiametly where I recall an intersection being, but I couldn't see anything glowing red, yellow, or green. I'm thinking, "Jennette how are you going to find this nature center if you can't see the signs." If you really know me, you know that I was still getting lost in Wichita after 9 years of living there. Fortunately, the fog cleared up as we drove south east and I got there without getting lost, thank you yahoo maps.

We pull into the driveway of the nature center, on our way to a program for kids ages 3-5 entitled "sneaky snakes," only to discover five deer attempting to cross it. Now I'm thinking, "I love living in Colorado." I spent five minutes trying to get a good picture, but when I rolled down the window they walked back behind some bushes that camoflouged them all too well. The kids had a great time at the nature center. First, a naturalist talked to them about the different snakes in Colorado and then had them pet a baby garden snake. Trinity eyes were all closed in those pictures. How I wish I had Lacy's gift of capturing great pics. Oh well. Then they had a lame puppet show, but the kids liked it. They got to make a paper snake, which I finally got a bloggable picture of. I think I just made up a word.

The program ended with a short hike through the park. By now it was clear, but a little chilly. All the kids had fun, even Jaden. The naturalist had them pulling up rocks looking for bugs and feeling the moss, all of which Taite thoughly enjoyed. Trinity, my graceful daughter, managed to trip three times and cover most of her pants with the wet and soggy dirt.

Once we got back to the center we spent an hour playing with all the hands on exploratory activities they had. Taite was intregued by the bee hive. Actually, I thought it was pretty cool too. That's the fun of homeschooling, I get to learn things too.