Wildlife Count and the Slow Demise of a Tomboy

Mountain getaways are a time to explore, discover and delight in the myriad of wildlife encounters!

A trip to the Tonto Fish Hatchery proved fascinating as we inspected the various species of trout that inhabit Arizona waters.  Are we the only weird one's left that enjoy reading all of the signs?  Our zoo did away with most of their posted information because they said that no one reads them anymore...

Of course, this trip to the hatchery only spurred on the boys obsession with learning how to fish!  In true city-slicker fashion, this was the FIRST time {gasp} that the boys went fishing. 

They were thrilled with their catch and I have to tell you that this former tomboy still has some crazy good fish cleaning skills! :)  As a girl, I would walk up and down the creek each time we would go camping asking people if I could clean their fish.  Then I would gather the younger kids around and give them all a fish anatomy lesson! 

Like old times, I gathered MY boys around for that super cool lesson!

 

Bugs were EVERYWHERE.  Our favorites were the walking sticks and praying mantiss'.

As Trey-man and I returned from the creek one morning, I spotted this little guy scurrying across the path.  Isn't he just too cute?!?!?!?  The inner-tomboy emerged once again and I was able to catch this little fellow and take him back up to the cabin.  The boys were quick to create a little habitat for him and he was the recipient of copious amounts of love and attention.  We found it fascinating that he could change colors!  He patiently endured all of this love and attention and was rewarded with help in making an escape that afternoon much to the boys disappointment.   

That was not the end of the wildlife adventures.  You see, we were in bear territory and found tracks that seemed to indicate that one had even been near the cabin in recent days...  We love the "Who Pooped in the Park" series on animal tracks and scat.  I've written about the Sonoran Desert version and found the information helpful when inspecting the abundance of tracks and scat up north. Next year, I think I'll try and find the Grand Canyon version to broaden our understanding of animals in the northern part of our state.

I felt pretty smug while managing to stay calm, knowing bears were around and then eagerly inspecting the daddy-longlegs that Xander brought INSIDE the cabin to show me.

 

But I was undone by this little fuzzy creature...

 

Keegan wanted to bring one home as a pet.  We convinced him to leave this guy in the wild.  But somehow one of its relatives managed to stow away in the van. 

 

After feeling a tickling sensation on my arm, I let out a high pitch girly squeal while frantically brushing it off. This woman who can clean fish, capture horny toads, inspect tracks and scat screams like a grade-school girl at the up close encounter with of one of these harmless caterpillars...

 

My status as former tomboy is looking to lean heavily on the "former" end of the spectrum.   

Isn't It Dangerous?

 

With a great whoop, the boys race up the hill in search of adventure.  They run, dodge, duck and hide.  They thrive on the undertaking of brave exploits and flirt with any activity including an element of potential danger.

 

  As my little caped crusaders traipse about our bit of neighborhood 'desert' one suddenly goes sliding down.  Shrieks of laughter and joy soon give way to howls of pain.

 

It isn't a 'dying' kind of cry, so I merely meander over to take a peek.  There is a nice bit of gravel and dirt embedded into torn skin.  Crocodile tears pour down his cheeks as we talk about the 'war wound' and assess the situation.  For all of my brave talk, I'm a softie inside and agree to carry him home. 

Our adventure for the evening is over for now...

{photo credit - oldest son who was charged with carrying the camera home.}

 

With increased time outdoors, comes the occasional injury.  Parent's often worry about the dangers associated with playing out in nature.

 

But merely staying indoors placidly seated in front of a television doesn't guarantee safety...  Electronically drugged, yes.  Assuredly 'safe', not necessarily.

 

Did you you know that over 8,000 American kids are injured (or even die) each year when flat-screen TV's fall on them? 

 

A few weeks ago, I posted an interesting article on my facebook page about the benefits and risks of outdoor play.

 

It mentioned our children's need for risk.  Risks are a permanent aspect of our lives.  Try as we might there is no way to insulate our children 100% from danger.  Instead as parents we should seek to manage them in order to limit – but not eliminate – their dangers. {for instance, we wear bike helmets, use car seats, discuss 'tricky-people', etc}  

 

Why? According to this article, "Children need risk. It is a powerful catalyst for growth that helps them develop good judgment, persistence, courage, resiliency, and self-confidence."

 

As a mother of boys, one of my goals in parenting is to raise them to be calculated risk takers - balancing initiative with wisdom. It is interesting to think of their outdoor explorations in terms of honing this balance.

 

I would encourage you to read the article.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.  What does embracing the benefits of 'risk' look like in your family? Of course it will look differently for our kids depending on their age, personality, family dynamics, and where you live.  But it has caused me to stop and ponder the benefits of risk and helping my boys to navigate embracing the challenges in order to develop the discernment necessary to wade into this 'dangerous' world we live in.

 

 



Our Daily Dose of Science!

Monsoon season has a way of luring us outdoors...  The smell of the creosote, the dip in temperature and puddles, puddles everywhere!

I think the boys couldn't be more pleased with the 'daily outdoors challenge'.  They know that if I'm feeling iffy on going outside that they can just bring this up and hold me accountable! :)

We had fun walking the neighborhood, inspecting the retention basins which had a couple of feet of water and we collectively mourned the loss of one of our trees out front in the aftermath of recent storms.

Monsoon season is also when some of our desert wildlife that has been safely hiding underground comes out to play.  A fascinating croaking sound met our ears as we embarked to explore our flooded neighborhood.  While building dams with river rock, we discovered these little toads out and about.  I believe they are Colorado River Toads, sometimes also called Sonoran Desert Toads.  But after listening to the call of the American Bullfrog, I'm not sure.  They were quite busy that night and within two days when we were outside again, exploring the water that was left, the boys discovered TADPOLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh this is one of the beauties of childhood. Memories came flooding back from my childhood and the many instances of wading in the lake behind my home capturing tadpoles and then taking them home for the remainder of their metamorphosis.

There is something so special, so powerful about tangible, impromptu science lessons like this.  We studied frogs last year, but even reading about it in books or doing some fun activity doesn't even begin to compare with the real thing.  Watching the transformation take place before our very eyes is simply amazing.  This morning our little tadpoles merely had two tiny legs. By dinner time, they are sporting tiny arms too.

It is a timely reminder to seize the 'real-life' learning opportunities that come our way because context and experience are potent allies in the learning process.

So we continue our daily outdoor challenge.  I haven't been doing it perfectly, but life is settling back into routine and with it the daily habit of time spent outdoors WITH my children.

Hip, Hip Hooray! It's Monsoon Day!

We first discovered this delightful little book a few years back and as a result, we love to party on the first monsoon storm or two of the season!  I wrote about our love for it then...  Each year now, the boys request that book.  We reread it and marvel at the beauty of God's creativity in creation. 

We were fortunate enough to have a beautiful storm roll in this morning. It helped perk up the boys mood since we had to cancel co-op.  I have a cough and the last thing we need to do is share it with anyone.  I'm sort of going to need my voice when I speak at the homeschool convention next week, so I'm popping vitamin C like crazy and laying low.

Today was a first for them, in that I left them to play outside by themselves while I went inside to get Greta up from her morning nap.  Call me helicopter mom, but I have yet to let them really play out front by themselves.  Cars just zip down our street and we have no neighbors across the street.  That combination just makes me nervous.

I love the idea of letting them run free in nature as Richard Louv recommends in his book, Last Child in the Woods.  And I have such fond memories of doing that when I was a girl, but I would be far more comfortable if we had more woods {or desert in our case} and a little less streets and people...

After watching them play, I just couldn't bear to bring them in, so I gathered them together, laid out some guidelines and then let them play in the retention area in front of our home for another half-hour while Greta and I headed indoors to get lunch pulled together.

How do you navigate giving them freedom outdoors and wanting to keep your children safe?

As for the Daily Outdoors Challenge, I have a confession to make.  I did an awful job of meeting my goal this week.  While we had a couple of fun evening walks, I did not make it outside every day this week with the kids. We had some scorchers and I've been a little pre-occupied.  Lack of planning and forethought means that, by default, I've been hiding indoors...  I'll need to be intentional about making outdoor explorations and play WITH my kids happen this next week.  I'm thinking ice play is in order!

Daily Outdoor Challenge, wk 9

We are going into week 9 of our Daily Outdoor Challenge and I'm finding the discipline of this challenge is so good for me... Sometimes I still find myself stuck in the mindset of watching from the inside.

Wednesday brought our first monsoon rain of the season.  Since we live here in the desert, rain is a hot commodity.  Those of us who are natives race outside and celebrate.  Non-natives, like my husband, grumble about the rain because they moved here to escape it.  {Sixteen years of sunshine and he isn't tired of it yet.}  When we made our comparative rainfall charts a few years ago, he smiled in satisfaction at our measly 8 inches of average rainfall per year.

Despite my typical excitement over rain, I've been super busy and was in the midst of working on a writing project when their giggles of delight drew me to the window.  And then it hit me, "Hello Heather.  Go OUTSIDE and play WITH your kids."  You would think that this would be my primary response by now...  I was a smidge stressed and could use the time to laugh, unwind and play too.

And so I did.  We played tag until we were laughing so hard we could barely stand -water dripping and grinning from ear to ear.  I was refreshed, invigorated and ready to really focus again on my task for the day once I returned indoors. 

{hahaha, aren't self-portraits the best.}

We enjoyed a good deal of time outdoors this week.  Inspired by our adventures with mesquite, we continued to collect pods. 

We tackled a fitness assessment for our new PE program that we are starting and took a few IMAGINATION WALKS.  Do your kids like to 'make-believe' while out for walks?  I'm curious to know what girls might make-up...  Over here we discovered a 'monster' living in the storm drains and the bushes all had chomping alligators.  It was fun to enter into their imaginative world with them -running around corners, hiding behind street poles and to run screaming away from rustling bushes.  I can only imagine that the neighbors think I'm totally nuts if they weren't sure of that before...

And of course, our Fourth of July celebrations lent itself to time outdoors as well.  There is something so idyllic about gathering on a blanket to watch fireworks!

The Daily Outdoors Challenge - Conservation and Safety

This is week 8 of the daily outdoors challenge. Any fun time outdoors???? It seems like a nice heat wave is hitting the whole country right now.

As the heat picks up and our humidity starts to go over 10% I'm finding daily, intentional time outdoors with my kids isn't always easy.  In fact, we failed on Saturday (of all days) since we had planned to play at the park with them that evening.  Instead, a nice dust storm swept in and thwarted our plans...

But here's a peak at what we did do outdoors.

Water Conservation Education

This week gave us the opportunity for a hands-on, muscle building experience with water conservation!  Living here in the desert, water is a hot commodity.  What better way to teach the kids to conserve and be careful with our water than to have them help empty the kiddie pool and deep water our trees and use in the garden and compost bin!

There is something to be said about the value of physical labor.  I have friends who have raised wonderful and amazing boys who swear by it!  I must admit that I enjoy it too, as long as the sun isn't overhead.  There is something satisfying about making sure that we fully utilize everything!  Xander shared my enthusiasm and we both spurred each other on to empty the pool and water our trees!

Water Safety

We've been exploring the character trait of WISDOM this summer. This weeks theme was safety.  Naturally, we've spent a good deal talking about water safety - always swimming with a parent present at a regular pool, only with a buddy and mom watching from the window when swimming in the kiddie pool, emptying buckets and tubs when we are finished etc.  What kind of water safety rules do you implement in your family?

We also talked alot about the importance of learning how to swim.  As I mentioned last week, my middle son had a traumatic pool experience that has made him resist wanting to learn how to swim.

I can't thank you enough for the kind comments.  Keegan and I prayed a lot this last week and talked about confronting our fears.  His brothers were signed up for swim lessons, but I didn't feel that he was ready for them.  Relief was evident when we told him this.  He was excited to watch. 

In addition to that traumatic pool experience, he is also extremely stubborn.  He refused to let me potty train him.  Instead, he did it himself {in just two days}.  He refused to let us teach him how to tie his own shoes.  Instead, he taught himself.  Rich and I knew that once he decided to learn how to swim, he'd just do it.

After sitting on the sidelines in the 11:30am heat of the day watching all of the other kids swim, something clicked.  Our conversations that weekend and praying for protection and courage manifested in his desire to take lessons.  Thankfully there was an opening and although nervous when it came time to actually do it the next morning, he took the plunge.

So my week has consisted of sitting next to the pool - poor Greta and I drowning in sweat, enthusiastically cheering our excited new swimmer on as he conquered his fears and slipped into the water.

We celebrated his first day of swim lessons with new goggles and our yummy kettle corn!

The next morning, I braved the community pool in my grandfather's neighborhood and was so excited to see the two younger boys so excited to show off their new swimming skills!

But the heat has just zapped my energy.  We hope to be back next week with some more creative ideas for enjoying the outdoors.  In fact, we started a fun baking experiement today involving something we collected on our evening nature walk.  Hopefully, we'll have something to report next week!

That's it for this weeks Daily Outdoors Challenge.  We'd love to hear what you and your kids are doing outside.

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