Nature 101...

We crossed our first item off our Fall Bucket List this weekend and went on a nature scavenger hunt at a local nature park. I think I may have been the most excited one, but the kids were pretty happy, too.

Items:

Something round

Something smooth

Something beautiful

Something long

Something fluffy

2 kinds of rocks

2 kinds of seeds

2 different types of leaves

A chewed on leaf

Something alive

Something you think is a treasure

Something that makes noise

(There are tons of cute lists on Pinterest)

Radley was so excited about the weather, the day, the collecting of stuff. He was off in a hurry to make his first discovery...

Something beautiful - Radley - a flower, Emmy - purple berries

I loved hearing her tiny voice throughout the hike. She kept pointing at things and repeating Radley and  kept tugging at my hand to show me things. 

Landry wasn't ready for the half-mile trek so she got to ride in style.

I'm not sure who her style icon is...something tells me it's someone she's close to. 

:)

Things I love about this picture:

Halloween bucket

Ryan clearly explaining an important nature discovery

Radley's long hair

Emmy's belly

And, well, just them.

I was a little nervous that between Ryan and I, we would somehow managed to get lost in the woods. Luckily they had lots of signs for us to follow.

And to be honest, if we would have gotten lost... no one would have cared. We walked for over an hour, enjoying the sunshine, singing songs, eating snacks, rejoicing in the breeze, and loving the time together.

And when we thought we couldn't find anything cooler than a purple flower, a tree knot, or a double-colored leaf.... a "giant hole" appears. 

And a rustle in the leaves lead us to a turtle. 

Yes, the day was wonderful. Marvelous. Incredible. Amazing. So fun that when we smiled with our whole face, our eyes closed. 

We left and headed home with lots of new treasure, but nothing as miraculous as these three!