My little and big snake whisperers

Hello, Mr. Tadpole!

Last Saturday we took the kids to a nature preserve in Illinois, where Jared took them two weeks before that. They wanted to show me all the things they saw before, including the five snakes that they found. They were so excited to tell how one pooped on Daddy, so naturally I couldn't wait to meet these lovely snakes. Snakes and poop, two of my favorites!

You see, Jared is so good at spotting animals, it's crazy. At BYU I took a zoology class that was basically a bird watching class, and I was busting my butt trying to learn about and find 75 different species of birds, and I know I would have failed if Jared hadn't helped me--he knew a ton about birds, he said just from scouting. Did you know all birds that are black aren't blackbirds? There are just a million different kind of birds, and of course it is interesting I guess. So anyway, there is a small part of me that would like to be a birder and sometimes I remember random things from that class, but I'm just not that good at it, and if you're really into it, you get up at like 4 to go bird watching, so I'm not really into it. I'm thinking a bird feeder in the yard is more my speed, and we don't even have that right now. And, of course Jared isn't only interested in birds. Whenever we are in the car Jared is constantly on the lookout for deer or turkeys or different things depending on time of day or where we are or whatever, and he is always getting the kids to be on the lookout and they love it, so it's a fun little thing, except I don't love it when he is practically pulling out his binoculars while he is driving (doesn't everyone keep binoculars in their glove box? Ha!).

So, back to the nature preserve thing--they initially went to try and see some cranes for John, and they did see a whole bunch (although it was quite a walk, so Jared ended up carrying both on the way back to the car--picture Sara piggybacking stepping in his back pocket and John kind of on his side--silly kids), so we were trying to see those cranes again. However, it had rained a ton since they had been there before, so a bunch of the trails were flooded over, so we were taking a long way around and still in the end just ended up walking through a bunch of water, but it was still fun--do I get some points here for being a good sport or what? Right off the bat Jared found a tadpole in the water and caught it to show the kids, which was weird looking, but cool. We saw turtles, red-winged blackbirds, lots of geese--and goslings-- and ducks and swallows, killdeer, and some other bird that was even endangered, so that was cool. We were on a qwest for cranes, though, so we kept going and going. We did finally find one, but we couldn't get very close, but it was cool anyway. At one point Jared was scoping out a trail up ahead to see if we could go on it and while he was gone, John found a snake, which is giving me goosebumps to even think about right now. He didn't pick it up, and I certainly wasn't about to--I was too scared to even think to get a picture of it, so we just watched is slither away, but he was pretty excited to prove he wasn't "tricking me." Jared says it's usually easier to hear snakes than to see them, which also gives me the willies, but he is seriously like a snake whisperer or something.

Now you all know why I fell for this guy! But seriously, we have a lot of fun on our adventures, and it is even better now that the kids are getting into it, and they even can recognize different birds. I know you won't be surprised that John knows a ton of birds, but what three-year-old girl can identify a sea gull, a swallow, a dove, and a red-winged blackbird in flight? Not to mention of course the basic robin, crow, duck, goose, etc. I have to say, too, that it's not like we are trying to force the kids to learn these things as if they were required components of any pre-schooler's education. They just ask questions and keep bringing us the animal encyclopedia for their bed-time story, and then they absorb like little sponges!

Anyway, now you know what we do for fun! Check out the pictures...
John holding said tadpole...
That elusive crane...

I love John's expression here, and that was pretty much how I felt, too, but it was kind of fun to get wet and messy.