We got a little preview of summer last week with the incredible warmth and the kids off school. What I lost in productivity we made up for in fun. One day we left town to spend some time in nature and spent nearly the whole day at the Crosswinds Marsh Preserve near the airport (we'd been there before). But this time: the frogs! My son has been singing this song about frogs all winter and it's pretty adorable. See for yourself:

When we were walking out there in the marshes it seemed like all the frogs really had just woken up (he thought some of them were monsters). If you're going to look at these pictures, I suggest clicking here to hear how magical this walk was.

It was really amazingly hot for a March day and my daughter started complaining about the heat so I let her take off her mudboots and walk through the marsh in bare feet despite the risk of splinters, tetanus, hookworms, roundworms, tapeworms, pinworms, whipworms, bladder worms, porkworms, broadfish worms, flatworms, worm fits, flukes, impetigo, scrumpox, staph infections, scabies, thrush, scarlet fever, nits, lice, fleas, pruritis, rubeola, bronze john, bloody sweats, bloody flux, chilblain, typhoid, blackwater fever, croup, grocer's itch, dock fever, dropsy, quinsy, scarlet rash, scurvy, spongy gums, shingles, St. Anthony's Fire, trench mouth, etc. Sometimes you just have to live dangerously.

Removing the boots changed everything, turning them both into total sweethearts. We walked for two more miles and they held hands the entire time.

The kids discovered their first snake in the wild:

That little garter was just sitting in the sun and even let the kids pet it before slithering away. There was a little stream with a "waterfall" where they stuck their feet, shrieking with joy.

There may have been the promise of ice cream (Calder Dairy Farm is about three miles away) behind some of this sweetness, but they earned double scoops that day.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I can't wait for summer.

 

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Hiking has always been such an important part of my understanding of leisure, and with every year that passes the kids get more fun to take out in the woods. This week we spent a beautiful sunny afternoon at the Crosswinds Marsh Preserve and managed a decent 4-mile trek. 


Their short legs help me remember that sometimes it's actually better to take it slow.


My son is at an age where his interaction with nature mostly comes down to hitting it with a stick.


His sister is easily persuaded to join the cause.


Sticks are also good for fishing (and better than fingers for poking dead fish).

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The other day we went to the eastern shore of Belle Isle to watch the ice break; it was beautiful and intense and we stared wide-eyed at each other at the sounds the ice made smashing along the shore and against the buoys. Here they are watching for the polar bear I promised might float past.

The winters here are tough, but it's hard to imagine a Spring day feeling this good in California.

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Last week I took my little bird lover and her brother down to Pointe Mouillee State Game Area for some serious birdwatching. The weather was incredible and the kids had a blast in the woods and thickets. The swampy bits were still really frozen so we walked along them looking at all the birdhouses. I might be blessed with some hikers here. Also note the binoculars slung around the neck. She's serious about this stuff.

We saw two great blue herons, several cardinals, a woodpecker, a robin, too many types of ducks and geese and shorebirds to name, and on the mammal side: a real live beaver.

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