In the last week, we have been on several wildflower walks!  Each time the rain would let up, we've been out there discovering new flowers.  And truly, everytime we go out there's a new one to identify.  It has been so much fun for us!   There really is so much more to knowing the names of things in nature.  Everytime we've discovered a new one since the beginning of spring I've taken a photo.  And just recently I put them all together in the slide show at the top of my blog.  It's an almost daily occurrence for the kid's to come running up to me shouting "I've found a new flower!"

Our newest one was just found today, the Deptford Pink.  Unfortunately Alex had grabbed and plucked the only bloom there was before I could stop him.  I was able to put it in a little container of water. 

Hannah and I both choose the Deptford Pink to illustrate.  It has such beautiful "hot pink" petals.

Hannah's Journal Entry

My Journal Entry

Alex chose the Ox-Eye Daisy to illustrate.

He drew this in about 20 seconds, and the next thing I knew he was headed out the door with the butterfly net!  It wasn't long before Hannah joined him, and they brought me this beautiful little butterfly.  We unfortunately weren't able to identify it.

We also wen't outside with my new tree identification field guide and were finally able to identify Hannah's tree that she chose to journal about through the seasons.

Pignut Hickory Tree

The leaves on the big tree were too far up, but a little walk in the woods produced a smaller Pignut Hickory that we could get a sampling of leaves from.  And, as a bonus we found a pignut right below the tree to observe.  Hannah did a leaf rubbing after we came inside to put in her journal.

It was so easy to identify with this new guide, Identifying Trees - An All-Season Guide to Eastern North America, we love it!  It has closeup pictures of the bark, leaves and nuts.  It was so easy to for me and the kids to use.

I wanted to share this beautiful photo.  This was taken from the spot in the woods where we found the tree.  Ahhhh, I could have sat there all day!

After coming back inside the nature fun wasn't over yet.  While sitting on the couch reading a book, Hannah jumped up and snapped this funny photo of an Fox Squirrel making his way up the pole for a bite of suet.

And then, just after we were sitting back down to read again, guess who showed up at our feeders?  An Indigo Bunting!  Hannah, with her heart beating fast, took a great photo!  You can click on the image for full-size.

It's truly a rare treat to see them at the feeders because the guides say they only will come to them before insects become plentiful, and they are only in our area in Spring and Summer.  And just moments later the female came too!  How exciting!  She wouldn't stay still long enough for a photo though.

So much for finishing reading our book!  I'm going to have to turn that couch around so we can't see out the window!

If you'd like to participate in these wonderful Green Hour Challenges, visit Barb at Handbook of Nature Study.