During the springtime, the green in the forest is simply illuminating. When the sun shines through the not quite full yet trees and hits the woods floor, it's almost magical. Photos simply do not do it justice, but I will try with this one.

Since winter's icy fingers have lost their grip and the spring rains have given break, we've been out in God's inspiring creation every day. Sometimes I even go up at the edge of the woods and just sit by myself to feel the peacefulness, listen to the beautiful songbirds overhead and be aware of the occasional scurrying of a chipmunk nearby.

Here are just a few of the things that we have been discovering over the last few days on our nature walks.

Something strange happened to these trees; I can't figure it out. It's almost as if the tops were stripped right off. Hmmm.

This is a beautiful Wild Geranium, found down by the creek; with lots of peculiar bugs on it.

This time of year it's hard to walk through an open field and not get your pants wet from what these funny little bugs make. Aptly called Spittlebugs, they really are fascinating and worth reading about.

Call me crazy, but I think there is not a more pretty wildflower to macro photograph than the Red Clover...simply breathtaking.

One of the very few blue wildflowers I've found around here is the Blue-Eyed Grass. Like clockwork, it bloomed last year at this exact same time, all along the creekbed. I think it's so delicate and pretty. I am amazed daily at the diversity in Creation.

With all the time we've spent near the creek, it's hard to miss the amazing signs of erosion. We think this tree looks like it's crawling up the hill, trying to keep from sliding down.

While the temperatures are still comfortable and the green is so vibrant and everything is bursting forth into life, be sure to not miss all the wonderful opportunities to observe and learn from His amazing creation!

Yesterday, after four days of sometimes torrential rainfall, the sun broke through the dark gray clouds and the temperatures began their ascent. After a spring rainfall is a wonderful time to go exploring nature. So that's exactly what we've been doing!

After a spring rainfall you can find lots of vernal pools. A vernal pool is a place where water gathers during the wet spring season, but dries up during hotter times in the summer. This vernal pool is the exact place we found toad eggs right about this time last year. So we went looking for those too, but didn't find any yet, it is a bit early. Toads and frogs prefer to lay their eggs in places such as vernal pools because of the fact that there are no fish to eat their eggs.

A vernal pool is also a great place to find animal signs and tracks. In the above photo you'll notice that the grass around the pool is depressed; this is the place that deer have been laying. Also if you take a closer look you'll find that raccoons find a vernal pool a pretty great place to be too. As is evidenced in the below photo.

Also, while we were out we stumbled upon a deer skull, yet another sign that animals have been around. My guess is that a coyote can be to blame for this one. We wondered a bit down the hill and found quite a few more bones.

Now, on to a much prettier sight! After a spring rain is also a grand time to find new wildflowers blooming; such as this gorgeous Blue Violet. Last year we gathered a few of these and pressed them for our nature notebooks.

We also found one of my absolute favorite wildflowers, the Blue Phlox. I knew it was just about time for it to be blooming.

Don't forget to look for the wee little baby spiders warming themselves in the sunshine on the woods floor. This wee little baby spider will grow up to be a giant Wolf Spider!

We also found lots of these growing under some trees on the woods floor. I've heard some people call them "fairy umbrellas" but I'd sure like to know what their real name is and what they are.

After we were done with our walk around our home, we ventured down the street to a park that has a pond and just walked around it a bit.

We watched the frogs jumping from the sides into the pond and noticed lots of minnows darting to and fro. And occassionally a fish popping it's head to the surface.

We also observed how the cattails are sending their seeds out.

And of course the kids had to have a little fun at the park's playground before we left!

This whole weekend is going to be gorgeous. I look forward to getting outside a lot more. I love spring!

They're coming. Supposed to be here any minute and will last throughout night. Thunderstorm warning, tornado watch, oh my.

Today it is very dark and overcast; Mr. Sun most likely will not be sharing himself today. The sound of the pitter patter of rain and wind roaring through the woods is flowing through our one barely cracked open window. Oddly it is a soothing sound to me and the smell from the freshly fallen rain is so invigorating. I went out on our deck for a few moments which proved to also have an energizing effect. The wind is cool, not cold, and felt so good on a sleepy morning. And then of course there's the birds, the beautiful voices of the birds.

Speaking of Mr. Sun...yesterday Gabby was entertaining us with her own version of Mr. Sun. Maybe if she'll do that again for us today, we won't miss him as much.

One by one the signs of spring are emerging. Yes, I think I'd like to officially call this an early spring. I'm for sure it didn't warm up quite this quickly last year.  This past week it fell down below freezing a couple of nights, but the quickly warming up temperatures during the day surely speak of spring. I paid a visit to my parents this last week, and their crocuses are in bloom already. I grabbed my camera to capture a shot of these early spring beauties.

WAIT!!! Hold the press...I just went for a nature walk a few minutes ago, and look what I found in our landscaping. He's a wee little one, but a beautiful one none-the-less, such a crisp delicate spring white! We just planted these in the fall, and I've heard that sometimes they will not bloom the first year, so I'm quite pleased to see this Heavenly bloom!

"In the spring nature work, train the child to recognize the evidences of law, order, and sequence while studying the life story of a plant from seed to seed. Cultivate in him an abiding friendship for the flowers, the trees, the birds - for all living things. Nature loved in youth will prove a blessing and an inspiration in mature life."

- from Type Lessons for Primary Teachers by Anna E. McGovern 

The last two days have been Heavenly...temperatures in the 60s and 70s and sunshiney beautiful! Nothing like a couple of days like that to get you in the mood for spring. And the animals and plants feel the same way too; suddenly life begins to burst forth everywhere as if an alarm clock has sounded all throughout nature. How can you sit at a table for school when the outdoors beckons to you like that? So, gladly our classroom has been out under the oaks and hickorys for these rejuvenating days. We've spent time looking for those signs of spring that are emerging, and we were not disappointed.

Before we went out, we grabbed a clipboard and a nature journal page I made, a pencil, and a couple of books to read. But  most of the time we spent being explorers!

Creeks were explored; lots of Pond Skaters (Water Striders) were observed. 

 

 

We thought this tree looked funny with it's beard of moss.

 

 

Hannah found this hole a woodpecker had made.

 

 

We were specifically looking for the Spring Beauty Wildflower.

Last year it was the first wildflower we discovered on the wood's floor.

They bloom even before the leaves are on the trees overhead;

they do this so they can soak in the rays of sun before the canopy of leaves blocks their view!

We found no blooms yet, but we did find the vining!

 

We played Tarzan!

 

 

And slid down mountainsides.

 

 

Lots of creek walking.

 

And even hugging trees.

 

 

Lots of budding, but no blooms yet.

 

 

Faithful crocus blooms will be coming soon.

 

 

We even found this Red Slug crawling about!

 

 

 We found raccoon tracks in the mud.

 

 

And a bird's nest down low; probably a Sparrow's.

 

Some other signs of spring we noted were: green popping up, Cardinal carrying nesting material (twig), flies and gnats, ferns growing on the woods floor, a fresh spring smell in the air, bird's singing, bluebirds looking for home, and warm temperatures.  Oh, and I musn't forget to tell you about the snake...

Hannah was busily playing in the woods around a tree while Alex and I were exploring the creek, when suddenly she comes bolting toward me, running faster than I've ever seen her move, and carrying on something fierce screaming and crying "snake!" After she calmed down, she described this "monstrous snake" in which I proceeded to tell her that it sounds like nothing more than a harmless little Garter Snake! We looked for it for a bit, but she admitted that it was crawling on her shoe when she discovered it and she launched it to "kingdom come". So who knows where the poor thing went flying?! I informed her that she got the prize for discovering our biggest sign of spring:  snakes coming out of hibernation.

If you are interested in the signs of spring nature journal page I created, you can click on the image below to download.

This morning as the beautiful rose and lavendar colored rays of the sun crept up over the horizon, I sat outside for awhile and heard the beautiful "dawn chorus" of the birds. The temperature will climb to a sweltering 73 degrees today and skies will be mostly sunny...now that's a good reason to sing don't you think?

It's about midday now, and the warm wind is whistling happily through our wide open windows. The fresh air is like energy for the soul. We just got back inside from taking a beautiful nature walk. I will post about that later. Enjoy this beautiful day.