A Weekend of Nature and Babies

My family was invited to a dear friends daughter's baby shower. We had such a good time, they held it at a local nature park in a private pavilion. I really enjoy parties of all kinds, but especially this sort, you get to come together with family, friends and co-workers over some really great food and laugh the day away.

When I was little I used to go to all kinds of family backyard Bar-B-Q's at my aunt's house on my dad's side of the family they sure know how to make you feel at home. Since growing up I have always missed the feel of those parties, but this weekend was a much needed blessing.

My husband ran the grill, he has had several cooking jobs in the past and so feels right at home in-front of open flames. My kids made lots of new friends with all the other children who attended. They all went exploring through out the park in two large groups. They brought back all kids of things, my eldest Korbin put together a nice collection of things he found exploring the park.

My younger son Tyler found a baby chipmunk, he was so tiny and blended in with the ground so well, that he almost stepped on him. We wrapped him in my husbands shirt for a while, but unfortunately there was really nothing we could do for him. Later we discovered that he must have been abandoned because 3 other babies were found, sadly one of them dead. The babies barely had their teeth so they wouldn't have been able to eat the things they could find around the Forrest they looked as though they had just gotten used to their walking legs. Some of the older kids in the party said they would take them home and feed them baby food, they had nursed a baby squirrel before and then let him go. I know you shouldn't remove wild life from where you found them, but I  was very sure that the squirrels would not make it if we left them alone.

Later Tyler found a vanilla colored fuzzy caterpillar and some of the other kids found a baby box turtle. Actually I'm not sure what kind of turtle it was, but it was grey and had a long tail. These two animals however stayed at the park.

After the party, we went across the lake to go swimming. I'm happy to report now little fish were found, other then my two splashing around in the water. Swimming in a natural lake is very relaxing and refreshing. We very lucky to have one not too far from our home. I've been coming to Pinchot park ever since I was a child. I'm so happy my kids have the opportunity this weekend to appreciate what nature has to offer, they don't often connect with it at home, but they certainly took advantage of the opportunity this weekend.

Our last little critter of the weekend was a baby bird, found under a neighbors porch, or so I'm told, by my eldest Korbin. The bird with nest had fallen on the ground and so the kids naturally scooped baby and nest up and brought them home. Normally I'm all for leaving birds were they area found, but with the nest on the ground and the baby not old enough to fly, I'm not sure how the mother bird would have fixed the situation.

Fortunately, the baby looks to be several weeks old with feathers, and the ability to hop out of the nest, which may have been what got him into trouble in the first place. We are currently feeding him baby food by dropper. He is taking to it very well, I read that it is important to feed them a large assortment to mimic the variety he would be receiving in the wild. He gets sweet potato, raspberries, pear, apple, banana, tomato, carrots, green beans, rice, oatmeal, and turkey (yep turkey). I was contemplating if this was like cannibalism or not, but he seems to like it and I know he needs a certain amount of meat and I currently do not have any worms to give him. Not to mention if I did, I would have to mash them up and maybe it's my girly side, but yuk!

When you home school you need to look for and take advantage of any opportunity to learn and think outside the box, what better example can I offer to learn about nature and responsibility all in one lesson then caring for a baby bird for a few weeks. I figure within one to two weeks our little birdie should be old enough to fly the coop. The kids are really enjoying taking turns feeding him, I of course get the task of cleaning up the baby food after it comes out the other end. Funny, it looks like baby food going in, and baby food coming out, again yuk!

Thanks for reading,

Nicole