August 6

To the hills!
To the hills!

Today we cleaned for the first part of the day.
whoof.
Thank Goodness!

And we hung up Trev's Earth and Moon 3d glowy thingies in his room.
And discussed what constellations we'll put up. And where. And how we'll trade Maddie for a pink star to be Venus.

And we watched A Bug's Life.

And discussed what adventure we'd have today.

Turns out, we were headed for a hike at Wasatch Mountain State Park.
With adventure packs loaded with water, jackets (it was cloudy with a chance of rain), toys, cookies, binoculars, etc etc.

The station - what's it called? - Park Bureau place - had actually a cool array of birds to be seen in the area. And some nests on display. And paw prints and scat. And stuffed animals indigenous to the area - a red fox, coyote, a huge beaver, cranes, bobcat, mountain lion, skunk, and a mink.
And two or three different pyrites, crystal quartz, rhyolite, cryssocolla, and tourmaline. (At least, my memory tells me that's correct.)
On the trail - sometimes Maddie led, "This way! This way!" and sometimes Trev led the way, armed with his Indie whip and just-as-sharp :) wits.
We tasted (on our hike) choke cherries - which were like little plums - and learned that bears are crazy for them. We learned about Dogwood something (sorry) and that the deer, antelope, bears, and rabbits eat them over the fall and winter. We learned what Rabbit Brush is, and learned that the Hopi use them to weave baskets, and that the animals eat the tender leaves and use the brush for shelter.

Which led to a long and fascinating conversation about Native Americans, how they came to lose their land, what they considered to be Their Land, and how Trev thinks that we need to give the land back to the Native Americans. Because they had the right idea. That the Earth belongs to Itself. And the Animals belong to The Earth. And the people are made up of the same substance as The Earth.

We played on the park playground, and met a New Friend, and Trev taught him all about Indiana Jones.

And we still beat Daddy home.

And we're watching A Bug's Life again, and have been eying those geodes that we can hardly wait to strike to see what's in them.

Looks like things are quieting down, now, so maybe we'll save those for tomorrow.

G'night, then.