nature tracking

"I'm a mountain goat!  No, wait!  A mountain person!"

There are many things you could say about living deep, deep in the suburbs, and I'm sure I've said most of them.  This move was a pretty big transition for us, and being so far away from city (or town) centre was likely one of the biggest changes we've had to deal with.  The winding mazes of townhouse upon townhouse upon townhouse are dizzying and daunting, and the constant development a bit demoralizing to see on a daily basis. I do not regret our decision to move here - it is such a short commute for Clark, and has every amenity you could imagine for a young family.  But it has taken some getting used to, to be sure.

The Winter/Spring battle for supremacy:  gushing waterfalls over solid mounds of ice

The one thing that this particular suburbia has going for it, however, is (as I've said before), the large amount of green space that is so ample and convenient.  Tucked in and around the seemingly endless neighbourhoods is a pretty impressive expanse and network of forest trails.  This is truly something that we do not take for granted.  

Some hearty fungus emerging from the cold and snow

I go on long daily walks any chance I get (though I haven't been trail running since breaking my foot, let me assure you), and we do some family exploration pretty much every week.  This is made even more exciting  due to a fabulous program that the Museum of Nature offers, called the "Nature Exchange" 

What's better than splashing through puddles?  Splashing through ice-covered puddles, of course!

Basically, kids can find interesting nature items, collect samples of them, and then bring the samples in to the Museum of Nature on the weekend.  They then take these items to a designated spot, and trade them in for points.  You can get bonus points for filling out information sheets in advance, with details such as what the object is, and where and when it was found.  THEN, you can choose to swap your points for other items.  These include cool rock and gem samples, fossils, mounted insects, huge pinecones, and other such things.  The cooler or rarer the item, the more points it takes to obtain it.  It is AMAZING, and puts a whole new focus and spin on observing your surroundings when out on a nature adventure.

Collecting some fungus....

... and an egg shell! There was much speculation about this shell, but the prevailing hypothesis was that it was likely a duck egg, and had been broken into rather than hatched. 

So far, Juniper has been unable to resist immediate exchange - those points were burning a hole in her proverbial pocket. As a result, she now has a pretty neat chunk of amethyst rock, and some small samples of halite (salt), and scheelite.  Linden has a big chunk of chert from the first exchange, but saved his points this past weekend, so maybe be able to save enough for a fern fossil he had his eyes on.  I'll keep you updated!

See you next week!