Here's the deal. . .My hubby is not one to go and read my blogs. . .So, when I write about my interpretation of Earth Day, I am sure he will not be reading this! What's wrong with that, You Ask? Well, he is a total right wing conservative who would probably call me a tree hugger, PETA loving liberal after reading this. . .But I really am not :-) After getting some really cool information from my good friend, Walter, who is a Scout Master, I think, We all went to Howell Woods today. We told the kids that we were going on a HIKE and explore the great outdoors. After packing our lunches, binoculars, baby wipes, baby food, diapers, waters, back packs, bandannas, Dora bag, maps, sunglasses, sun tan lotion, and a few other sundry items, we set off to Four Oaks to find this Howell Woods. Riding there, I thought about Survivor and how they would never take all of the Luxury Items that we took with us. Of Course, diapers and baby wipes were very essential. Then again, so were my special tinted sunglasses that I really love to wear. Anyway, our trip there was very mundane. My mind wandered and thought about the first settlers and how they survived on the land, and how beautiful God had made everything. As we got closer to the area, we turned down the road that leads to the Woods. It was called Devil's Race Track Road, A very long and winding eight mile stretch that took forever to drive. I could almost hear the dueling banjos in my mind as we went down the road. Please deliver us! After unpacking all of our essential and non-essential items, we took a look at the learning center building and the bird area, one of my favorites. We saw a barred owl, great horned owl, turkey vulture, and several Hawks. Inside the building were snakes, turtles, and lizards. Hanging out around the building were 5-10 adults of varying ages with guns! I knew that there was hunting in the area, but these people were there to take a firearm safety class. Whew! I felt a little uneasy after seeing all of those weapons. We left the learning center and started down the first trail. The kids were very anxious and wanted to explore everything. Mark, the big leader and alpha male that he is, was our protector and walked ahead in search of ferocious animals. Joshua found many valuable crystals that he was sure to make millions on and packed them away in his backpack, and Caroline picked up walking sticks and other types of pine cones that she says she will use to spank Joshie when he misbehaves. We approached a small fishing pond in the middle of the trail and I spotted a snake skin in the water. Using Joshua's walking stick I retrieved it and kept it for him to take to school. We crossed the bridge and I caught a glimpse of something to the side. Turing slowly around, I saw a black water snake (or maybe a black rat snake) poking it's head out of a dirt hole, about 2 yds from me. I told the kids to turn around slowly and head on back. Funny, Mark had already turned and gone the other way. I called for him to take a peak and he confirmed my sightings. We wrapped up our trip and went to the little stream that passes through the woods. Caroline slipped and fell in the mud, and Joshua, being the Gentleman that he is pulled her up and fell in himself. They were covered in mud, which reminded me of Predator and how the Aliens can't see you when you are covered. We got back to our Van and pretty much had to strip down the kids. They were fussy, which unbelievably was a good sign. . . it meant that they were very tired! The great thing about this trip was that they all fell asleep on the way back home. I think all of this Earth Celebrating just wore them slam out! That's when I just sat back and enjoyed the ride back home looking out at the beautiful countryside and admiring all that God had placed in our Earth.
