Our First Nature Day of this School Year

Yesterday afternoon, I decided to take the older 2 girls for a nature walk, just a short one through the neighborhood because Evan was asleep. Taylor was finishing up schoolwork and didn't mind watching him. So off we went. It was a beautiful day. Not too hot, not too cold, and actually starting to feel like Autumn. The girls were excited. We grabbed some paper bags to hold any treasures they might find along the way. First we spotted these growing on a pine tree:

Then beneath it, we saw that a bird's nest was lying on the ground. I think someone trimmed out the branches of the pine tree so people could use the sidewalk and they probably didn't realize there was a bird's nest in there.Then, we spotted these, which the girls and I thought were mushrooms at first, but upon close examination, we weren't so sure. We took one to examine further at home.

But then it happened.

The enthusiasm for all of the nature we were exploring went right out the window. It was replaced by enthusiasm for ..................PUPPIES!

4 Adorable white Maltese (I think) puppies!My girls enjoy nature walks, but puppies, nothing beats one puppy, let alone 4!We were across the street from a woman taking some trash out. She yells to us that she's about to bring out THE puppies. I don't know this woman. She lives at least 10 or so houses away from us. But she talks like I should know about THE puppies. Well, my girls were going crazy at the thought of seeing some puppies, so we walked very slowly, to give her a chance to bring them out. And she did. She invited us over and let my girls play with them in the yard for at least 15 minutes. They had a blast! This neighbor of mine is selling the pups for $800 each and there are 2 left. She had to announce this in front of my girls. Ugh. Oh, and in our conversation, I realize that when she yelled across the street for us to see THE puppies, it was because she thought we were somebody else! Some other neighbors, who apparently look similar to us, had expressed an interest in purchasing a pup and wanted to see them. So that's why she invited us over. So it was kind of a fluke that my girls got 15 unforgetable minutes with those sweet little pups.

That was such a nice gift.

Sort of.

When we got home I told the girls to draw and color a picture of Skylar's pumpkins for their nature journals. So they sat on the porch and drew and talked together. I saw their pumpkin drawings and they turned out nicely.

Then they wanted more paper to draw outside. I was thinking, "This is great! They are so inspired by our first nature walk of the year, they can't stop drawing !". About 10 minutes later, I look out and see that they are off the porch and the paper is gone. All that remains are the clipboards and colored pencils.

Hmmmm.......

I go out and I find them, a few minutes later, knocking on doors with homemade flyers. The flyers read, "Skylar and Alexa's Pet Business. Call XXX-XXX-XXXX" ( our actual phone number was on it). We had a discussion. The girls wanted a pet business to 1) show us how responsible they can be and 2) raise $800 to buy a puppy.

Although I sympathize with their plea and commend their efforts, we are not getting a puppy. The girls are not too happy with me.

How is any future nature walk supposed to top this one? *sigh*

TTFN

~Tina