Wandering, With Children

This weekend I bribed the children to go wandering with me.

All it took was a slice of pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting that one of C's clients had given him.

It was an easy bargain to make; C doesn't like frosting and I don't like pumpkin.

My intention was to head south from our usual spot along the river and find the beaver lodge.

We made our way down to a part of the river we usually only see in winter, where the water meanders through tall grasses and ancient willow trees.

But soon we found ourself sprung back out into our back field.

We took a break and played a game of "still hunting," in which you're supposed to sit very still and silently and wait for wildlife to come to you.

Everyone but E, who curled up into a ball in a patch of sunshine, was very bad at it.

Z prowled around like a cat and M climbed trees.

We then made our way across our neighbor's field and into the woods behind his house.

Hoping to find the beaver lodge from another angle.

We crashed around in the woods and the tall river grass for a while.

We found lots of sign of beaver--chewed down stumps and long trails to the river where branches and maybe whole logs had been dragged.

We saw deer poop and ant hills and old tires. Berries and seedpods and fungus. But we never did find the beaver lodge.