Bird and Mushroom Hunt: A Summer Wrap Up.

The summer has been full of activities. Many times, we left the house as the sun was waking and returned home at dinner tired from the suns rays after a day of exploring, swimming, and running. We observed the Carolina wrens build their nest on the shelf on our kitchen porch, the eggs hatch, the chicks fledge, and the nest empty.

We spent many days at the beach exploring tide pools, building sand castles, and watching seagulls diving under the surface of the water, finding clams and flying high to drop them on the rocks. Upon request, we also spent many a mornings searching for more frogs at the New Canaan Nature Center and running the wooded trails. A highlight of our August was a long awaited visit from the Thorpe family. Having 6 kids under 6 years old proved to be a lot of fun!!! The boys had a great time sharing all their favorite discovery places.

The New Canaan Nature Center:

Weed Beach at low tide:

So, as the Summer comes to a close, I thought  I would share one of our more recent adventures. Last week, with a beautiful morning ahead of us, we decided to take the boys over to one of our other favorite places, The Stamford Museum and Nature Center.

First we took a look at the tarantula exhibit in the manor house.

Next, we went to visit the farm animals: checking out how some of the babies have grown over the summer months.

Finally, we headed over to the trails in search of birds. With some, ahhem, heavy footed children, finding the birds wasn’t as easy. We did however, discover a plethora of mushrooms and an AMAZING spider with hundreds, thousands (?) of hatched spider eggs!

Looking towards bird sounds.

Finding mushrooms instead.

Looking for birds, again, and finding water bugs.

Looking at the amazing spider and her hatchlings.

How are you spending the last of your summer days?