Butterfly Love

We love butterflies :-) In our household, if one is seen you can guarantee several children will squeal with delight and go running outside. In our own backyard, we have some lovelies that frequent us...painted ladies, cabbage whites, and some yellow one that resembles a monarch. Such amazing beauty contained in such a small being.

For science this year, Brenna has been using Apologia's Zoology 1, which focuses on flying creatures. The last lesson of the year is on order Lepodoptera (butterflies, moths, and skippers-also referred to as Leps). So for this lesson we bought a little butterfly home and ordered some Painted Lady caterpillars to raise and watch change.

What fun! The metamorphosis that Leps go through is such an amazing example of God's perfect design in creation. Truly awesome! We enjoyed watching our caterpillars eat and quadruple in size and then change to their chrysalises. The most difficult thing to actually catch in action was the butterflies coming out of their chrysalises. They do it so quickly!

(Liam looking at one of our painted ladies)

After enjoying and studying our little friends for a few days, we decided to free them. We had six butterflies(all survived, though one had fallen while in the middle of its final change to chrysalis) and so we enjoyed each one leaving in its own time. Four flew out within a few minutes of us opening our house, but two took their time. Both of these stayed in our yard for most of the afternoon and both allowed us to hold them :-) Now that was awesome!

(Brenna and Liam holding a butterfly)

The only one that didn't hold our friends was Rowan...I'm thinking she might have been a bit too enthusiastic in her affections ;-) So she watched everyone else hold them and was tickled to see them flutter above her head as they left. There is nothing like watching a two year old's wonder :-)

(Rowan in awe watching Fiona hold a butterfly)

(Brenna's patience paid off, such a happy little student!)

(Resting spot for our little Lep friend~the pomegranate tree)

I have a feeling that this little project may have bred a love of studying butterflies, moths, and skippers. Could there be a future Lepidopterist in our family? Who knows :-) But I will encourage their love of these beautiful creatures. Truly amazing to watch them start from a caterpillar and become something that looks completely different! I highly recommend doing this little project (homeschooler or not). Your kids(and you!) will love it :-)

I look forward to doing this again in the future!

May you have a blessed day and feel the wonder of God's magnificent creation!

Blessings,

Sommer

Today's Nature Study~Alum Rock

With Yosemite fresh in our blood, we decided to head to our local county park, Alum Rock. I've been going here since I was a girl and luckily we still live very close by. Although there is a fire raging in the Santa Cruz mountains with smoke thick in the air, we went ahead and spent the afternoon hiking and studying the nature around us.

We were very fortunate to see three deer(two does and a young buck~pic of him at the very end). We also saw several varieties of birds..Stellar Jays(pic included), Robins, Woodpeckers, a beautiful white Heron and several smaller ones that I can't name. There were many speckled ground squirrels(I have a shot here of a baby..too cute!) and little red beetles. We also got to observe a brown damsel fly.

So, come along on our little study:



There were an amazing number of Stellar Jays out today. They seemed to be following us, but were not at all easy to capture on camera! This one graciously sat still and let me get this shot.

I wonder, can you see the damsel fly in the leaf debris above? This was a rather chance siting...but I'm sure glad we found it:-)

And here is the baby squirrel. We saw several of them as we walked along the path. So adorable!

And our young buck...so beautiful! He was grazing along the path, near the old mineral baths and grottos. His antlers are still velveted and he was only a little startled by us. Not so much that he rushed right off. The girls really enjoyed seeing him and Liam even noticed him.

What a wonderful afternoon we had!

Have a great weekend!
Sommer

A Walk Through Yosemite

Finally, I have had a chance to sit down and tell of our little trip last week:-)

Last Thursday, we headed off with my FIL to spend a day in Yosemite. We packed up the kids and our car, leaving at about 1:30pm. From where we live it is about a 3-4 hour drive. The first bit was dull and full of the usual highway scenery, including an accident that sent a man flying from his car. As we drove by(not really having seen it, only the aftermath, and several folks had already run to his aide)I sent up a prayer for the man and his family. I hope he was not as badly hurt as we thought.

After about an hour and half or so, we started seeing the lovely countryside dotted with farms and trees. I always love that:-)

The kids were getting impatient and every once in a while, Fiona would ask," How long have we been driving for?" Ugh! Really, she was just so very excited and so was Brenna(and to tell the truth...so was I!), so I forgave the annoying questioning:-p Liam slept for the majority of the ride. Unfortunately, he woke up in time to experience a frightfully twisty road and threw up. After a brief stop to clean him up, we made it to our eating place and then on to our sleeping destination. Instead of camping we decided to spend a night at a lodge, about 30 minutes outside of the park.

Bright and early, we headed to the park and enjoyed a slow, but beautiful drive. Once inside the park, we had to drive for a bit more and then got stopped for 30 minutes by a....stop light! Yes, in the park there was a stop light...for construction work that was being done on the roads. So I looked out my window and saw this:

Aren't these lovely? I think they may be Lupine, but I'm not really sure. There was alot to admire as we sat there...the river rushing by, some lovely bees buzzing in the flowers, very tiny yellow birds that, hard as I tried, I could not get a shot of!

I'm not sure how I got this next picture, but I love it! There is just something so powerful about rivers and the sound they send forth..well, just awesome! This picture also gave me a taste of what was to come...

As we drove through to the valley, I kept seeing these beautiful trees with white blossoms amidst the pines and oaks. They looked strangely out of place...almost as if they should have been in the land of fairy. This one shot is not half so glorious as some that I saw, but this was the one I could actually get. If you look closely you will see a few white blossoms. My FIL told me this was Dogwood. Well, it is a new favorite:-)

Once we got to the Valley, we got ready for our day. My FIL wanted to take me up to Vernal Falls. He said if no one else got to go up, he wanted me too. Later he would go with Dan and the girls(only as far as they could/would go..which wasn't all the way). So, I set Dan up with the baby and the girls, donned a hat and sunscreen and Tom(my FIL) and I headed off. Dan wandered to and fro with the kids, checking out the Indian Village, Lower Yosemite Falls, the Museum and such. Tom and I headed up a steep climb and made our way towards Vernal Falls. I'll share more about that amazing trip tomorrow:-) With pics even! I'll just say, that it was awesome and forced me out of my comfort zone.

After we spent the majority of the day in the valley, we made our way up to Glacier Point...with a few stops along the way;-) This picture below was taken from a lovely vantage point. From here, you see no sign fo roads or buildings....just the beauty of Yosemite. Excuse the funny looks from the girls...the sun was directly in their eyes. The kids really had a great time. Fiona took several opportunities to draw in a little notebook what she saw..so lovely!

On our way up to Glacier Point, we enjoyed the site of snow...again and again. Brenna really loved this...she's never been in snow. She really wanted us to stop and let her play in it, but we couldn't. Once we got up to Glacier Point, Grandpa Tom got her a ball of snow...she was tickled and held it in her bare hand as long as she could:-) Sweet!

This picture below is some of what could be seen from Glacier Point. It was just breathtaking. You can see Vernal Falls(the lower one) and Nevada Falls(the upper one). From here too, we could see Half Dome. I felt dwarfed compared to the expanse of Yosemite. Just one small person in the amazing creation that God made! Truly awe inspiring.

Every where I turned I saw beauty. Even though we have built roads and buildings here, the awesomeness of Yosemite overpowers. How anyone can go here and not feel God's power and be taken back by the beauty is beyond me. I didn't get enough...I could have sat hours in one place and not have seen all it had to offer.

We hope to go back again next summer and make even more memories!

Tomorrow, I hope to post about my hike to Vernal Falls. So tune in again....

Blessings,

Sommer

How We Do Nature Study in the City

Nature Study can be challenging when you live in the middle of town or the city. I know...I live there:-) Sure there are state and county parks, small parks and such, but sometimes funds are limited and gas is too pricey and time is of the essence and, well...the countryside is often too far to go. So what do you do? Well, we explore our own "backyard". Okay...we don't have a backyard. We live in a small apartment with a courtyard/carport that is shared between two 4-plexes. But, it does have some flowers, trees, grass and birds..lots of birds. So on Wednesday, we decided to do a little Nature Study:-)


Here the girls have found some ants to observe. Thankfully the ants are outside...not in my apartment! A little while later Fiona decided to try the theory out if an ant can swim...it can!

This is a lovely burst of pretty in our rather concrete and drab grounds. She is a burst of color and fire in an otherwise bare spot. Look closely and you can see the fire within. Isn't she beautiful?

Aaaaah, Brenna...the snail whisperer. When most little girls would be getting creeped out by the sliminess of our snail friend here, Brenna is wooing it:-) She loves snails and looks for them every time she comes outside to play. She gladly showed her friend to me(I have some lovely pics of it, but blogger wouldn't let me upload as many as I would have liked...perhaps another day). I was informed by my hubby yesterday, that while I was out with my Mom for Mother' Day, Brenna placed a snail on her face...hmmm, a touch icky, but I'm glad she is not fearful.

Here is a picture of one of our many birds. We have two nests in this carport. They've been here every year since we began living here and I love watching them. This is Papa House Sparrow watching bravely over his little ones(the nest is in the upper right corner). I can hear them, but not see them...rats! He is a good Papa...he swoops if we get too close.

And lastly, Liam just couldn't be left out of the fun! He was walking back and forth between the patches of flowers and bird area. He would go see what his big sisters were checking out, then go back and look at some flowers, pointing and babbling. When he saw the Papa go flying out from his nest, well, he got quite excited:-) Aaaah, homeschooling...it can never start too young!

I hope you've enjoyed our little Nature Study tour. I certainly had fun sharing:-) Next week, we will be heading up to Yosemite for a very brief stay. It will be mine and the kids first time. I plan on making it a big Nature Study adventure. I will take lots of pics and share when we get back.

Have a blessed weekend!

Sommer