Nature at Gram and Pap's

We just read an excellent book for book club called Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. I learned many things from this book, but one of them was the importance of my children to experience nature. Our children's generation is so different from how we grew up. I used to go with my cousin Jason down to the creek and search for things, or hide in the woods across the street from our house. Now we don't dare let our kids go out without us because of "stranger danger". We don't have a very big yard but at least we have a garden that we plant each year and the kids can learn from growing vegetables, and we have plenty of bugs! I love my parent's house because of all the land they have. Sunday we ate the first batch of corn from my Dad's garden. (We would have had some earlier, but he has had a problem with racoons this year.) After dinner the kids and adults were having a fight with the bad apples that had fallen, and Hayden helped to shell Pap's lima beans. Then while we were sitting there, a fox goes walking across their property! That was the first fox the boys had ever seen. Of course I had my camera at the ready! Hayden and Connor always find frogs at the pond and toads in the yard too. And my Dad has a hummingbird and a finch feeder near the patio that they feed on while we are nearby. I would love to find a house that has lots of land and nature around so that my kids can experience what we were able to experience. I LOVE this picture!!!!!