Exploring Martin's Creek

Pointing out the log boat to ZS and NP

On Friday SPL and I had another fun outing with some friends and Wendolyn Bird (his outdoor preschool teacher). This time we went to Martin’s Creek. It was an adventure as the terrain was somewhat rugged (for an almost 4 year old — not to mention the youngest member of our group who is 20 months!) and it was raining a little bit so the ground was muddy and slippery.

It was fun to watch SPL confidently navigate the terrain: log bridge over the creek, rocks to cross over to another side, slippery slopes, onto and off of a log boat , and tree stump climbing. Watching him problem solve how to get around, over, and through was fascinating. His confidence has grown this year and he’s much more resilient — which I attribute to him going to Tender Tracks Outdoor Preschool with Wendolyn each week.

We found a “spider pokey tree” that caught the eyes, imagination, and fascination of the kids and Wendolyn shared the story of how Doug Fir tree cones got their tails . We also built a marker to remind us which way was “the way” back to the cars and saw many trees both tall and grand and in various states of decay. SPL even climbed up on one and found it had a bigger hole inside than he’d anticipated (thankfully he didn’t fall in! :-).

And we found a banana slug and a newt! What a fun morning.