Slip and Slide

What do you get when you mix one slip and slide with two days of rain and a corner of a porch: You get two salamanders and one huge green toad! We have been sad with our lack of frog findings this summer. With the lack of rain and plenty of hot sun we have not be able to catch much amphibian wildlife. That dry spell is over. We went out today in the wet ,62 degree weather and mommy found the largest salamander ever with his buddy in our wadded up slip and slide today. While I was looking to pick up the salamander (the girls actually picked it up) I moved the slip and slide and saw at the corner of my eye a huge green frog. We've been catching smaller wood frogs, so when this monster jumped out, it made me jump, but then i recovered. To see that look of awe and excitement on the kid's faces was what we live out in the woods for. We look at all of this experiences as gifts to us. I feel like we shouldn't be viewing these undercover animal worlds and yet we are blessed to have a bird's eye view of it. We proceed to make a salamander habitat to put our two purplish dudes and we put big man in our kiddie tub that has accumulated 3 inches of rain water from the past weekend. Connor felt like a big guy being able to put the dirt in the habitat . It's in these moments that I feel God's hands touching all of us. We are so lucky to be witness to mother nature up close. My kids are hopefully developing a loving sense of nature and all her wonders. I know I am. It's all out there as long as we take the time to be quiet, keep our eyes open and let the loving stillness of nature be our leader. Just do it and you will be amazed at all you discover in nature and in your children.