Nature Study Grandma Style

Yesterday my mom took the girls to one of the bigger, nicer parks in our area. They have ball fields, soccer fields, nature trails, a Frisbee course, playgrounds and much more that I am sure I am not aware of. My mom had found this nature trail about a week or so ago and thought the girls would love it. She could take them on a hike and they could identify some of the insects, plants etc. that they had learned about in school. So yesterday was the day. Of course the girls were excited. My mom brought sausage and crackers and had homemade peanut butter cookies, grapes and oranges and a picnic blanket to sit on. A real outing! About 3 hours later I got them back. Wore out! They had hiked about half of the trail which my mom says is about 4 miles long. They learned that they needed to carry their own stuff, they needed something to carry water in and they needed comfortable shoes. They didn't find any flowers. Apparently they had all died. They didn't see any dragonflies (which is the insect we are studying this week) but we figured that was because they were not near any water or maybe it was too cold. But they had fun anyway and have a plan for the next time Grandma takes them on a nature hike . . .