El Dorado Nature Center... Or... Beach vs. Woods

Today the kids I knocked another summer goal off the very long list of "musts". We went to El Dorado Nature Center. Now we've been here a handful of times. I'm not sure why it's only a handful. Maybe we'll change that this year. Or maybe I'll just say that, as I say that about many of the great adventure spots in our area, and go again sometime next year.

Some of you may know that this week we also crossed "beach trip" off our list. We live about twenty minutes from the beach cities and yet my poor deprived children rarely get to step their foot again the hot sand. Well, we visited Redondo Beach and brought home a souvenir - a HUGE glob of tar. It was stuck on Simon's swim shirt and while I thought I smelled it, I didn't see it, so ignored it. Within a ten minutes time it was on the car seat, our poor rented carpet, his swim shirt, swim trunks, his stomach (ON in case you were reading the misunderstanding that happened on Facebook), and my brand new shirt. It has been confirmed that I very much dislike beaches.

But now look at the above picture. Is that not beautiful!?! No tar in sight. It's quiet rather than the roaring of the oceans. So in my book it's Beach - 0 and Woods - 2. 

The children started our little one mile hike in good spirits. Alynna's dropped slightly as she was forced to take a group picture. She has some phobia of forced pictures and gets incredibly moody about them.

Since we've only gone a handful of times (and here's one of them and here's another) I have a few distinct memories. I remember the first time I visited the center as a field trip with a moms group I led. It's here I met with Melanie Anderson when she was expecting Little Johnny. I remember going with Kaeley and Nathan when Nathan was small enough to be carried in a carrier. Kaeley wandered about slowly and at every sight of water she would drift off into la-la land and begin singing her then-favorite song, "I must go and fetch the water...". We once visited around November while we learned about pilgrims, so, of course, the children pretended to be pilgrims foraging the forest and hiding from Indians. There was the time we were reading The Hobbit and the children imagined themselves traveling through Mirkwood.

What book did they act out this time? Well, we recently listened to Eragon, so there were two dragons flying around squawking and growling. We also just today finished listening to Johnny Tremain so you would think Nathan pretended to be militia, right? No, the boy took every single stick he found and turned it into a musket and called himself a Red Coat! Some kind of loyalty he's got there.

At one the creeks we passed Simon washed his stick, which was currently a lightsaber.

And here's the girl who first walked these trails at two years old. Now she's got swagger and style.

There were beetles to watch and catch and pinch with curiosity until mothers who just don't understand the intense love of nature children often have yell at you to release the poor insect. We did see a huge orb weaver up close and personal. So here I must admit Beach - 1 and Woods - 2. (Although I still tend to think of the Beach - -100.)

There were oddly shaped trees to hang off of.

And at a certain point Simon was done. I reminded him a couple times (since I'm just that kind of gracious mother) that this is what happens when one wakes up an hour earlier than usual. But he cried, "I can't do it! I can't do it!"

When we visited the beach Simon sat in the sand and played for a good long time without needing anything, so maybe we're at Beach - 2 and Woods - 2.

But look at the green! The light hits the branches and turn the simple green leaves into a dozen different hues, like a stain-glass window. Sigh... the woods feed my soul.

And... he did it! One and a quarter miles walked. Good job, Simon.

And it was at this little bridge you pass over before you leave the center that I stopped and breathed in deeply. It was a humid day, and while do-able, the heat did remind me of my summers spent in the sticky Floridian walking trails alongside grandparents. The silence of the woods reminded me of childhood weekends where I would imagine up friends and families and all types of scenarios to idle away the time.

A very young girl with wispy brownish-blond hair stood with her mother on the small town bridge. They admired the baby ducks swimming underneath them. The German skies were often gray this time of year and the weather, while unpredictable, was warming up to jacket weather. Her mother, small in frame and with a full head of wavy black hair, asked, "Janna, do you want to play Pooh Sticks?" And just as Winnie the Pooh had instructed them, two small sticks were thrown over the side of the bridge, and the pair raced to the other side to see who won. It never mattered anyway.

And that's when it was confirmed. My heart has been in forest since I was Simon's age. And I believe it is there that it will stay.