Starfish Snack

No - we didn't eat the "starfish". But we did get to see a "Sea Star" eating his lunch (they were starfish when I was a kid).

That little white blob is actually this little guy's stomach. In case you didn't know ( I didn't), a Sea Star prys open a mussel or other such creature, expells his insides and goes right inside the shell to eat the insides. Then he just sucks his guts back inside.

Then the poor fellow gets picked up by a five year old, examined thoroughly and exploited here on my blog under the guise of "nature study". Don't tell the boys, this is actually schoolwork for us ... nature study, oceanography, take your pick! They thought we were on vacation. More proper vacation pictures coming soon.

Our First Moose

Yesterday we saw our very first moose. We consider this a very special event since we spend a good portion of every family day trip and vacation "trying" to see one.


This guy (see the little antler buds) was just hanging out in a little pond by the road in North Conway. He was kind enough to pose for a dozen people to take his picture. Mine are slightly blurry because they were taken from the moving car. We're going to do a page for our nature notebooks later today - I'll share them when they're done.

A Special Day for Mommy

This outing was supposed to be part of my birthday celebration. Daddy took a couple days off to spend Spring cleaning the yard and doing "something fun for Mommy's birthday" which is actually tomorrow. Now they say fishing was ultimatly my choice. I'm not so sure about that. My idea of a beautiful day spent enjoying nature at its Spring finest ended a little differently than I had planned.

Doesn't Walden Pond sound like the perfect spot for the boys to catch their first fish, enjoy nature and have a fantastic family day? I think so too. Well, the fish weren't biting. How about our nature hike? The pondside trail is fenced in as part of an anti-errosion project... It felt how I'd imagine a walk around the grounds of a medium security prison might feel. Not to mention how the drive through Concord made me covetous of living in a big old colonial with some dead minuteman's name on a plaque by the front door. Back to the car we go... no fish, no nature walk. So we head toward home. And ended up fishing off of a bridge in a local park. Not the pictureque historical landmark I imagined but these fish were biting. And everyone had a wonderful day ... celebrating Mommy's birthday... hmm. Maybe tomorrow.

Now before you think I am selfish or squeemish or heartless - I had alot of fun too. Their faces as they each reeled in their first catch were priceless, and the memories that we made today are better than 100 "me" focused days by far. I chose this version of "my special day" and I got what I just what I wanted for my birthday.

And no, we didn't take any of them home for dinner.