In which we hike.

Today we went to the other instance of the nature preserve that we recently joined. The kids have developed an instant love for the Missouri River, so we hiked about three miles and got to splash around a bit in the water. The visitor center had little slips of paper on which people could note their various animal sightings, and we ended up with a good list: some snails, a few frogs, various birds (the visitor center woman thought turkey vulture, which is actually prettier on the wing than the name suggests), two deer, and a huge black rat snake. This was Mike's first snake sighting in a number of years, and the biggest snake that the kids have seen in the wild, so it was an Event which required Hand-Holding and Reassurance and Deep Breathing. For Mike, not the kids, who were intrigued but not especially worried.