Snake Lake Nature Center

Saturday morning we met up with some friends at Snake Lake - Tacoma Nature Center for a morning of play and a picnic. They were featuring a wonderful Earth Day event for the kiddos with some various hands on activities, butterfly house building, a bug zoo, worm bins, and more. We had a wonderful time out in the much needed sunshine with some play, a walk, lunch and the activities - it was a great day!!!

Discovery Pond

Snake Lake Nature Center in Tacoma recently opened a new play area called Discovery Pond and Saturday we headed out to see what it was like and take a nature walk at Snake Lake. The weather was perfect and our family was in some serious need of sunshine, nature and fun... making for a perfect time!

We spent a lot of time in the play area, had a picnic lunch and then took a walk around Snake Lake to learn about wetland and pond life. Along the way we made some fun discoveries - various vegetation, turtles, ducks, bugs galore, foot prints in mud, an ant pile, mini mushrooms, a birds nest and more. It was a wonderful day.

Snake Lake

This morning we met up with some friends to enjoy the nature trails at Snake Lake. The kids were all busy looking for bugs, signs of animals, turtles and frogs... overall we found many of these items. The hardest part is getting all the little ones to slow down long enough to truly look. I had to remind Holly that 'it is not the destination, but the journey'. Holly really enjoyed her morning of exploration with her buddies and found many great treasures.

This is one of two turtles we spotted in the pond.The girls are all checking out a caterpillar, taking turns nicely with him.And, of course there were tons of beautiful sounding birds to be heard... not seen so much. There were some school groups on top of our group of kiddos... making for a noisier than normal park I am sure - keeping many critters at bay.

Lately Holly has really taken sweetly to buttercups. Our yard has several buttercups to enjoy. Her Aunt Blayne has taught the fun tale as a child that if you hold it below your chin and see yellow then you like butter. So now Holly collects tons of buttercups and brings them to over to check and see our butter preferences.

Well, last weekend when we were heading out to the chicken farm we passed several farm properties that were literally fields of buttercups... as far as the eye could see. Holly was really enjoying them. She then mentioned how she would just love to run through an entire field of buttercups one day... and how 'grand' that would be! Such simple dreams when you are four - you've gotta love it!

Anyhow... I couldn't pass up these little photos in a small patch of buttercups at the pond today - they are too sweet of her!

Another Fun Day

After a morning of house & yard stuff we headed over to the Tacoma Nature Center & Snake Lake! We had such a nice time, explored all the critters inside, played dress up, adopted a salmon and then hit the trails for a great walk! Although it is snug in the city and cars can be a bit loud - it is still a treasure for Tacoma! Snake Lake has come a long way since I was younger. The learning center is great -- many little critters and a super fun kids area. I'd say we spent an hour just inside alone. The baby turtle, no bigger than a silver dollar (really) was the biggest hit... even I have to agree I could handle having that cute little baby turtle at home :) If you haven't been in a long time -- check it out, the best part is it is free!!! Great family entertainment!!!