Today we attended a free program at the Lookout Mountain Nature Center. They have various programs for different age groups. This one was "Toddler Times". Todays topic was Mountain Lions. Miss Angela explained and showed pictures of wildcats that we have in the area. We have 3--#1 the Mountain Lion aka Cougar aka Puma (I had no idea they were all the same animal!) #2 Lynx and #3 Bobcat. After talking about the different cats the kids were able to touch the coats of each of the 3. They had the skins with the soft fur still on them that the kids could touch and even feel the paws and nails! Makadie loved being able to touch! Then a special guest came to visit, Mel, a beautiful grey kitty. The kids got to take turns petting Mel too! Makadie was in Heaven!
Here are two pictures of Colorado's State Flower--the Columbine. It is a pretty unique wildflower.
We then went out to the back deck to make paw prints in some sand. They had rubber paws of a mountain lion and a wolf and the kids took turn making prints in the wet sand. It was pretty neat! Here is Makadie making a wolf paw print!
Our friends Matthew and Wyatt came with their mom Jennifer and met us there. After the Wildcat presentation we went on the nature trail and enjoyed being in the outdoors! Here are some pictures of us on the nature hike and hanging out as we ate our lunch.
Wyatt, Makadie, and Matthew right before our Nature hike!
Makadie found a magnifying glass and had to look at everything through it! When we were done we took it inside to return it and Makadie was told that she could take it home. She was a very happy girl and was very excited to get to see more butterflies with it.
My happy Makadie--a girl who has ALWAYS enjoyed being outside~
Makadie LOVED the wildflowers and had to stop at every one that we passed (which was a TON!!!) In this picture she is showing me the flowers on both sides of the trail. It was neat seeing her enjoy nature, but it did make the hike longer than it could have been. Since none of us were in too big of a hurry we let her go at her own pace--though she did have to be encouraged along more than once.
--Anika and Makadie--
Wyatt and Makadie are buds--they are in nursery together!
I tried to take a picture of Anika and me, but I think it would have turned out better if my arms were a little bit longer!
And of course Makadie wanted in on the picture taking actions as well!
Today is also Anika's 7 month birthday! Man time sure does fly. So I made sure to snap a few pictures of just her to document this stage in her life. She is getting so grown up so fast. She is crawling better and more each day. She is obsessed with pulling herself onto things and people keep saying that she will be walking by 8 months. I am in no hurry for her to grow up so I won't push her to walk so early. But she has a mind of her own, so time will tell.
