Skunk cabbage and sticks

Eli and I went along with Noah's Environmental Club (an after school activity at Stillwater Montessori) to the Orono Bog Boardwalk.  It was a beautiful day...perfect day for a walk in the bog!  We have been to the Bog Boardwalk several times - it's a lovely walk and so fun to watch how the habitat changes from season to season.  

First, the children got a little Bog Boardwalk 101.  It was super cute listening to Noah tell his friends to "be careful of the habitat!" as they began their walk.   

Noah got such a kick out of the skunk cabbage.  He and his friends started to count all the plants that they saw along the path, but petered out around 16.  Joanne asked them "Why do you think that it is called skunk cabbage?"  "Because it is STINKY!" they all giggled.  Since then, Noah has asked for skunk cabbage for dinner.  Monkey!

And what is it about sticks?  Noah couldn't even concentrate until he had a stick in his hand.

Joanne shows the children the water (and bugs!) inside of a carnivorous  pitcher plant

Joanne points out the cottongrass: it looks like little troll heads! (from Jan Brett's Trouble With Trolls) The children love this. 

Nowdays, when Noah is asked to do something that he isn't thrilled about doing, he will say "aw-wite" (allright).  Got to get a video of that.  Here, I ask him to smile and he is slightly annoyed.  He says "Aw-wite" and then gives me this smile.  Under duress.

Super Cute:  Noah asks Phoebe if she wants to be his best friend?  She says sure, shifts her coat to her right hand and they walk arm & arm down the boardwalk for awhile.  Eventually, Phoebe runs ahead and Noah starts to cry and want me to give him a piggyback ride ( I have Eli in the Baby Bjorn, a camera in one hand and a water bottle in the other)  but this moment is Hallmark-perfect:

At the end of the hike, Noah is over-the-top excited to have a snack.  I am overjoyed that he chose Sun Chips instead of the neon orange Cheetos.  Four years olds eating Cheetos = gooey Cheetos fingers.  Gooey Cheetos fingers leave a path of orange destruction.  Food just shouldn't be that orange.

He's sitting with his friends Owen and Alex.  Owen's dad Greg is there, too.  Noah announces that Greg is his best friend now.