Communing with Nature and finding Fuzzytigger

I know it's been such a long time since I blogged!  Homeschooling has been quite the adventure and we are starting our 3rd year now!  Time has been at a premium and my health has been a roller coaster, thus, not many posts. My plans are to make more time for this because it's good for me and hopefully someone else can enjoy and become inspired at the same time.

One of the things I have loved most about teaching my kids at home has been the fact that there are no limits to the teaching opportunities. We learn wherever we are and whatever we are doing. I learn right along with the kids a lot of the time and we relish searching for answers when I don't know or are not sure my thoughts are accurate.

This Sunday one of these learning experiences presented itself when myself and bubba woke up with sore throats. Hubby wasn't feeling great either, so to avoid the chance of getting others sick at church we decided to commune with nature for our Sabbath day and take a drive in the mountains to see some of the beautiful fall colors.  We chose the Alpine Loop as our destination and off we went!  (I'll spare you the gory details of arguments about who was sitting where that commenced before we even left the garage) ;~)

The colors were amazing!  I just ADORE our mountains and ADORE fall!!

We stopped at Cascade Springs for a nature walk and had fun counting wildlife and reading the information signs posted along the trail. While we were walking, my path crossed a fuzzy little black and orange caterpillar crossing the wooden walkway. I stopped to look and called everyone over to see. Another lady and her kids stopped to see also, and said it would be safe to pick up. (I'm far too trusting of people who sound like the know what they're talking about, but luckily, we were ok this time). She said she thought it was a Monarch caterpillar.  We passed it around and oohed and awed at it's peculiar little self.

Much to Hubby's dismay, I wanted to take our new little friend home. (Shhh...we probably weren't supposed to). We found a nearly empty water bottle in the car and poked air holes in it with a paper clip, added a couple leaves off the ground and gently coaxed our furry friend in before we headed out. (Insert some drama right before leaving).

As we continued our drive we brainstormed ideas for names and had a vote. The choices were Oatmeal, Tigger, and Fuzzy. Fuzzy won the vote with Tigger a close second, so we compromised on "Fuzzytigger" as 'her' name and everyone was happy, except Hubby, that is.

We had a pleasant drive home discussing how the absence of Chlorophyll in the leaves was what made them change color in the fall, followed by a few classic Scooby Doo episodes that Hubby put on the iPad when everyone started getting restless.

After we got home and everyone took a little snooze, we did some googling (seriously, what did we ever do without the Internet?) and found that our little Fuzzytigger was actually a Woolly Bear caterpillar and would turn into an Isabella Tiger Moth if all went as planned. This discovery both delighted and excited 6 of the 7 of us. (Hubby has sort of a phobia about moths, so his mood went from 'not happy' to 'I'm going to silently protest this situation since my wife is determined to let the bug stay'.  Yes, he puts up with a lot to make us happy!). Oh, and I was extra happy after the few moments of panic when our google search initially turned up some scary looking pictures of caterpillars that are dangerous to handle. Especially black, orange, and yellow ones, the article said. 8~O

We also learned that we could put her outside over winter and she will hibernate, freeze solid through, stopping her heart, and thaw out in the spring before she gets ready to do her transformation. Cool beans.

Over all, a pretty exciting and educational 'sick Sunday', I'd say. I call it a happy memory day.