"This is nature."

We have a wonderful nature center nearby called Briar Bush. It is situated on 12 acres of woodland with nature trails and a pond, a small museum and bird observatory. But the best part is that it's free! Inside the museum are live turtles, frogs, fish, birds, snakes, a ferret, a chinchilla and various other small animals. There is a "touching table" with pinecones, snakeskin and animal bones. Malayna loves to go there, and even named two of the turtles {Michael and Josh}. We spent the morning there yesterday with Aidan and Wendy.

The weather was nice enough for us to be outside and walk the trails. It's such a different experience to be there when the trees have no leaves. We noticed lots of leaf buds on small bushes, leaf piles, and huge broken trees. At one point Aidan picked up a pine cone and a branch, presented it to us and said, "This is nature."