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That's the rhyme I taught my neice on our adventures in the woods.

"Take nothing but memories, leave nothing but footprints."

I've taken Sarah out to Cochran Mills twice so far. She'd never gone hiking or walking out in nature before last weekend and she's 9. So, when we go out in the woods, I teach her a lot of things.

Like what poison ivy looks like and why, when we see something that looks cool, like a birds nest or a branch on a tree, we leave it where it is.
When we go out on these nature walks, I bring along a plastic bag, so any trash she might have (like from her crackers Kim always packs her, and water bottles), we put it in the bag so we're not liter bugs.
And not to step on rotting logs, because that's where bugs and animals live, and we wouldn't like it if something just came along and crushed our house either.

Last weekend, we were walking towards the feild, just about to pass over the misty stream and over the bridge and I grabbed her shoulder and pointed off about 15 feet ahead of us:
"Sarah, look!"
"What?"
"Over there!" I pointed to a group of three deer bounding off, away from the stream we were approaching.
"-gasp- WOLVES!" She said, grabbing on to me, fear in her voice.
"No, goobie -- Deer." I laughed.
"Oooooohhhhh...."

She'd never seen live deer so close before. xd

I've also taught her practical things like, "how to pee outdoors." Yep. She's a member of the outdoor girls club now. (:

Its always fun taking her out there with me. Yesterday, Dad came along, and we went out to his rock, where he sits, meditates and prays. It's a bit out in the woods, about 30 minutes out, and when we got there and sat down, Sarah asked, "Are we gonna have to walk all the way back to the car?"

"No, we'll fly" said Dad.
"Grandpa..." said SarahBeara
"I've got a pocket copter, everyone, grab on and we'll be out to the car in no time."
"Annie Jah..!" she said.

xd

The only bad part about taking her out there is a lack of quiet time, but, she's a good kid, so it's not so bad. Except I planned to read yesterday, but Ally, Sarah's birth mother (that abandoned her and her father when she was a baby) cancelled on spending the weekend with her, so I took her along with me.

But, I love it when she's out there, learning things. Yesterday, she told Dad about poison ivy and what it looked like. And pointed out a beech, birch and oak tree. (: She gets the basic concept of erosion, what direction moss grows...
She makes me proud. whee

I'm going out there today, solo this time. If Gracie's birthday party is tonite, I'll be having to head home by 5, if it's tomorrow, I can watch the sun set...