Happy Earth Day!
This is more of a journaling entry - I wanted to remember our day.
For work, I helped plan a tree planting/river restoration project that will take place at the end of the month, however, I wanted to get outside today to do something to celebrate Earth day. So Cadie and I braved the drizzle to visit the Wetlands Research Park on campus and take part in a "wild-egg" hunt. This was not the normal egg-hunt with 200 kids on the edges of a soccer field waiting to pounce on the egg-strewn field. We were shown pictures of the birds that visit the wetlands and told that the birds had left 92 eggs throughout the (52 acre!) park and that we should try to find them along with Olga the sneaky muskrat (stuffed animal) who was hiding. Kids under age 5 could look around a smaller pond area and the bigger kids had free rein on the remainder of the park but most of the eggs were around the trails and large ponds. Cadie and I started walking around the little kid pond and somehow all of the other little kids went around the pond in the other direction. Without competition, needless to say, in about 10 minutes she had found about as many bright eggs.
Pink one in the trees!

Easier find in the grass:

Not wanting to be an egg-hog, I recommended going for a walk and looking for Olga the muskrat. We were having a great time - we saw lots of birds, found holes "Olga's home?", and climbed a tower to an observation point. Then we found it. Not Olga, unfortunately, but a dead muskrat. Right in the middle of the trail. I saw it first but realized I couldn't do much to stop Cadie from seeing it. After I explained that, no, this was not Olga, we had quite the conversation. In fact the entire walk back to the education center was devoted to answering the question "Why did the muskrat die, Mommy?" It was sweet in a way to realize that her 3-yr old mind couldn't process death. Back at the center we opened our eggs to find pictures of birds that we then matched to a poster and found out what prize each egg gave us. Cadie came home with bird food, wildflower seeds, earth day buttons, a pencil, and a huge African violet!
Back at home with her loot:

Well, the dead muskrat wouldn't leave her mind. She even asked one of the organizers why the muskrat died and this conversation continued on the ride home. Finally, after talking about sickness being a possible cause she was silent for a while. And then, "Mom, I'm going to be a muskrat doctor and fix sick muskrats in my home with my doctor tools." You go girl.