Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with rain, so we all got muddy as we slogged through the woods. I found a small Garter snake and a baby scorpion (at least two kids mentioned the latter as a highlight of their week during our last class) in the chaparral on Tuesday, and on Wednesday the weather gods allowed us to have a slightly dryer night hike. Thursday brought some much needed sun. For the all day hike, I took the same trail I've been taking for the past few weeks. We visited the dead mole that I first discovered last week, and found it to be a bit more decomposed. Everything is a teaching tool. There are all sorts of lessons to be learned from dead moles.
The kids themselves were pretty well behaved this week. The teen volunteers were generally competent too. Makes for boring reading, I suppose...

Jen is out with a friend right now, and Willow is sleeping. The older kids are at their dad's place. I'm off work all next week, so we have lots of plans to get things done around here.