Field Trip

Today I was a chaperone in my son's class on their field trip to Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Concord, Massachusetts. We had a gorgeous day with plenty of sunshine and wild life sightings. I'm honestly a little surprised that three bus loads of screaming and running kids didn't have the wild life running for cover. I'm amazed at how much there was to see, and so close up too.

My son was trusted with my camera and took many nice pictures. Above is one of them.

Not bad, I like it.

A turtle basking in the sun. I think it might be a snapping turtle.

Did you know that the vitamin D that the rays provide helps the turtle build a strong shell?

Also, the sun increases the turtles body temperature which helps its mobility.

Taking a close look at the algae.

We saw several of these snakes in and around the water. Yikes! I took a step back, thankful for the cameras ability to zoom. All the kids took a step forward out of curiosity. Anyone know the name of this one? I was referred to as a water snake by all the children. I'm guessing that it might be the Northern Water Snake.

"Queen of the Swamp" the wild yellow iris. Simple but beautiful.

All in all, a beautiful and educational day of explorations in the nature. But I've got to tell you, keeping track of impulsive boys with selective hearing just takes all the juice out of me. At the end of the day, I was exhausted.