Animal Houses

Our kids have created a fun family project that we do whenever we go on walks on the trail here in town. We MUST always stop along the river somewhere and find an edge on it's banks and build little animal houses. For some reason my kids really love doing this. So we decided after the final session of conference on Sunday afternoon, we would take them on a walk and they could build their houses. They were actually very good this year in sitting peacefully so we felt like they deserved to get out. We were very proud of them!

Once they determine their perfect spot, they then will start the search for sticks and small pebbles. They each will find two "Y" shaped sticks to use as their foundation. This holds the two sticks that get pushed into the bank of the river.

If you look closely in the picture above, you can see the beginnings of 3 little houses. Actually I'm not sure they're even houses...more like "over-hangs". Is that even a word? By the way, these pictures were taken from my cell phone again (can't believe I forgot my precious camera). So they're extra grainy and bright!

In the pictures below, we found some critter footprints. We believe these are from a racoon. And this is Jaynee and Kerry's over-hang. Cute, huh? Jaynee's was more like an animal mansion. She had 19 pebbles leading up to her's. She wanted those animals to know they were getting something extra special if they sought shelter in her house.

Here are Kaylee and Kason's:

Not sure how long this activity will last as our kids get older, so for now we are milking it for all it's worth. Who know's maybe they'll get more elaborate as the year's go by. We love to see their creativity too. I think I also smell some sibling rivalry to come...can you smell it? Hmm...