New Adventures Await!

The kids and I signed up for Healthy Trails this weekend. It's a program the county puts out to encourage park use and evaluation. We started with our first hike on Memorial Day at Calero Ranch, where Natalee takes riding lessons. It happens to be a county park, too. I love the old house, even though it has seen better days and is now home to many birds nest (zoom in an check out the eves!). First, we got permission and fed each of the program horses a mini-carrot. Then we headed off on the trail atop the levee that leads to the lake. It was a beautiful day, with just the right breeze and plenty of creatures and nature to look at.

I remember, fondly, throwing what we called "oak galls" with the Hallows cousins at Woodsen Bridge park as a kid. They were aweseomly hard when they fall from the oak trees that are all over California. Last summer, in a junior ranger program we learned that they are actually some sort of bi product of a symbiotic relationship with the wasps. They make their nests in them. And, we need the wasps to pollinate the crops. Can't wait to see where we go next!