Future Nature Lover

My dad took me camping, hiking, and rafting a lot when I was little.

I explored the Wind Rivers with him at the tender age of eight, huddling with our ponchos under trees during hail storms and catching our dinner with a fishing pole....mmmm, Utah trout!

We spent every other weekend, during a couple of Utah summers, running the Green River in his 8-person, red Riken raft. The term 'can opener' (describing the large, sharp rocks hidden just beneath the water surface...waiting to tear open our raft as we unknowingly floated over them) became part of our regular vocabulary. We set up camp each day along the river bank and by the end of the summer I could assemble a tent in 6 minutes flat!

Needless to say, I love nature and I credit my dad with much of my appreciation for all things wild. I want to share my enthusiasm with my kids in hopes that they, too, will love the outdoors. Each opportunity I can get, I take, to share with Koen the beauty of a fallen leaf, a delicate flower, a tree sapling, a bird's sweet song, or a cool rock formed deep under the earth's surface.

Now this was a far cry from the Wind Rivers, but we found a very cool new playground. A 'natural' playground. There were no slides, climbing ropes, or swing sets. Instead, there were giant boulders to jump between, long logs to balance on, and large, rock-like structures to climb up. That was it! At first glance, I didn't even notice that it was a playground, until we were standing in the middle of it. Perfect! That was the whole idea, I'm sure!

Koen did his very first rock climbing...right here. I helped him only a little bit. He went up to the top, declared himself 'King of the Mountain', and then jumped or climbed back down....again and again.

For the first time, he took some real chances. While climbing down, he couldn't see where the next foothold was. He put all his trust in me and my verbal directions. I expected a "No! I can't reach!" or "There's nothing there!" every now and then. But he proved me wrong. He just listened to my direction and said, "Ok" with each step down. I was so proud! He's becoming increasingly brave every week, it seems.

We couldn't believe the girth of this tree. Both of us tried to put our arms around it for fun. Yes, I taught my son how to hug a tree. Oh yeah, and while we were lovin' on trees, I took the opportunity to relate to him how we want to save trees by only taking one napkin at dinnertime, or by coloring on both sides of a piece of paper, or by recycling cardboard. Boy, it really seemed to sink a little deeper into his mind while in the presence of this beautiful tree. Ahhh, the world is our classroom!