Kid's Nature Hike With Park Ranger Lauren

It is no secret that Taft is in love with Ranger Lauren.  All I have to do is mention her name and he lights up.  I registered us for the Nature Hike weeks ago but I knew better than to mention it since he has no sense of time.  He was thrilled when I told him this morning that we were going today.  So lets take a hike, shall we?

I decided to divide our hike into parts.  Part 1 is photos of Ranger Lauren and the kids.  She takes so much time with them and makes them feel so smart while she is teaching them new things.  And she can hold their attention forever.

 Here she is showing Taft and our new friend, Lucas, how to spray the spider webs with water to get them to show up.  Notice those patches on Ranger Lauren's backpack?  Take note because they are very important.  And that photographer in the back is from the Daytona News Journal Palm Coast Edition.  It seems that Taft is going to be in the newspaper again.  We just seem to be in the right place at the right time.

 Taft got to hold Ranger Lauren's spider stick on a little water break.  It made his day.

 She taught them how to use their five senses to learn more about the world around them.  Here they are touching different types of trees.

 Notice my boy trying to get as close to the front of the line as possible.

 Here they are getting ready to close their eyes and she how many different sounds they can hear.

 They spotted a gofer turtle out for a walk.  She also showed them where he lives.

 And let Taft touch a "bug's shell".

 And gave him a piece of snake skin.

 After the hike was over, she said that the boys could come back up to the office and see her snakes and turtle.  Taft didn't want to drive with his daddy, he wanted to walk with Ranger Lauren, so he did.

 Here is Ranger Lauren's turtle, Ethel.

And one of her snakes.

Part 2 is photos of the things we saw on the trail.

And Part 3 is very special.  Taft loves to be like Ranger Lauren.  I noticed that her backpack had those great patches on it.  Taft and I always carry our backpack too.  The Ranger Station had park patches for sale so I showed Taft that we would get one and put on our backpack to be just like her.  He was pretty happy.  Then he saw that his backpack was on the way, he had a name tag, but not a badge.  Poor Taft right?  That would be a no.  Ranger Lauren told him that he can't have one just like hers since you have to go to school and work really hard to be a ranger, but she had something she thought he would like.  She gave him a Junior Ranger Pin!!  It was like watching him be knighted by the Queen.  He could not have been happier!

Here is Ranger Lauren showing him what it is and getting him pined up.  Just look at that cheesy grin in the last photo.  He wouldn't even take his eyes off her for the photo.  

And those patches on her backpack?  We now have one all sewn on.  I'll do anything for my sweet boy, even it ends in sore fingers for me.

And we already looking forward to the Kid's Wonders of the Beach Program next month.  I think Ranger Lauren has a stalker.