The Great Outdoors

School's out for summer!  This was Owen's last week at school, so they had a little picnic and sang us some songs.  It was a good little preschool, and I will miss the warm environment and convenient location.  (Side note: Hadley cracked me up when she sidled on into the school kids' group while they were performing, trying to pretend like she knew the songs.)

As usual, we have been trying to enjoy the warmer months and the sunshine while it lasts.  But I did not expect to see this guy on our last hike!  He was just off the trail, and I jumped a foot when I saw him.  Someone said it was likely a bull snake, which is harmless, but still worrisome when Hadley was walking just on the other side of me and this snake was at least 3 feet long and hissing at us...

Anyway, the rest of the hike before that was okay for Pocatello.  There were some trees and a creek and some birdhouses, but it was supposed to be a self-guided hike and I think they hadn't taken the signage out yet from winter storage, so there were a lot of bare posts and not much info.

There was an amphitheater though, and Owen enjoyed putting on a show for us.

It was enough fresh air to tucker at least one of them out.

We've also made a couple of trips to Bear World with some of Owen's school friends. Now it's mostly for the kiddie rides, instead of for the animals.  Hadley is right there with the bigger kids, showing no fear or reservations about hopping on these rides.  I foresee a lot of our summer being spent here.  The roller coaster has the three big schoolboys in front with their little siblings all in the row behind.

Personally, I still like the bears!  Both real...  (One day, we got stuck behind the curator tour, which was feeding the bears.  They actually sit on their back legs like a teddy bear and wave their paws to get the feeders' attention.)

And pretend!