The day is dry and warm. Just about perfect I’d say for a dip in the fountain.

First though, we need to do our garden chores. Pick beans and carrots.

Oh my, the pumpkin patch is taking over our garden. Let’s count how many pumpkins so far.

We have 6 so far with a lot of flowers still on the vines.

I wonder why it is so hard to walk sometimes!

We keep a journal and once a week on Ditty Day, we draw a picture describing how we spent our time together. Ditty then writes in each journal. We are even making our very own Ditty Day Adventure Book!

Homemade Banana Bread and books to listen to complete our morning.

Today, we will share time with bugs.

Observing them in their natural habitat and also learning a bit about them.
Insects have six legs and three body parts.

Some insects help us in the garden while others need a bit of restraint.
The insect world is fascinating.

We are picking beans and digging potatoes.

We are creating our very own “edible incredible” bugs. Rare new species found only at NEB!

Our journals and stories read to us will complete our morning.

What a day to explore! We were on the prowl for butterflies and walked everywhere.

We soon got tired “piggys”, so we cooled them off in the fountain.

Back at the daycare, we helped to make fresh lemonade and added a bit of mint from our garden. It was served with pretzels. Our pallet is beginning to appreciate the different flavor profiles.

When we started our walk, it was gloomy and overcast.  A great time to check out nature. Needless to say, it’s dirty work but we LOVE IT!

As a group, we decided to have our snack on our walk. Nothing like a fruit pop!

Yes! Our birdhouse is FULL of hungry babies!

The pepper plant is producing.

Thank you, June, for hosing us off.

Oh my! We just can’t get enough water!

We had a “drawing contest” today and everyone did a great job with their journals.

Poems For Children and two McDuff books were read to us.

It is pleasant to be little. Thank you, Mom and Dad. 🙂

We LOVE  birthdays!

We made Don a card that is covered with his favorite creature – butterflies!

Does butter fly? 😉

We had wanted to swim in the fountain on Friday, but the cloudy sky spoke “not today”. So we thought of something else to do! Instead, we gathered our buckets, paint brushes and rubber ducks and headed to the fountain.

We held a “rubber duckie” race. Needless to say, EVERYONE tied for first place!

We took our buckets, filled them with water and proceeded to give the exterior of the Mansion a makeover. Our paint pallet consisted of only happy colors on such a gray day.

The air was filled with chatter as busy little hands went about their work.

Anyone need their house painted?

Eventually, we made our way back to the daycare for macaroons and a story. We didn’t forget to write in our journals this week! Nothing better than sticking to a schedule. 😉

Our peas were ready to be harvested. We used scissors to snip them from the vine and also pulled radishes to add to our veggie dip.

There are so many things to check out on a walk. First stop, the garden across the road. Everything looks a okay.


A run up the hill is what we need on a warm summer day.

Oh my, the gardens behind the Mansion are coming alive with interesting beds punctuated with Tropical Plants.

Our snack today was so yummy that I almost ate my plate! That’s okay ‘ cause Ditty hosed us off.

Oh my goodness, we were so busy that we forgot to draw in our journals! But Curious George was read to us.

Wow, what a glorious day for checking out nature! We headed to the garden, picked a few radishes, and had a ‘taste’ after wiping off the dirt (not to everyone’s liking I might add). Then we headed up the path to our apple orchard and, much to our joy, a family of wrens had taken up residence in a bird house we had hung on an apple tree limb.

We headed towards the fountain and all the while just looking and observing nature. Our journey took us to the front of the lab where we finally ended up under our “Reading Tree” to snack, chat and be read to.

We later wrote in our journals indoors about our busy day.

Preparing for our walk. High white socks help us detect ticks.

We always find time to pick flowers on our way to the bridge.

We hung out on the bridge and had “chitty chatty”. A pleasant pursuit on a warm and muggy day.

We were joined by Grace, an Australian Shepherd. The feelings of admiration were mutual.