Nature Walks

I love nature walks.

Visits to the parks and having picnic-style-dinner there, are a big part of my childhood.

Even as a teen, my dad would sometimes 'surprise' us with breakfast-at-the-parks.

Never mind that he comes into our room excitedly at 5.30 in the morning.

My parents always make an effort to point out the flora and fauna to us.

"See this? You can eat that."

"That's the kangkong plant. We had that a lot in the kampung."

"Look that those birds. They are XXX."

"This is the YYY."

"Did you see that??"

We are that strange family who stops in the middle of nowhere to look up in the sky, or squat down to look at the ground. There is always something interesting to see. 

I don't mind being weird. 

In fact, I love it. 

And I know that when I have children of my own, they will too, experience the wonders of nature like I used to.

I can never remember the names of the birds. Nor can I identify the edible plants. 

(Perhaps only the papaya.) That is why I'm terribly grateful to my parents who accompany us on nature walks on weekends. 

This is our third weekend at Tampines Eco Green. It's extremely close to the expressways and the residential area but once you enter the park, it's just peace and tranquility. (And fresher air.)

The Husband loves that.

I love that I can enjoy the clear blue skies, take some snapshots, and go faerie-hunting again. 

Would be perfect if the weather is cool.

J?  She has a great time running around the parks, stopping to look at the butterflies and ants, so I'm pretty certain that she enjoys it as well.

Last weekend, J got some bonding time with Daddy.

We stomped on dried leaves to listen to the sounds they make.

We observed leaves.

We spotted ants.

And we ran and ran.

We ended our walk with a beautiful sky.

How awesome is that?

Since we are at it, humour me a little more, won't you?

Here's a throwback to the last two weeks.

The first was mainly bird-spotting.

The second, we had butterflies stopping very close to J and ants marching past.

J was lucky to get close encounter with a monitor lizard which moved really slowly across. 

(I wanted a picture with it because I thought "Cool! The park makes sculptures too! I'm impressed!"

Then my mom said it was real and the lizard starting moving. Freaked me out a bit.)

Each time we are there, it feels like somewhere new.
It's wonderful.

I  hope this will become a tradition we can continue.

I really do.

And I'll make and effort to try identify the plants and birds.