Frog World

"Mom, get your camera!! We built a Frog World!"
This was how Kyle summoned me outside Sunday afternoon. The torrential rain has finally repented enough that the kids get to play outside regularly again, and as you may recall, there isn't much in this world that Beth loves as much as trying to relocate frogs from the outside to the inside. She roped her two brothers into giving her their toy bucket and helping her build a home for the three baby frogs she caught that morning. (Their names are Rosie, GiGi, and Theo if you are wondering.)
Other than the fact that they really don't have a foodsource (some details aren't that important), they appear to have it made in their Frog World. (I am not randomly capitalizing. I was informed that this is indeed officially named Frog World.) With a dirt field on one side and a mini pond that is dammed with a piece of scrapwood propped on a stick and a little patch of plucked grass, what amphibian wouldn't want to live here??

Apparently Rosie doesn't. And unfortunately for her, she is smaller than a nickel and hasn't quite developed the hopping prowess she will need to get herself out of Frog World.Yet.

That evening Crystal (married to Nathan) called and asked me to go for a walk with her. She came over, and as we walked down the backroads I found a mud puddle full of tadpoles. The next night I took the kids on a walk with me and knew I needed to show Beth that puddle.

We found lots of other lovelies on that walk. There were wildflowers of all kinds blooming.


We found this awesome old barn we will have to return to for some photos.
We even found wild blackberries and plucked a couple of handfuls of the fully ripe ones.
But nothing was as perfectly perfect as that mud puddle full of tadpoles. Some had already morphed into little frogs and were hopping around the edges. Several of those were quickly scooped up for relocation to Frog World.
I don't really understand the attraction. What makes these things so irresistable to a little girl? I had to firmly tell Beth that she was not allowed to stuff her pockets and my blackberry bowl full of wiggly tadpoles to keep in her bedroom. (They aren't old enough to live in Frog World yet.)
That didn't stop her from trying, though. I have no idea where she gets such a stubborn streak. (I jest... she gets it completely from her father.)
If finding the tadpoles wasn't enough, discovering a close-by mud puddle full of frog eggs nearly on the verge of becoming tadpoles really made her day. She really begged me to let her scoop those out and cart them home. I had to make rule number 576 I never thought I would have to make. If you find eggs you didn't spawn yourself, you are not allowed to bring them home to live in your bedroom. Period.
Sometimes I worry that Beth is going to kiss a lot of boys to see if they turn into frogs.