The chance of rain on Saturday was 100%, which was a perfect opportunity to head into the rainforest (In reality, the "rainforest" is the wooded area along a portion of Buffalo Bayou where I've seen folks fish, trails scattered about, sure to be muddy after a good soak. But, you know, RAINFOREST). It was a day for an adventure to find tadpoles, gruffalos, fairies under mushrooms, and hideout. They came downstairs dressed and ready for the journey.
We took a photo of our shoes and shoe tracks, so we wouldn't mistake them for gruffalo or bear tracks.
It was sometimes a tricky navigation through the small tributaries. We had to be careful of local insects and reptiles. This required much concentration.
At one point, Mateo was sure he saw the gruffalo's horns pass quickly in the woods. But it could have been a gang of fairies, too. Who's to say? So Harper drew a line in the mud so we'd know in which direction we saw the leaves move.
Sometimes there were large branches blocking the trail. Mateo volunteered to use his muscles to move them.
I was sure I saw a gruffalo hiding behind a tree so I told the kids we were going to sneak up on him. As I approached the tree, I'm sure I saw it scurry up into the branches far above. Mateo was sure he saw it up there, too. "Look! There!", he said. Harper was a little scared about coming face to face with the a real live gruffalo. "I don't see anything!" she said in a pre-cry voice. "It's okay," he whispered to her, "we're just using our imaginations."