Scutes and Scales Birthday Party

We went to Meadowside Nature Center this morning for Evelyn's kids' party. It was one of the best birthday parties we have ever been to - it was educational, captivating and fun. The program started off with learning about and meeting some of the reptiles and amphibians that reside at the nature center. The teacher explained the differences between the two groups of animals, and then she showed the kids a frog (below), a five-stripe skink, a corn snake and a box turtle.
After learning about reptiles and amphibians, we headed off on a nature hike to see if we could find any critters around the pond. We found a group of toad tadpoles in the water, a couple of (big!) slider turtles in the pond and green herons were flying around the trees. We saw all that with 20 people traipsing along the trail - that's how quiet the kids were on the hike!
Then it was back inside the nature center to work on a craft. Each kid painted a wiggly wooden snake to their liking. Julia got creative with mixing the paints and making up her own colors for her snake.
Cake time! A friend of mine made Evelyn's turtle cake, which was both beautiful . . .
. . . and delicious! Julia's expression sums up the morning: a good time was had by all.