The Last Bit of It Before Frankenstorm

By now you'd have to be living under a rock not to have heard about Hurricane Sandy (aka Frankenstorm) which is threatening to take out the mid-Atlantic up to New England.  We're bracing ourselves here in D.C.  Saturday was the last beautiful day before we started feeling the effects of Frankenstorm and I wanted to spend as much time outdoors as possible.  The boys have been enthralled with Chip n Dale for a few years now so we hatched a plan to go for a long nature walk to collect acorns and other things for the chipmunks.

We drove out to the Patuxent Research Refuge, our first time, and boy was it a great idea.  By luck, we arrived in time to get tickets for the last tram ride of the day.  If you visit, I highly recommend the tram which meanders its way slowly over the large property.  It's winds through some beautiful scenery and dense forest and gives you an idea of what trails you'll want to walk when you're finished.  The nature paths were beautiful and the boys quickly filled one large bag full of acorns, pine needles, pinecones, leaves, rocks, and sticks to take home.  At home, we rounded up an empty box, and the boys got busy building a little house for Chip n Dale complete with a double bed, pinecone "Christmas trees", a store of acorns for the winter, and leaves as carpeting.  They even made little Chip and Dale puppets and tucked them into bed when it was bedtime.  So cute.