Friday, we went to the Nature Center for a program on amphibians and reptiles. It was fascinating. While there, I saw a good friend and talked to her briefly about setting up a co-op. She was reticent until she found out I want a no-stress kind of co-op. Our kids our about the same ages, and our sons are great friends. Her youngest daughter is a friend of Dog Lover's too. I need to call and follow up, but I think this is going to be a good thing.

The kids started a journaling program with the Missouri Department of Conservation called Going Along with Lewis and Clark. (Missouri is very proud of its connection with the two explorers. I don't think you can graduate from high school here unless you know a lot about the Corps of Discovery. That's okay; I have two resident experts on the subject. Lately Monkey always has a book about them in hand.)

The assignment for this nature center was to describe a skunk for someone who had never seen it. They did okay with the assignment and then they all drew pictures of a skunk. Dragon's representation brought rave reviews. I felt badly for Monkey---his was a good drawing but didn't receive comment since the employee saw his *after* viewing Dragon's rendition. Dragon truly loves to draw, and he is pretty good at it too. They each received a pin with a skunk on it. There are 9 nature centers in Missouri, and each of them is participating in the program with a pin to be earned at each one. Since we only have until June 2, I don't think we'll be getting the grand prize (earnable only by completing all of them.) They'll have fun though! Dragon used his pin as a tie tac today for church.