The Frog Prince

Two weeks ago, Matthew and I went on a field trip put together for homeschoolers by our local zoo folks; its focus was those noble little amphibian creatures such as frogs, toads, and salamanders (all of which are a little too slimy for my taste, but which fact I wisely kept to myself).  Again, one of the best parts of Matthew's day was having a picnic lunch and some play time with a few of his new friends before the field trip even started.

Below are the four of them together, shown just as the field trip part was about to start - they're great together!  Matthew's the guy in the froggy green shirt and crocs, with the goofy face:

Below is Matthew with his friend, 'I', who is, in Matthew's words, "like, totally awesome, Mom."  At least in this photo, they both appear to be listening to the zoo guy talk about the difference between frogs and toads. (In case you're wondering, frogs are part of the larger toad family, and have longer legs than toads; frogs are, clearly, the better jumpers.  Neither type appeals to me.  Oh, and you can't actually get warts from toads). 

Here is a pair of poisonous frogs (referred to by Matthew as "the tomato frogs") who blew themselves up double in size to warn off those grabby (and grubby) little fingers that would, oh, so liked to have picked them up:

Yay, another froggy creature - awesome.  This one peed all over the place in a self-protective move, effectively warding off any of those same little fingers whose owners were fortunately (and somewhat surprisingly) repelled by the sight of the pee:

Though technically a frog-oriented field trip, the kids were also provided with potting soil and baby plants of their choice...what kid doesn't have fun mucking about in the dirt and planting his own little green ferny thing?  

I'm happy to report that we've now kept this fern alive for a whole twelve days since field trip day.  Plants not being one of my areas of strength, this little guy (as well as the one I was allowed to plant) will be solely dependent on Matthew's continued interest to keep it alive: