A Day at Mrs. H's Woods

KC came home from pre-school on Friday asking for the acorn that she'd found a month ago.  Tiffany had long since discarded it since KC often collects treasures on their outings.  Apparently KC's teacher had asked if anybody had an acorn they could bring to school.  KC said she did and would bring it to school next week.

Filled with guilt, Tif said she no longer had it.  KC then decided to bring a plastic acorn from one of her games.  Tif told her that wouldn't be a good idea and KC began sobbing tearfully.  The anguish was difficult for me to see so I can imagine how poor Tif felt. 

Art and I were leaving for an evening dinner engagement so we couldn't stay to help.  Tif called her husband to go hunt down an acorn outside his office and Tiffany took KC to the park to find some.  They returned with only a couple of broken shells.  KC was utterly disappointed, but accepted the sad conclusion that it would be all she could give to her teacher.

On Saturday we went to see an old friend who owns a large wooded property out west.  We brought her lunch as we usually do when we go for a visit.  Mrs. H was introduced to us by Dina of Jerusalem Hills Daily Photo when Tif  and Dina's Naomi were in kindergarten.  Mrs. H was Dina's high school teacher in Chicago. 

We mentioned to Mrs. H about poor KC's plight with the dearth of acorns in Illinois.  Mrs. H burst out laughing.  She said she had mountains of acorns in her woods and backyard. 

After lunch, she brought out a box for KC to collect acorns to her heart's content.  There were a variety of different kinds of acorns from various species of oak trees.

We couldn't believe how many acorns were scattered on the ground.  I asked her why the squirrels and chipmunks hadn't taken it.  She said she's got so many oak trees that the squirrels just can't keep up with the supply.

Ever the teacher, she showed KC and Art how acorns in her garbage can were sprouting new oak trees.

There were so many things to discover and enjoy.  KC was absolutely ecstatic to be outdoors with a treasure trove of glorious outdoor wonders.

KC had been unhappy that the yard crew had come and taken away all her tiny mountains of fallen leaves on Friday.

Now she had all the leaves she could hope for and loved rolling in them.  She even wanted to bring some home but we assured her that our White Swamp Oak tree had lots more leaves that  would be falling.  It has lots of leaves, just no acorns.

KC loves jumping into piles of leaves.  As I recall, her mother and uncle also thought that was the most fun in the whole wide world.

And then KC got Art to help her create a leaf shower.  They were both throwing armfuls of leaves into the air and just loving Autumn.

This is what we miss in Hawaii.  Granted... raking leaves isn't always fun, but today... Falling leaves was magic!

Won't KC's teacher be surprised?