It has been a pretty busy summer with lots of outside adventures! We have been doing lots of hiking on the trails in our back yard, and going for walks in our neighborhood. The leaves are starting to change and I am starting to get very excited to take some great fall photos.
The other night I was outside and noticed tiny green things glowing in the grass. I picked one up and it was some kind of insect. Of course I got my two children out of bed (at 9:30 on a school night) to show them. When they first got outside there was nothing glowing, and they thought I was loosing my mind. But after staring at the ground for about a minute we started to see them glowing in the grass. The longer we watched the more we saw. It was pretty magical having these green glowing things all around our feet. I was so glad I took the risk of having a very grumpy morning to show my children another amazing thing in nature. We have done a little research and believe that they were female glow worms that are actually a type of beetle. We have been out every night since watching them. (Not so late though)
This is a picture of what one looked like. I didn't take this picture, I found it doing some research from the Portland Bird Observatory and Field Center website.
The picture was taken by Martin Cade.
As you look at this imagine about 20 of them glowing all around you on the ground. It was pretty amazing!
I decided to make it time to go hiking up in the White Mountains, NH this past weekend. I didn't want to miss the opportunity to see the foliage in all it's splendour. I was a little disappointed to see that I had missed the peak, but it was still absolutely beautiful. My children were amazed by the snow cap mountain peaks while they were only in sweaters at the base. We took a small hike at Franconia's Notch Waterfall Trail and then we Walked around at The Basin. My children got a kick out of following the river. My son noticed that part of the river looked like a natural waterslide. 
It's also funny how when we think of waterfalls we think of warm, exotic places. Until I picked up a NH hiking map, I didn't even know how many waterfalls were in my home state, and they are just as beautiful. I can't wait to explore and photograph more of them!
We couldn't have asked for better weather this weekend. We spent a lot of time outdoors enjoying the fresh air and the beautiful fall foliage. We went on a few hikes this weekend, and took some time to look at the color patterns in the leaves. My children even noticed that leaves have some similarities to snowflakes. No two are exactly the same and they too float down to the ground. Hoping the weather holds out for next weekend, we have some more local places that we want to explore. I would love to get up to the White Mountains, especially the Flume or Lost River, but I am not sure if that is going to happen before the foliage peak is over. If my family has weekend that isn't filled with sports activities, you know where we will be going! Until then we will use the smaller amounts of down time to enjoy what is right around us.
