The Great Mushroom Adventure

Yesterday we loaded up the five chickadees and headed over to a trail in the nearby national forest. Joe carried Baby on his back and I held the sisters hands as we ventured into the Big Forest. Big Sister was quite apprehensive of the Big Forest and pleaded to stay with me in the car. Since I wasn't staying in the car, she had no choice but to step into the unknown. After a few moments she was engrossed in finding flowers and mushrooms along with Little Sister. All the unending rain in these parts had caused an incredible variety of mushrooms to spring up from the spongy forest floor. Literally every other step would reveal a new color or type of mushroom. The memory card maxed out on mushrooms before we finished our hike. Never have I seen so many colors of mushrooms, sizes too. Little Sister was mesmerized with the small ones and kept calling us over to see the "tiny baby mushrooms". Despite our constant warnings to not even touch a mushroom, I was still nervous that someone might eat one. If you knew my kids, you would worry too. There's almost nothing they won't eat. Last year before venturing out to the grocery store with all four external kids and one in utero, I took a few minutes to go over the Rules of the Store. They recited the usual, "Don't ask for stuff", "Don't run away from Mom", "Don't grab stuff and put it in the cart". Then Little Brother piped up with, "DO NOT eat poisonous mushrooms!". So yesterday, in the midst of the cries of wonder and delight, deep in the majestic forest, you could hear a mother call out, "DO NOT eat poisonous mushrooms!!!".