House for a Slug

"I love to hike," said cousin Zeno. "I really like going hiking by my grandma's house." His words were music to my ears and so I took our visiting cousin, his mom and our two boys to the nearby Seward Park and went on the inner trails. The in-the-woods trails that I love so dearly, but can feel a little isolating when it is just me and the boys.

A giant tree tunnel of a path.

Theo ran down the trail like he had just been set free, a bolting deer child running for the pure joy of it.

Zeno found sticks.

Sam found lots of leaves and measured his hands on the thimbleberry plant, which I had had the boys touch. It is soft and can be used for toilet paper in a pinch.

Finally, just about back to the car the boys found a slug. "Gooey" said Sam.
"Looking for a shell?" wondered Zeno. "Let's make it a house." And so the boys put sticks around it, put in a little stick - "a tv" said Zeno "and here is its couch."