in which we explore the jungle

This set is from a few weeks ago, when we first arrived in the new house.  The kids decided that we needed to explore the jungle outside our door on the first day in the new place.   

 

silly me, I had L. take a "before" shot, with the idea in
mind to have an "after" one....

 

L. was our nature photographer:

 

And BR was our brave bushwhacker, clearing a path before us...

 

I couldn't help but think that P-roc's mom would especially like some of these plants.  This one was very sharp and the root system seemed to be above the ground (zoom in if you can):

 

 

(massive spider web)

 We can't get over how the hermit crabs travel so far from the beach.  Our house is a good distance from the water, halfway up the mountain, but lo and behold...

and two nights ago we found an even much larger one in our driveway!

"bearded trees": I don't know if you can see this very well, but it has leaves
growing all over the trunk and branches.  I think it looks like a beard! 

And then we didn't get an "after" photo because jungles are hot and sticky and sharp and kinda scary and sometimes it hurts to explore them.  Personally, I like the kind with paths ready-made, but it was cool that the kids were up for trying it out without any at all.

(So now can we get back to the pina-coladas-on-the-beach part, please?)