I had fun with my nephews and my brother yesterday.  Normally on Summer Solstice I'd be deeply meditating somewhere, but this year I decided to get out into the sun.  We took a long nature walk at Schmeeckle Reserve where we tried to identify wild herbs and sat for awhile in the marshland where the boys were surprised to see lots of tree frogs.  I hadn't been to the reserve in a long while.  I've been too absorbed in my own worries about moving to really enjoy nature lately, so this was a great break.  As you can see in the photos above, the boys love to play up to my camera.  Depsite my brother's bitching, taking photos of the kids is great fun.  If you're ever in Stevens Point, the reserve is the best place to relax, go for a run, or bike along the Green Circle Trail.  At various points in the reserve, there are wooden plaques decorated with quotes from several naturalists.  Look at little Nick next to one by Aldo Leopold.  That could be a postcard!  As usual, I had a hard time getting him to sit still for that photo.  Later getting back home, I took a few videos of both the boys (I'll post those later).  I'm especially intrigued by the one I took of Josh eating a Cheeto while Nick looks angry behind him -- there's a story buried in that moment.  My brother took the picture of me shielding my face -- that looks like I'm trying to cast some sort of evil spell.  Moments after that photo was taken I hit him with an empty water bottle.  The chalk drawing of "I love U" was done by a neighbor kid.  Posting that just before the sunset at the Point water tower I felt was fitting for the nice day we had.

So, how was your first day of summer?