Trees

When we went to the park today we saw many different kinds of trees. This weird looking one was most likely a victim of last winter's ice storm--there are actually a lot of weird looking trees around now!

I'm not sure what this kind of tree is, but if you split open the seed pods you will get very sticky!

The boys found this creepy bug crawling on the tree, and I promise you that this picture does not do it justice. This thing was about the length of my middle finger and looked like a giant black ant with red wings. If I ever saw anything like it in my home I would probably have to seek counseling, or at the very least, move out. It was bad.

Another tree I'm not sure about--It has things in it that kind of look like it's a bur oak, but I don't think the leaves are right. Anyone know?

Jack was excited that this tree was shedding!

Our finds

We discovered that we were pretty clueless about the types of trees at this park. I think next time we will bring home some leaves and try to identify them with the guide I found on the Arbor Day Foundation website. (J. Sterling Morton is the Father of Arbor Day, fyi. I am full of all sorts of Nebraska trivia since I had to review my fifth graders for the Nebraska history tests.)