Becks Pond, in Newark was another slam dunk adventure location. With a combination of playground and pond, you can’t go wrong. The trees are just starting to change color, and the morning air is crisp and cool. I LOVE this time of year!
We were greeted at the pond by polite ducks and non-so-polite honking geese that swam, flew and waddled their way over to us as quickly as they could. Obviously they knew the routine and thank goodness we were prepared with a bucket of corn for them. We wouldn’t want to disappoint, now would we? If you remember from way back when, I talked about the foods that were appropriate to feed fowl, and the ones that aren’t (coughbreadcough) so we always make sure to have some corn in the car ready to go, especially this time of year when they are migrating.
Once the buckets were empty, we walked over to the playground which had some fun features and the boys loved having the place to themselves. Don’t forget to bring your towel if you are going to the playground (any playground) early in the morning so your kids don’t end up with wet booties when they inevitably go down the slide with a puddle at the bottom.
While the boys were playing, we noticed they had a new “friend” on the playground equipment:
It goes by several names that you might recognize like daddy longlegs or harvestman, but unfortunately our friend has a lot of rumors swirling about him and we need to clear them up.
Here are 5 fun facts about daddy longlegs:
1) They ARE NOT spiders! They ARE an arachnid. You may have noticed that they have only two eyes and no separation between their abdomen and thorax which differentiates them.
2) They are NOT venomous. They don’t even have fangs! Therefore, they are absolutely harmless.
3) They do not have silk glands, so they can not make webs.
4) Their legs are full of nerves and serve as ears, nose, tongue, and supplementary “eyes.”
5) They have existed for over 400 MILLION years!
Are you feeling less hatred toward our new friend yet? I hope so! We watched him go about his business and then he actually took a ride down the slide and went on his way so we moved on as well to check out the rest of the park.
One of the cool things about Becks Pond is the accessibility to the water’s edge. There are multiple access points, which can also be used for fishing if you care to bring your tackle. In fact, there were several people doing just that while we were there.
The park also has a lot of mature shade trees, including oaks which means lots of…
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| ACORNS!!! |
Acorn collection has been one of the boys’ favorite activities of late, and we make a challenge out of it by seeing who can find “twins” or “triplets.” We also got the chance to talk about how acorns are the seeds of oak trees, and we even cracked one open to see what was inside. Make sure you take your buckets to Becks Pond so you can collect acorns as well!
Are you up for a challenge? See if you can find all the details that we did while on this adventure, good luck!
Becks Pond Scavenger Hunt:
1) A tree with roots above the ground
2) A patch of fuzzy moss
3) A balance beam tree
4) A tree shaped like a V
5) A lone rock, partially buried in the ground
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