Woolly Boogers

No, this post is not about furry boogers, but instead about caterpillars.  One of my favorite childhood memories of fall is finding and playing with what I grew up calling Woolly Boogers.  Which after some quick research I found they are actually called the Banded Wooly Bear Caterpillar.  However, I'm still going to call them Woolly Boogers, not to be confused with the Woolly Bugger, which Wikipedia defines as, "...an artificial fly commonly categorized as a wet fly or streamer and is fished under the water surface."

On my morning walk with Liam, we encountered three Woolly Boogers.

I tried to teach Liam to gently touch the caterpillar, but his fine motor skills aren't developed enough to gently pet the Woolly Booger.  I ended up just letting him watch it crawl along my finger.

As a child I used to go out to my Great Grandma's place in Corbet, OR and would search for Woolly Boogers.  Sadly she passed away this past March, but I have many fond memories of her and her yard.  My siblings and I would run all around her property.  She lived in the country and her house sat on a couple acres.  We'd hide in the tall grass, find the spot where we could hear the under ground stream, and play in the barn.  There was even one point when Great Grandma let someone keep a horse named Snowball on her property.  I loved going out and petting his soft muzzle.

I remember staying over at Great Grandma's.  It was fun to be without my siblings, and get some one on one time with her.  We'd play Go Fish and Old Maid.  She'd make mini egg rolls in the toaster oven, and gave me my first taste of alcohol.  I was probably around 10 years old when she gave me a glass of her homemade wine mixed with 7-Up.  I remember hating the taste and asking her to add more 7-Up :)

Although Liam won't have memories of his Great Great Grandma, I can't wait until he starts having memorable adventures of his own.  Fishing with Grandpa, road trips to Montana, playing in Grandpa's big back yard, exploring Gran and Grandad's house, playing in Grandma's basement, learning to ride a bike with Daddy, coloring with Mommy, and learning to cook with Grandma .

Childhood is so precious, and I want Liam to have the full experience.