Rio Salado Audubon Center

On Saturday October 10th, 2009 we attended the grand opening of the Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center in Phoenix. We had a nice outdoor time with the kids and with Grandma & Grandpa. There was plenty of fun hands-on nature stuff (though Jakob told me he was just there for the muffins and juice).

Anna was very interested in turning over rocks to look for "critters".

The big hit was getting to make their own bracelets. Emma and Anna concentrated so hard on this activity, but Jakob was hands down the most particular about which bead went where. He was in his creative element!

The Rio Salado area is pretty cool. This new nature center is right next to the Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Area which not too long ago was a dump site. The City of Phoenix (along with the US Army Corps of Engineers) restored it into a lush riparian corridor with 5 miles of trails. It's amazing what can be accomplished with a little cooperation and Federal funding. Seriously, they removed over 38,000 cubic yards of waste and over 1,000 tons of tires from the riverbed! Now there are over 200 species of birds and it's a beautiful place for a bike ride, right in the heart of Phoenix. (Can you tell Jarod works for the city and we love it?!!)

There was a cute treasure hunt that Anna liked, where little plastic bugs and flowers were hiding in the rocks and plants. She had to circle it when she found one that matched a picture on her treasure map.

Peek-a-boo. Emma can't help being so cute.

Yeah, a critter!!! (If you can't see it, Anna's shoe is pointing right at it).

Er, now what?