11/21: Awesome Kids

In September, the little kids listened to the book of "Hatchet." For those of you who aren't familiar with this terrific book, it tells the story of a teen named Brian, who's plane crashes in the wilderness of Canada. Armed with only a hatchet, Brian is forced to figure out a way to survive for several months until he is rescued.

The kids loved this book, and they were excited to hear that the author wrote a couple of other books about Brian. We just finished reading "Brian's Winter" this week. This book was written in response to the many "Hatchet" fans who wrote to tell the author that they thought he had cheated by having Brian rescued before winter set in. "Brian's Winter" picks up as if Brian was not rescued, and tells of his experience in learning to survive in the Canadian winter.

We learned with Brian how to make his shelter warm enough for the winter, cheered when a neighboring skunk saved him from a bear attack, and wondered if he would be able to make clothing out of animal hides to keep himself warm. The kids were also fascinated by the descriptions of Brian's hunting; especially when he killed (and was almost killed by) a moose, and later killed a deer. I was surprised by the true to life description (very gory) of a pack of wolves killing a moose, but the kids insisted that I read it. (I did leave out 2 sentences that were just too gross to read aloud. One of which included the word anus.)

Given their fascination with the book, and the fact that Jared got a bow & arrows for Christmas last year, I shouldn't have been surprised with the subsequent interest in hunting that began to manifest itself in our home.

Jared started carrying his bow and arrows around, so that he would be ready to run outside and start shooting anytime a squirrel was spotted.

Jenna started stalking squirrels with the camera.

What I was not prepared for was seeing animal lover Rachel run past carrying the bow & arrows to Jared, who was standing watch on the deck keeping an eye on his intended squirrel target. As she ran, she called back to me,

"I hope he gets this one, it has the cutest hide ever!"