Elderberry Hunting and We Found Water lilies

 We went out elderberry hunting this morning. There's a road about 10 miles west of us that has a small stream running parallel with just the right amount of shade to grow a few elderberry trees.
Every year we slowly drive it, scanning, scanning, scanning... STOP THERE'S A TREE!
They always seem to grow on very steep banks with water filled ditches at the bottom. It makes for some gymnastics worthy scrambling-hanging-clinging-picking. None of that is very conducive to good pictures, at least if you're the one doing the picking and the shooting.

But after we'd filled our bags we pulled over to look at a beautiful swamp chock-a-block with water lilies.
We saw a turtle and a newt, and heard a cacophony of frogs. Picked some water lilies and watched the rain start up on the surface of the water. It sounded like applause.

Spencer and London are such pals. London adores him, thinks everything he does is hilarious, wants his help and wants to help, and Spencer protects her and explains things to her that are way over her head. When we got back they were chilling on the sofa before nap time. It's such a warm feeling to watch them be so close and comfortable.