Wild life in New Jersey

I didn't know there would be such strange wild life in New Jersey, but in the few days I've been here, I have encountered a snake, an insect with 30 legs, and a strange leaf-look-alike butterfly.

The first encounter was the most horrible one. Mom and I were walking on a train in a little forrest, the trail took us over a bridge over a little creek, as we step up on the bridge a brown snake moves on our right and dashes down in the water and swims away! Eeewwwwww, I hate snakes, and am terrified of them, and this one was even worse than regular snakes as it apparently also knows how to swim! I was very proud of myself for not fainting or crying, but my heart was beating so hard I could hear it, and I walked very close to mom the rest of the walk and made her stomp on the path before me.

Then the next kind of creepy encounter came yesterday. We found a big insect with lots of legs in a corner in the kitchen. Here I have to say that mom freaked out more than I did. She didn't know what to do, so I suggested that she put a bowl over it. Then I grabbed a piece of paper and took it away. I've never seen an insect like it though, I'm sure it's a new discovery!

Today's encounter with the wild life was significantly better than the previous two, we saw a green butterfly on a tree trunk, and it looked almost like a leaf. It was very pretty, and didn't move or try to attack, which my mom was convinced it would do when I got close to take its picture. Morale of the story, we like pretty and tranquil creatures!

Another really beautiful thing here, is that all these trees are losing their flowers and the streets are covered in petals. It's amazing, we were literally walking through mounds of flower petals.