For the Birds

With a little help from my brother, I found a ruby-throated hummingbird nest today. There were two babies in the very crowded nest. You can get a feel for how small the birds really were by looking at them in comparison to the leaves. My pictures aren't as sharp as I would have liked. I'm blaming it partially on the fact that the wind kept moving the branch the nest was on, which was not super close to begin with, and the fact that I still have so much to learn. But, I think they are good enough to share. I realize some of them seem a little repetitive, but I had a hard time picking & choosing.

Sticking his tongue out at his brother?

Tennis Anyone?

The kids finished up their tennis lessons this week. Tonight was their last lesson. I feel so fortunate to have found the lady who worked with the kids! She was perfect for them, especially for Tyler. I only wish we had found her earlier in the summer! Tennis lessons will definitely be high on our "to do" list next summer! The kids loved their lessons (& the instructor) and made a lot of improvement. It was only 5 lessons, so I don't know that they're ready for a game yet, but as you can see, they can at least volley the ball a little. I didn't get any good video of Tyler tonight, but he's doing really well, too! (Sorry the video is so small, I took it with my phone.)

And More Butterflies

Pearl crescent

Painted lady and silver-spotted skipper

Fiery skipper

Butterflies

Earlier this summer we pulled up some scraggly bushes from one of our front flower beds and planted some dwarf butterfly bushes. We ordered them online, got a good deal, and have been very happy with them! They were just skinny little sticks when we got them, but they've grown quickly. I am amazed at how many butterflies these four little bushes attract! As long as the sun is shining, I can always find one or two painted ladies and usually a common buckeye. I've also had a giant swallowtail, pearl crescents, silver-spotted skippers, and clouded sulphurs. I am still planning what I'd like to put permanently in the beds around our patio, but I think my plan will have to include a couple of these. Here are a few butterfly pictures I haven't posted yet.

More Summer Fun

With our quarantines lifted, the kids and I headed out on Tuesday for one more day of fun before returning to the classroom. We had planned to go swimming, but it was a little too cool. Instead we ended our summer break the same way we started it, with a trip to the zoo to ride the rides and enjoy the sights.

Our zoo has a new stingray exhibit. This was our first time checking it out, and we really enjoyed it. All the stingrays have had their barbs removed. There is zoo staff all around the touch tank and someone in a lifeguard-like chair looking down over the entire exhibit to be sure the stingrays are safe and people are behaving. The stingrays were fun to watch. Several times they would zip over and then flap their wings on the top of the water, splashing everyone around. All the kids giggled whenever that happened. We bought fish to feed them. Tyler tried it for a second and decided he really didn't want to get his hands all fishy. Danielle and I fed them. It was kind of creepy because they have to swim over your hand to get the fish since their mouths are on the bottom. It was a lot of fun, though. The kids are looking forward to going back with Ron sometime.

The kids also rode the rides and we walked around the zoo. Danielle wanted to watch the bird show, so we did that, too. She was picked to "help" with a duck's training and got a penguin pin afterward. The kids also enjoyed looking at and petting the small animals they had out before and after the show. We thought this armadillo was really cute.

We had a really good day together. Sometimes those special days don't work out quite the way I've planned, but this one did. It was a great last day of summer break.

Our Little Visitor

On Tuesday night after we put the kids to bed, I was sitting downstairs by myself with the windows open when I heard a loud rustling in one of the trees in the backyard. It was an extended rustling, much more than just the wind blowing the leaves. A few seconds later I heard a screeching noise that lasted for about 10 seconds then stopped. A few minutes passed and I heard the screeching noise again. This happened a few times and was still happening on and off when Ron joined me. We couldn't figure out what it was, but I was hoping maybe an owl had landed in one of our trees. We decided to go outside with a flashlight to see if we could spot anything in the darkness.

As you might imagine (looking at night and all), we really couldn't see much. The screeching continued and then suddenly something fell out of the tree right in front of us. After further investigation, we found a tiny little squirrel. We initially thought (hoped!) it was a flying squirrel since they are nocturnal and supposedly found around here. Once Ron picked him up and we got a closer look at him, we could tell he was a baby gray squirrel. The screeching was him crying, probably for food and/or out of pain. His nose was a little bloody. I don't know if the loud rustling was a cat who maybe dropped him or a bird or what.

We put the little guy in a box and tried to cover him a little with some leaves and such to keep him warm. We put the box back under the tree in the hopes his momma would come looking for him. Apparently when a baby falls out of its nest, the mom will usually come rescue him within a couple hours. Well, the poor little guy was still there by morning and he wasn't looking very good. I brought him in the house and covered him up a little better. That seemed to help and he started to stretch and wiggle a little. After the kids left for school, I hurried over to our wildlife center (where Danielle went to camp) and gave the little guy to them to care for. They said he was dehydrated and cold, but he had a chance. I'm a sucker. I donated a few bucks for his care and checked the box on the form to be notified of his outcome. They said someone had just turned in 11 baby squirrels on Saturday so he would have lots of little squirrely buddies to cuddle with.

Photo Sundries

This swallowtail has seen better days. I should say "had". A couple minutes after I took these pictures, Clara jumped out of no where and ate him! Danielle made her spit him out but he was fading fast.

This was not a posed picture. Whenever Danielle sees a butterfly, she is determined to get it on her finger! She settled for on a flower in her fingers this time.

Here's a better view of the hummingbird moth's face. He visited our petunias again tonight.

Back to School

The kids went back to school today. Tyler took the big step of moving on up to middle school - 5th grade. New building, new school hours, new teachers, new kids, new bus, new expectations. Lots of changes. I know he was nervous, but I thought he handled it well. He said he had a good day and seemed happy about it all when he got home. By bedtime he was complaining about not wanting to go back, but I think at this point it's just because he didn't want to go to bed or get up early. I can certainly understand that.

Danielle was nervous this morning, and I think it all boiled down to not having Tyler to walk in with her. She even wanted Tyler to wake her up before he left so she could tell him goodbye. (His school starts when she is just waking up!) She had a good day, too, and said her teacher is really nice. And, in case you think this dress looks familiar, she wore the same dress in a smaller size for her first day of 1st grade! We bought 2 different sizes when we first purchased the dresses because we thought they were so pretty. She loves these dresses because they are long.

I can't believe how grown up they both look.

Back-to-School Cakes

I was feeling a little overwhelmed last night while I was working on my annual back-to-school cake at 12:30am. I wonder every year how I'm going to come up with an idea for the following school year! This afternoon I took a minute to look back at the previous years' cakes, though, and remembered why I do this. It's so neat to look back at how much the kids have grown each year.

Usually we have our cake on the first day of school but we had to switch our neighborhood back-to-school get together to that night, so we had school year's eve cake. I will add that this year's cake was totally my own. My idea, my template, my icing mess. Tyler is starting band this year and will be playing the trumpet. I thought a trumpet cake would be meaningful. I think the kids liked it.

Say a prayer for us all as we go back tomorrow.