Mill Pond Exploration

    

                                                                            

                                                                                                
     My sister took me bird watching today.  She even let me borrow some of her mud boots.  They worked pretty well except for the duct taped area where a little water snuck in.  The first thing we saw was this goose.

         These two made quite a racket when they saw us in the woods; probably protecting some babies!

  Probably too busy looking at the shapes of the trees and the plant life all around.  But I did spot a few bird nests.  Not sure if that counts for anything.

This nest was humongous!  Probably for a teradactyl!

Then Susan spotted a Heron but I was too busy looking at this log so I missed it.  
Darn!  It is a pretty shade of green though isn't it?




This little baby fern must be a shady tree for a fairy!

Mill Pond in Franklin Vermont



It appears that this Mama duck is protecting her nest.

This was a magnificent Hawk that Susan spotted just as we were driving away! 
 He is so proud!

 The splendor of GOD'S Creation is everywhere I look.  In every nook and cranny of my little world in the Champlain Valley, I marvel at the beauty!  How does He do it?

   As His word says, even the rocks cry out!  The woods, the plants, flowers, even the leaves and broken branches on the ground are all a display of His handiwork!  Thank you Lord for the gift of your beautiful countryside today!

Love your daughter Janet


The Music of the Swamp

      On our trip to Charleston, South Carolina, we visited the Audubon Swamp Garden which is a part of the Magnolia Gardens.  This was probably our most favorite part of the whole trip.  Also the cheapest.
 For 8 dollars, we got to walk through an amazing swamp filled with wild life.  We walked along a board walk over acres of water filled with turtles, alligators, snakes, snowy white egrets, herons and all kinds of creatures! 

The fun part was trying to be the first one to
spot a certain species.  Though I must say,
Paul has a really good eye and he was spotting
 most of them before me. 
That's ok cuz taking pictures of
them is just as fun!

Paul spotted this cottonmouth snake minutes after saying there were no snakes here!

But I did manage to catch a short video of this alligator!

                                           Paul was the first one to spot this guy!

                                            I think this gal is looking to make an alligator purse!

                                                                          Lazy gator!


     I did learn some new things about my husband on this trip.  One is that he really loves taking pictures so I'm going to have to get him a camera for his birthday.  It's hard sharing sometimes.  He is clever and comes up with some great shots!

                                                                       Like this one!

                                                      And this little lizard guy!!   Love it!

                                                      And him... I love him the most!

     Another thing I relearned is how compatible we are.  We spent over 3 hours at this swamp and we didn't tire of exploring and sharing and exclaiming over our discoveries. 

                                                           I think he loves me too!

     It is an awesome thing to take a vacation and remember why you fell in love in the first place.  Also it was so great to go to a brand new location and discover things together!  Neither of us had ever gone there so it was completely new and exciting for us!  So I am thankful we had this time alone together.  It was beautiful.  He is my best friend.  He is the one who makes me laugh.  He takes care of me and I love to spend time with him!!  My hunny!  I love you Paul!

IDK LOL OMG

    

Recently, Paul and I took our vacation to South Carolina.  It was the first time Paul and I left the kids for longer than 3 days.  Audrey and Faith stayed home with Nolan for the 9 days we were gone.  Faith had some tears on the first day when we called home but I think it was Audrey who missed us the most.  If her text messages to me are any indication.  It is a wonderful thing; this invention of unlimited texting for one monthly fee.  So now I can keep track of my teenage children in a not too invasive way.  And somehow I think they share more with me in a text message than they do when they are speaking to me.  Not to say we aren't close because we are.  But entering into their technical world of messaging just seems to really work for me and them. 
     So here are some messages I got from Audrey while we were away.  I won't write my messages.  I'll just leave it to your imagination.  But boy does she make me smile.  :)

Woahh thats huge, can fit ur plaid big butt on it  :)


Oh fun ishhh. haha, yepp

Okeedokee.  I miss faith.  And grover,  and you.  And paul.  And my house.

Awh  :(

Lucky ducky

oh well.  I had sheperds pie for dinner u be jelous  :)

And i get to sleep on an air matress, so ha !!!!!!  you wish u were me :)

Go buy some.  rich millionaires.  On vacation !! Spending there money watching big tvs. 

Grrr.  when u get back, I expect a big steak!

I loooooooooveeee you maaaama  :)

No Im not madd.  But i want steak.

Holly & camel get presents & I dont?

Its quite dfeucfjugfal not hott here


:)  that is prettyyy

how do you make brownies

no.  I MISS YOU :'(

Yayyyy

:::::::}}}}}}}

Yeep!  Dude.  I miss you.  Its not normal around here.

Im not glad u left : (

I love the otter:)

:(((I want a penguin

and some have rain & others have vacation away from their kids

I love you too:)

Yay for Blank messages

Missing you

and my very favorite one of all...

OK mother, we learned our lesson.  you can come home now and stop pretending your on vacation.

 I love everything about Audrey, but especially her toughness and her ability to tell it like it is.  She never holds back and she's not afraid to say things.  Sometimes to get a laugh and sometimes to make a point.  She is so strong.  Sure she has her emotional times and she cries and needs her mom.  And then she will just put someone in their place because she is so darn honest.  I admire her thick skin!  I love her honesty.   And this just describes a tiny part of who she is.  But every text message I receive from her and every honest emotion she expresses,  makes me see what an amazing and strong girl she is.  I love you my Audrey Rose!!!!  NK