Mommy's Little Helper

He was surprisingly good at this and persistent too!

Milkweed

Aidan and I spotted quite a few of these on our bird walk.

Empty pods

A single seed

They are multitudinous and oh, so soft, fun to collect and then blown on their merry way.

Here and There

The unpretentious, white "Amish" farms surrounded by very green grass.

I had hoped to take a pic of this tree on a sunny day...

We have been advised to watch out for deer, wild turkey... and horse drawn buggies :)

Nightshade

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God.

And the firmament shows His handiwork.

Simplicity

Ring-billed Gull

We may not live near the ocean anymore, but there are gulls here too.

Ripples in the reflection.

A grouping of 3.

Bonaparte's Gull at dusk.

Mirror image

Dress Ups

Quite a different selection of costumes than that to which we are accustomed, but fun nonetheless.

Cinderella...

appears to have lost one glass slipper.

What a silly boy!

Moving on to more important things... FOOD!

Thank you!!!

More Fun at the Park

He is just so darn cute. Wouldn't you agree?

An unexpected pop of color on a fall day.

It might have been designed for bikes, but they had so much fun running all over this course.

Ready, set, GO!

Here they come.

Racing.

♥♥♥

Cattails, not cat tails

It all started when I was a very little girl. You see, my mom has this bunch of cattails prominently displayed near the piano. We weren't allowed to touch them, but for some reason I was always drawn to them. I think it was around the time we moved, that Mom gave them to us finally. They were good and dry, and oh, so much fun!!!

It really is a two-step process.

1. Loosen the seeds. It can be tricky if they were just picked.

 2. Wave, blow, shake, or run... 

Her daughter insisted that she should have this experience too.

Stuck tight.

Free to fly in the wind.

 Such a copy cat :)

 Now we are talking.

Epic!

Second Shot

It is nice to have helpers who will circle the lake to encourage the ducks back across to me :)

.

It was nice to get another chance to photograph these birds... still NOT satisfied with my results, but they will work for now.

This is the lone mystery bird in the midst of the American Coots... Eurasian Wigeon (female)???

Serene

I kept trying to capture their red eye and the red spot at the base of the bill. Can you see it?

Checking Out a New Park

We just had to test the new swings... you know, to make sure they were safe for the kids ;)

Mini Merry-go-round

 Hang on tight!

Pinkalicious!

 Swinging~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hiding

Have you ever tried this?

Check out those big boy underwear (Cars, to be exact).

Asher insisted on a chauffeur.

 Sittin' pretty!