Nature

Yes. I know. I have failed to keep up with posts on a regular basis. I apologize. Really though, we have good reasons... mostly we're just getting used to our new reality. Not home anymore, but not at our new home either, and we're not on vacation yet.

We're happy with our temp apartment. It's a small 2 bedroom, but comfortable. The two twin beds for the kids, plus their dresser, take up most of their room, so we joke that their walk-in closet is the 'play room'. They don't seem to mind the lack of elbow room and they do have run of the place for play.

We all have been enjoying some actual TV shows. We haven't had cable in years so watching channels rather than DVD's has been interesting... not better, but different. Enough to draw us in and turn us into couch potatoes for unusual lengths of time. Honor loves iCarly. Brian seems more interested in the news and other such sources to fill his need to collect facts, trivia and other misc. bits of knowledge.

We have also all been hooked on an online game called Wizard101 - fun for kids and adults. Seriously, we recommend it.. go ahead, give it a try. It's free. But don't go until you finish reading here or you'll not be back for hours! (which gives another reason my blog has been neglected... the kids' computers are packed away and gone; I have to share!)

We went for a walk at a nearby lake the other day. We started out saying that we were going to take a 'short' walk. We ended up walking all the way around... rather tricky as the trail didn't actually go all the way. Seems we aren't the only ones who like to finish what we start though because as we came to the looped end of the paved track marking the end of the trail, we saw a footpath heading off into the brush. We managed to skirt the edge around the whole 27-acre lake. The kids have never had a chance to wander 'off-road' like this. Over branches, through the brambles... spying all sorts of bugs, flowers, birds and creatures. We had to rush them a bit because they wanted to stop and search every nook and cranny of the path... and we honestly had no idea how long the lake was! We wanted to get home before dark or before it rained!

Despite our hurrying, we caught sight of several rabbits, evidence of beaver, and squirrels; small song birds, water birds, and even large heron. We saw some lovely brightly colored insects, including a well behaved dragonfly who, at first flew off when we approached his perch, but went back and posed when we asked him too. (It never hurts to ask). We saw fish and turtles in the water, and amazingly enough, found a momma turtle digging a hole next to the path in which to lay her eggs! We couldn't help but watch her a moment - we wouldn't have approached so close except she was right next to the trail (the official trail, not the footpath) and we didn't even see her until we were right next to her. Anyway, the kids loved the birds the most, and the birds loved the kids too... the birds would have loved them more if they'd had crumbs, but no such luck. They both asked if I would buy them small notebooks so we can go out again and they can draw pictures and take notes... how can I say no to that?!

I hope these photos are clear enough - enjoy!