We turned our drive into a 4 hour excursion through the middle part of the state. If you want to stop and see something just ask my mother-in-law. She'll whip the car over so you can get a good look. We found this beautiful country road off the highway to get a better glimpse of the wind farm.
Brendan wanted to get close to the windmills.
Grandma Pam came through...
Once we arrived hours later, Brendan was treated to one of his favorite movies in bed and fell asleep about halfway through. He was excited about the possibility of adding new birds to his list the following day. He made sure to bring all of his birding items with him on the trip.
Saturday morning started rainy. We sat around drinking coffee, eating breakfast (eggs and sausage, Brendan's request), and watching the birds. Grandma and grandpa have a great bird set-up right outside their window.
Brendan and I spent much of the morning bird watching. He was most excited about this little guy...
A ruby-throated hummingbird. He would giggle and laugh at this little bird zooming around the feeder and chasing the females off from getting a drink. This bird could have been all day entertainment.
We went to a big development wide garage sale and the grandmas gave Brendan some spending money. He wasn't looking for toys, games, or kid stuff. He bought some decorative bird items, a star for his Christmas tree, a turkey pin for me, a microphone (kid item), and an abacus. He found some good treasures and was pleased that many items were only .50. He fits right in with a mature group of people:)
He was also able to add Wild Turkeys and an Osprey to his list. I wish I would have taken a picture of the osprey nest while we stopped to look.
Once we got back from lunch, Grandpa took Brendan out on his quad for a ride. They own around 50 acres of beautiful wooded property. I could have sat there all afternoon and enjoyed the peace and quiet.
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Brendan had other ideas. Games. This kid loves to play games. It is about the only time he'll sit still (other than birding) so games we played.
Fun and old games. Games that they had played for decades and saved. This game Booby-Trap was from the early '60's.
His personal favorite was Sorry! He loved knocking us each
out of the game and would throw a fit if we knocked him out.
Sorry! was our response. I think we played about 10 times and
he finally won the last game.
They took us out to dinner later that evening and then we enjoyed some wine when we got back. Brendan finished watching his movie and we all went to bed early. Sunday morning we played more games (Sorry! of course), watched the birds, and had a pancake breakfast. We got ready to head for home and wouldn't you know it. Our drive turned into another 4 hour excursion home.
We wanted to stop at a state game area we had passed on our way up. It turns out there was a scenic overlook about 4/10's of a mile back. So we headed down the path. It was lush and green. We found a new bird which we still have not identified.
We then passed a little roadside shop with all sorts of metal outdoor decorations. I commented on how neat it look so my mother-in-law turned around so we could visit. Brendan and I picked out a hummingbird for our new flower garden (we have since added a hummingbird feeder...thanks again mom!). He was really into the giant great blue heron. Not sure where it would go in our yard...
We packed a ton of stuff into a day and a half excursion. It was nice to get away for a bit. Plus Lila and daddy had all sorts of fun without Brendan and I around.
