Mallards

Not sure if we have two hens or a hen and a drake still. Crossing our fingers for a drake. They are so gorgeous! My guess is the one with the larger eyes is a drake. We will know for sure when and if one of them gets the drake curl near the tail feathers.
As you will see we really enjoy these guys and taking pictures of them, it was hard to choose just these few.

Personality

Swimming on our own without the boys.

Duey our Pekin only gets in the water when forced, or to chase away the others. I think he even though he hates"big" water, he is protecting territory for himself and the chickens.

Tayler says one is smiling here and the other says stay away.

I call them Mr. and Mrs. Mallard, Tayler calls them Dan and Ann, and Josh says they are Charlie and Cherrie who will win? :)

Brenden and Company

My what big feet I have.
Below Ginger and Garlic our Buff Geese.

Brenden reading at the pond, the flock trying to find shade.

And love.

Laying down to keep the sun out of his eyes.

Swimming Lessons 2010

All in and ready to start this years lessons.

Joshua drops the float and picks up some goggles here. He actually (semi) swam under water to get the diving stick here. Unfortunately this was his one and only time, more to come next year. He did progress to jumping off in deep water this year though time and time again!

Tayler no longer holds her nose and...

can jump off the diving board and swim to the side by herself. She is an excellent diver and very strong swimmer! Next year she will work on learning more strokes.

Brenden diving.
Bren learned all the strokes and is a very strong swimmer as well!

Ready to go!

So proud of himself, this was right after he pushed his brother in while I was trying to take pictures.
I was really proud to hear how well my kids swam! Brenden did great the whole time as always. But these pictures don't show the whole truth. Joshua and Tayler took turns every other day wanting to have power struggles with the teacher(to do what they wanted-PLAY). Needless to say they didn't play those days but had time out, not so fun for teachers or mom. In the end they are advancing thanks to a great teacher! And we (the teacher and I) survived.

Fish Hatchery

In Enid,MS
If interested link is below.
http://home.mdwfp.com/NMFH/VisitorCenter.aspxThis hatchery is equipped to produce multiple cool and warm-water species including: northern large-mouth bass, southern walleye, (yes, we have walleye in Mississippi), paddle-fish, alligator gar, white crappie, black crappie, Magnolia crappie, grass carp, bluegill and red-ear sunfish.

Joshua checks out the teeth of a Gar.

Gar one of the many fish in the 10,000 gallon aquarium which houses fish native to Mississippi.

It takes two to real this one in!

This was a virtual fishing experience.

As you can see the pole wasn't easy to hold with a fighting fish at the end.

Feeding the Koi.

These fish produce the feeder fish for the large inside aquarium.

These incubation jars combine the sperm and fish eggs to create the fertilized eggs.

Here are holding/rearing tanks that house waiting hatchlings and larger fish.
This was a fun experience as well as educational. I have been wanting to go for years but only thought about it when passing by on the interstate. We are looking forward to visiting again soon as they often have seasonal activities for kids.

Deer

Going out the back door this deer caught me by surprise, by being so close to the house. Josh just bush hogged days before, I think she was grateful for the easy pickings.

Digital scrapbooking design created with Smilebox

Humming Bird Moth

Right before setting our butterflies free Tayler spotted this moth. I had my camera handy so I took some pictures, then looked it up at night. Josh said it is a hummingbird and I thought no its to small, but I think it is a hummingbird moth. I had run across the before on the net looking at moths and caterpillars.