We had a great visit with my mom and stepdad! They were able to come for a much too short visit but we had a great time anyway.
Will has live traps set out by a local pond. He checked them and found a very friendly raccoon who didn't really want to leave his new found home. After some enticement, he was finally on his way.
Grandma and Grandpa loved seeing our little peace place and Will enjoyed showing it to them.
The kids and I were enjoying a wonderful day outside and all of the sudden in the midst of our 'corn hole' game, a mother skunk and her babies went for a stroll on the road right next to our house. I'm pretty sure she was a Christian homeschool mother because she had her little crew all nice and orderly (or not) and there were at least seven of them. We watched from a safe distance as she took her little ones out to play and it was so interesting to watch because she took them to the nice tall grass on the other side of the road from their den and then she just took off. I can relate to this, not the leaving your children to play by the roadside part, but the part that says, "Ok, kids, everyone out of the house! This momma needs a break!" 
At first, we just took photos from a safe distance but then much to my delight, my knight in shining armor showed up and we jumped in the back of the pickup to get a closer look at the babies. I figured we were safer in the pickup because the pickup can go much faster than my legs. 
The awe of nature... 
but then something in this photo is just not natural. I can't put my finger on it but I know there's something not quite right...
Ok, back to the nature part. Thankfully, my knight in shining armor took this little one back to his siblings and all is smell, I mean swell. :)
Please excuse these perfectly disgusting photos but you see, we have boys living at our house and that seems like enough of an explanation at the moment.
Obviously, I did not take this close up. The credit goes to Cole.
We will miss you, Thumper (Phi-Phi) and Sly (Miss Pithy)... The hardest part of having animals isn't taking care of their needs or even training them. It's losing them. On Thursday, Ally lost one of her rabbits. On Saturday, in spite of the love and 24-hour care that Cole and Will poured into the baby raccoon that Dirk found abandoned, she didn't make it. I'm not sure which situation was harder. Ally wasn't home when Cole found Thumper so she didn't get to say goodbye. We knew Sly was going and Cole cared for her through it all. Life lessons are not of our choosing but they remain with us, well, for life...
Throughout my life, I can't tell you how many times people have taken one look at me and told me how much I looked like my mother. When I was younger, I have to admit, I didn't always appreciate the comment. When Dirk and I went to look at the babies, I took one look at this one and I just knew how she felt. This little one looks so much like her mother! It would have been nice to get a close up photo but the momma was kind of snorting at me and definitely didn't appreciate my photo session. Since Dirk almost got his pickup dented in a few hours before by a momma that didn't feel he really needed to tag her baby's ear, I kind of thought staying inside the pickup was a good idea.
I have to admit, I didn't think he would do it, but he did. Yep, the love of my life, had a wonderful discussion with me earlier in the week about the need to slow down a little bit and not be doing quite so much. Ok, I agreed with that, from now on we talk about all decisions first. Got it! Actually, this is really what we have "normally" always done, it's just not been real "normal" for awhile now (about six years or so). So, what does he do today but bring home two adorably cute rabbits for our daughter. Yes, I know it could be ALOT worse, but rabbits stink and make messes! They require care that I'm not interested in giving, Dirk won't be around to give, and Ally doesn't know how to give. Of course, another thought just occurred to me. I have a son who LOVES animals...maybe for the right price he'll be willing to help out...Maybe having Angel and Li' Gael come to live with us won't be quite so bad after all...Will is going to get richer but I'm willing to do some negotiating...
