Taking time out is important too!

Afternoon gals!

Each time our nephew, Jake, visits, I try to plan a 'surprise day'.  It is a time I set aside to do something special with him and I always make a day of it....but don't tell him what we are doing.  Last visit, it was a trip to play mini golf, eat lunch out and then have an ice cream cone at our favorite spot.  For our trip yesterday, we headed down to Ithaca, NY, picked up son, Drew, from work at Cornell, then headed on over to Sapsucker Woods, which is a part of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  There are miles of trails, a few ponds, and a wonderful air-conditioned building with a  wall of windows, where you can watch and hear (they have microphones mounted outside) the wildlife on the largest pond.  It is a lovely place to spend some time.

After a picnic lunch, we walked around the largest pond, following the shaded and heavily mulched paths.  We saw a little green heron by the water's edge (my picture turned out too blurry), hunting for his lunch.  We saw chipmunks, frogs, turtles and various birds, including a couple of odd little fellows you may not know about...they are called American woodcocks...what fun they were to watch as they unhurriedly sought shelter from us amongst the undergrowth.  Near the end of our hike, we saw a muskrat, which scurried into the water too quick for me to snap a picture.

Here's a few pictures of our outing.

I loved the way the light was coming through the trees.

Mr. Dragonfly seemed to want his picture taken

Jake and Drew - gosh how I love those guys!

American woodcock-such a silly looking fellow

Hope you are having a HOPPY day!  Rippit!