Birding

Summer school has been going well. The kids have made lots of new friends and they are enjoying being at school together every day. They are all in different classrooms but they go out for recess at the same time so they have been hooking up on the playground every day. It is cute to hear them plan out where they are going to meet as I am driving them to school every day. "If you get there first save me a swing ok?" "If there are not enough swings we can do spider swing ok?" 

The kids do not have school on Fridays so I drove them to Two Rivers last Friday and we spent most of the day on the beach on Lake Michigan. There were only 2 other people at the beach so it was very relaxing! I actually read 100 pages of a book sitting on the beach in the sun! The last time that happened was in high school!

We are still in the nap phase-out process. Its good some days and horrible others. But after lunch Shane takes a nap and I do homework with the boys. Then the boys can play outside until Shane wakes up and then we all do something together. Then John gets home and we eat dinner while everybody whines because they are SOOOO TIRED and we send them to bed by 7pm!

Last week after homework the boys went outside and caught a bird in their butterfly net! I was shocked! They couldn't understand why they are allowed to catch butterflies but not birds. Hmmmmm... The birds in this neighborhood need to step up their reaction time clearly! Maybe I shouldn't ignore them when they tell me that they are going to catch a chipmunk! 

I have been spending all of my free time going to war with the birds in my yard. They like to sit on top of the swing set and poop on the kids swings! It drives me crazy! I stained the whole thing and it was almost like it made the problem worse. So I went out and bought an owl and mounted him on the birds favorite perch on top of the swing set. So far it is working on the bird poop and I am hoping that it will serve as an added bonus to animals thinking about checking out our garden as well. We have not needed to fence in the garden yet and have already been enjoying lettuce and radishes this year.