Hiking

PD is the one who usually takes the girls on hikes.  Sometimes I join in and sometimes I don't. This was a beautiful Sunday afternoon so I went along.

The wildlife must have heard I was coming because they really pulled out all the stops for me. We went on this trail because we had heard that people have been spotting minks here occasionally.  We had our hopes set pretty low.  First we spotted this giant wasp nest. Maybe 18 inches across.

Then we found this HUGE fungus:

Best of all was this GIGANTIC OWL.  It was very Harry Potteresque.  Truthfully, I freaked out a bit when PD pointed it out and it flew from one tree to another. It was bigger and closer than it looks in the picture because we didn't take a picture until after I screamed and it flew higher.

I was the one that first saw these two deer.  One was a young buck. The picture isn't that great because they camouflaged so well with the trees, but they are only a few yards away from us.

I told the kids that if I hadn't been there, I would not have believed that they saw all those things! The girls did great and PK2 only had to be carried just a little bit at the end.