Are you afraid of spiders?

I took the day off......well, most of it.
Had some things to do early this morning, then my daughter picked me up, with my two grandsons, and one of my granddaughters.
We headed to Vermont, which isn't far from where we live.
Of course, the kids were hungry. Aren't they always.





This was a nice place, the food was great, but being in a tourist area, it was pricey. We could have eaten in a really nice restaurant somewhere else for what it cost.













Number 1 grandson showing me how someone he knows wears his pants up too high.
He kind of looks like he should be on the Waltons, doesn't he?


We went to Quechee, Vt, to the Vermont Institute of Nature Science, or VINS.
Here, they save 400-600 birds every year. They have a bunch of raptors that they have saved, who have been injured and who can't make it in the wild.




The kids enjoyed trying out wing spans.
Of course, they all picked out spans that they had to really stretch to
make.


They had a dart frog exhibit, and a huge snapping turtle, and fish, and salamanders.
And they had some really disgusting bugs.

They had a place where you could see them doing rehab on some birds.



Then we went on the nature trail.

I always worry when I take them somewhere, that they won't like it, or they won't "get it".
I don't know why I do that, because they usually are happy doing whatever, and they DO "get it".


They had a ball running through the woods like little wood sprites.

I managed to get them to sit still for a minute.
They are used to Mimi with her camera, they know it is useless to fight it.




Ava was getting tired, and started to whinge a bit, so I asked her if I could see her whinge face.


So she showed me.



It was a beautiful walk, and very peaceful.
It is nice to spend time with them, and my daughter.













The path wound along a stream that turned into a pond, and we went back to watch the show.









Here is a red tailed hawk. Injured, she can only fly short distances, and couldn't fly long enough to live in the wild.








This snowy owl is minus a wing, but beautiful still.

And turkey vultures, well, they are just strange looking birds. This one is 28 years old.


Just as the show ended, it started to rain, and we headed home.
When we were pulling out of the sanctuary, Logan asked "When can we come again?"
Guess I shouldn't have worried at all.




By the time we got through Woodstock, the rain had stopped, and we stopped for ice cream, as promised.

When we saw the menu, and the prices, we realized we should have stopped here for lunch.
Oh, well. Next time.


We sat by this lovely stream, and watched the kids explore the path to the water's edge.




The Ottauquechee River is beautiful. I would love to live right on it, and wake up to it every day.

It was a good day. And I needed to take a break from working so hard.
I sometimes don't even realize it.
I just get caught up in one thing, then another, and forget that I need to nurture other parts of me.


I saved this lovely photo for last.
I never thought that spiders bothered me, until today..

YUK.
OOH.
NASTY.