The baby birds are 11 days old!!!!

We are really enjoying watching the birds grow!!! I think I have enjoyed it the most though. I love watching the dad fly off and bring back food for the babies.

We had a busy day!!!!

We got up and got our school done this morning so we could go to the movies with some friends. After the movie we all went to McConnell Springs. We love that place!! We had a nice afternoon outside after all the rain this morning. Then later this evening we all went to see Leigh Anne Florence, she is the author of the Woody the Kentucky Wiener books. We have been visiting with her family since Anthony was 7!!!! And I took another picture of the baby robins. The mother was feeding them when I went to check on them.

Robin update.....

I checked on the baby birds when we came home today. WOW, they are huge!!!

Great Smoky Mountains

Internet at the hotel wasn't working correctly yesterday so I didn't blog.

We started out the morning with breakfast at Log Cabin Pancakes. Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg have a lot of pancakes places!!!! After breakfast we headed into the park. We visited Sugarland visitor center and workd on Junior Rangers books. Then we went on a hike to see Cateract Falls and to John Ownby's cabin. It was biult in 1860 and repaired in 1964. We hiked for a couple of hours. Jacob looked for Salimanders, but sadly didn't find any :( They are suppose to be plentiful there but they must like to hide.

After the hike we drove to Pigeon Forge to get a late lunch. Then the boys just had to drive gocarts. We came back to the hotel for a little rest then we headed back out to see the mountains before sunset....BEAUTIFUL.

We ended up at a really interesting restuant called Huck Finns Catfish. I really wasn't hungry but the boys said they were. Even after a nice couple gave them Krispy Cream dognuts!!!! They thought the huge mason jars they brought our drinks in were great. The boys got catfish and fries. David got clams and I got chicken. Most of it came back to the hotel with us...good thing there was a fridge!!

It was a nice day but long and I don't think either David or I slept very well. We drove home this morning after feeding the boys pancakes again for breakfast. We went straight to the kennel and got Diesel. He is sleeping on the floor now, don't think he had any trama from being left. Had them bathe him so he smells good too.

Gatlinburg.....

We made it to Gatlinburg. Stopped by the visitors center and got the Junior Ranger booklets. Anthony is really to old but I am making him do it anyway...school you know :)

We stopped by Smokey Mountain Knifeworks. They had so much cool stuff. Jacob says he may want to go back and buy the Spinosaurus tooth.

It has been rainy all day but hopefully that will be a good thing. The puddles here had a layer of yellow scum on them....pollen!! I think that should make the pollen counts lower for tomorrow.

Didn't really take any pictures today except with my phone at the knifeworks place. They had a HUGE sword in the stone. The boys thought it was cool since they are working on the play Excalibur right now.

I am sure there will be tons of pictures tomorrow :)

The birds....

We are getting ready to leave for the Smokey Mountains on a trip that I started planning yesterday afternoon! So hopefully I will have some good blogging material for a couple of days ;)

Yesterday when I went out to take pictures of the baby birds and they popped their heads up and opened their mouths!!! I took a picture really quick, not sure if its blurry. I will try to add the pictures I took when we get back from our trip.

Baby birds day 3....

Checked on the baby birds earlier today. I still am amazed at how big their eyes are!!! The mamma bird is sitting on her babies right now while it rains.

Yesterdays robins picture....

Yesterday there were four little baby Robins in the nest. They have HUGE eyes.

Forgot to mention yesterday that after the first baby hatched the mother bird was eating the egg shell.

A Robin in our yard

We have a nesting Robin in our backyard. The nest had four small blue eggs in it. Yesterday when I looked it had three eggs and a baby bird! One of the remaining three eggs had a small hole and a little beak pecking out.

Allergies and our Nature Challenge...

Garth Park.

This little dog is 1 year old and at the Scott County Animal Shelter. If you need a dog and you likethem small this is a great dog. I wanted to bring him home but don't think Diesel would like it. He is a chihuahua-terrier mix.

Well, we haven't done so well with our nature challenge :( I seem to have issues with my eyes swelling this year. It has never happened before, I am very upset about it. I do have a few pictures of our attempts to get outside that I can post but about an hour is all I can manage. So much for taking school outside on a blanket or taking books to the Japanese Garden to read :(

Friday April 9th we went to the park with Ms. Rachel and Walker.


Saturday April 10th we went to the Scott County Animal Shelter to play with some of the dogs there.

Jacob meets Jeff Corwin!!!!!!!!!!!!!

About a month ago I found out about a PBS video taping of a show in Louisville. The person being interviewed was Richard Ellis. The interviewer was Jeff Corwin of Animal Planet fame and one of Jacobs favorite people. I decided that we had to go!!! It was a little pricey so I convinced myself that it was okay to take only Jacob. I am so glad we went. I didn't tell Jacob we were going until the day we left. I didn't tell him what we were doing until we got the the Kentucky Center for the Arts. When I told him he didn't get very excited. I don't think he really believed me!! But he was so happy when he came out on the stage. We listened while they taped the show then they had a question and answer session. Jacob got to ask a question. He asked Jeff what his favorite animal was. Jeff told him it was snakes, then he asked Jacob what his favorite animal was and Jacob said alligators. Jeff talked about alligators a while then ended by saying to Jake that maybe he would grow up to be a herpetologist and study them. I got it all on video! Then we went to a different room to wait for the dinner. We stood there for a while and I noticed someones back. Looked like Jeff Corwin to me so I motioned to Jacob. He said, "is that him?" I told him I wasn't sure but thought it was. So Jacob casually walks by him looking ahead. When he gets about 3 feet in front he turns around to walk back then looks at his face to see. It was Jeff Corwin and Jacob was so cute trying to find out. Jacob just keeps walking back to stand behind him, of course Jeff doesn't see any of this. Jacob finally gets his attention and tells him that he has 2 snakes. Jeff asked him if he takes care of them. Then Jacob tells him that he is a fan and shows him the books he has of Corwins Quest. Jeff signs them we take a picture. When I take the picture everyone notices that he is there and start to ask to take pictures too. We have dinner and the only other kid that stayed for the dinner part sits at the table with us.

I am sure Jacob will blog about it himself tomorrow :)

The cold cucumber soup...not a great hit with the two little boys.

During the taping of the show.

The theater before the taping.

Outside the Kentucky Center for the Arts.

Jacob and Jeff Corwin. He was very nice and just as funny in person as he is on his show.

Day 3...

Today started out rainy and we had to be at the shop so we didn't get a lot of quality outside time. We did get out a little before dinner. Michael played a little basketball. Jacob taught the little boy next door to fly a kite. Then Anthony came out a little later and played basketball with some older kids. Not a great outdoor day but we did get outside.

The clouds were beautiful, this picture just doesn't show it.

Day two of our nature challenge.

We went on a nature walk with our sign language class this evening. It was nice out, not to hot not to cold. The trail was beautiful we haven't ever been to this part of the trail. We definatly need to go back and spend some more time. The teacher was really good she even sang the kids a song about poison ivy. I forgot to put my memory card back in my camera so I could only take 6 pictures on the internal memory :( I think I managed to get a few good ones anyway.