A walk in the country

Hello again, everyone. I hear some of you over in the midwest area are enjoying some snow. Jealous!! We southern Georgians don't get to see snow. Last year we had an itty, bitty flurry for like 10.5 seconds. John called me from work to let me know it was coming our way and to get the kids all ready so they could run around in it. Well, of course, I wasn't going to miss this opportunity! I got the kids all bundled up and when it hit our house I sent them out. Only one problem. They've never seen snow before. Lilly ran out the door and ran right back in and Luke was so freaked out by it all he wouldn't even go outside. Sad...but true. Anyway, the children and I try to go on walks fairly regulary, whenever my weary, pregnant body allows. I thought I'd snap some pictures of the route we normally take. I love our country setting and the children get to see lots of nature. Today we saw lots of squirrels nests and birds. They thought it was pretty neat. :)

First thing we see when we head out our door is the pecan orchard that is across the street from us. They just harvested them all last week. The children were glued to the front window the whole time watching all the tractors going back and forth.

Another view of the orchard. They really are HUGE trees.

Eventually we pass by these greenhouses. Sometimes we'll stop in and walk around, look in the greenhouses that aren't being used.

This is where we turn off the main road. The orchard meets a diary field and we like to walk along the fence.

This was the most frustrating part of the walk. Lilly wanted me to take a picture of all three of them by this
tree stump. Trying to get all three of them to stand still long enough to acheive this was...frustrating. I caught Luke right as he was sneezing but it's good enough!

Lilly's my trooper. She pushes the stroller for me. She even gets really frustrated if I try to do it.

This is Luke's big nature "find" of the day...bark. I never realized it, but in all his three years of life he's never really noticed the bark on trees before. He kept peeling it off. Finally I said, "You'd better stop doing that, bud." As I was walking away I heard Lilly say, "Luke! How would you like it if I came and peeled all the skin off of you??" That's a big sister for you, people.

Lilly was very excited that she pulled a tree (ahem...weed) out of the ground, roots and all. She insisted on taking in home and putting it in a pot to keep. I had to stop her from getting the shovel and digging up soil to plant it in.

Finally, the walk ended by playing with our new kittens in the back yard. I realize I haven't even mentioned these adorable little creatures yet but I was a wee bit busy hosting Thanksgiving. We got them a little over a week ago. Love them. This one is Scarfy (Lilly named it) and we have one other one that is black with a little white patch on the chest. They named that one Blacky-blue (???) but call her Blacky for short.

And on a final random note, we have these bushes flowering all over our property. Does anyone know what they are?? It's kind of nice seeing flowers in December. Just thought I'd share. :)

Anyway, thanks for enjoying my walk with me this morning. Maybe next time I'll take pictures of our other route. Just a hint, it involves more pecan orchard! Exciting, I know. Thanks, again!

Running the race,
~A