Sophie's Seven Year Old Interview

As is our annual tradition, I interviewed Sophie last night.  While still fun, she was careful to choose her answers this time.  One of them made me teary....I'm sure you can figure out which one....

What's your favorite color? 
Green

What's your favorite food?
Spaghetti

Who are your favorite friends?  

Megan & Aiden & James

What's your favorite thing to play?
Boys chase the girls

What's your favorite animal?
Elephants, cats & dogs and dolphins

If you could hop on a plane and go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Switzerland

What's your favorite letter?
F, H , M & A
(for friends, Hubbell, Megan & Aiden)

What's your favorite number?
7 & 5

Do you like school? 

Not really.  (mean look from Mom) Okay, kind of.

What's your favorite book?
Fancy Nancy
 Any one in particular?  

Not really, I just like all of them.

What's your favorite word?
Friend  

What's your favorite song?
Firework by Katy Perry  

What's your favorite thing to do?
Swim with Daddy 

What makes you happy?
Seeing Megan & Aiden  (and James)

What would you like to be when you grow up?
 To paint nails

(Insert groan here from Audrey & Alain!!!!  Until this very second, she has always said a doctor, a farmer and a teacher.  Paint nails????  Really???)

When you close your eyes, what do you see?
Hubbell's face

What is your favorite pet?
A bunny and a puppy

What's your favorite treat?
Everything


Oh girlie, please stop growing so fast.  I'm trying so hard not to blink.

Previous interviews can be found here.

Now if you'll please excuse me....I'm going to find a way to inspire my daughter to be something other than a manicurist.  Wish me luck!

S-E-V-E-N

You are my sunshine, 

My only sunshine.

You make me happy

When skies are grey.

My dearest Sophie, 

You ARE my sunshine.

You're also my rainstorm, my white fluffy cloud, my morning dew, my night sky, my galloping pony, my big meadow, my shady forest, my rainbow, my spotted fawn, my wild flower, my quiet snow, my robin's egg, my dotted ladybug, my sweet breeze, my Monarch butterfly, my honeybee, my birdsong, and, of course, my Goose. 

I love you with all of my heart. 

Happy Birthday!

Turtle Crossing

After the natural highs we received during our mountain trips last week, we decided to do something out in nature this past weekend.  There's a fairly large nature preserve not too far from home that we'd never been to so we decided to go check it out.  There was plenty of nature to be found....

 

That lizard peeking out of a hole in the tree?  Amazeballs.

After being there for a while, I realized it wasn't working for me.  Too manufactured.  And way too hot. (At Big Meadows, the temps never reached above 60 degrees. MY kind of weather!) While I appreciate the effort and the fact that this park is there at all, it just could NOT compare to what we saw and experienced last week.  Not even close. I didn't want to see a bridge with traffic off in the distance (as in Alain's photo above). I didn't want to see McMansions across the water (isn't that exactly what I was trying to get away from!!!?). For me, relaxation isn't having a motor boat or jetski go by every ten minutes.So we decided to head back home. Frankly I like my backyard better than this park.

Oh, but on the way out (!!!!!).......this little guy decided to cross the road right before we drove by.  

I don't think the car had come to a complete stop before I was jumping out with my camera.  

Oh sweet love.  I followed this guy all the way across the road to make sure he got there safely.  

A turtle bum photo?  Quite possibly the best idea I've had in a while.

He may have just made my day!!!!

AND, now that I know there are turtles creeping around, I may just have to go on back and take another look around!!!

Big Meadows

I could write about this place all day.  But I don't have enough free time.  So I will only tell you that this is truly one of my favorite places I've EVER been.  It's so magical.  

  

Okay, just a little bit.

Oh, the fawns.  The fawns.  I'm going next summer just to see the fawns again.  You could look into the forest while you were driving on the road and see them (like the third picture from the top). I told Alain that we have to go back when I can go to the meadow at dawn and at dusk.  Mainly for better photo lighting but also because the animals might be around.  The girls and I saw plenty of deer beds (15th photo down is an example ~ I showed Sophie & Clara the first one and then they found plenty on their own) but the actual deer weren't around in the middle of the day. While we didn't see any bears, we spoke to a park ranger who said he's seen eight so far this season. Sophie wants to camp there so maybe that's a possibility when Clara gets a little older (at the moment, she still doesn't sleep when she's away from home!).  I am also now obsessed with wildflowers ~ I'm sure you didn't notice. I'm researching books (thinking about this one) and considering attending Wildflower Weekend next year. To say that I was inspired by my visit to Big Meadows would be a drastic understatement. The natural beauty was overwhelming in a very good way!

I hope you can go one day too!

Winged Visitors!

When the girls and I arrived at my parent's house last Sunday afternoon, one of the first things we noticed was a little butterfly garden that my parents have beside their back fence.  It had multiple visitors when we arrived.  After our hellos, I ran to get my camera.

Before I even made it the butterflies, my Dad pointed out the hummingbird visiting their feeder.

They're fast and don't stay long but I was pretty thrilled with these two pictures. I was also thrilled that I got to see the hummingbirds a few more times during our visit. Why we don't have a hummingbird feeder at home is totally beyond me!

(Speaking of hummingbirds, did you guys see the tiny hummingbird nest?????? Oh my heart.)

Okay, on to the butterflies....

And this picture.....whew, I can't get over it.

What in the world is this flower/plant?  My parents said it came with the house! I would LOVE to have one in our yard.  Please let me know if you can help me ID it!  I am not lying.....every single time I looked out the window or passed by this plant, there were multiple butterflies hanging out!  I believe they were all Swallowtails....the ones you see here and mostly the yellow variety.

And I do love the Black-Eyed Susans too!!! We had some beautiful ones in our front yard years ago and I accidentally killed them.  It has to be one of the easiest plants in the world to have and I killed them! I did tell you I wasn't good at growing flowers!!!

Tell me, do you guys have a favorite butterfly plant/bush/flower?  I would really love to plant one in Hubbell's garden!!!!