Our first Monday of SUMMER vacation!

Today was our first Monday of summer vacation. We went to the library where we read books:

...signed up for the summer reading program and got "shh'ed" in the adult section! GEESH!

After the library visit, we went shopping at BJ's and had lunch there -

Playing at Coconut Point Mall

We went shopping and playing at Coconut Mall. It was HOT but fun!

Cousins!!

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

Pretty Hair!

The Princess says she has "Aryn hair" today. Thanks for the inspiration cousin Aryn!

Dining with Royalty...

The Florida Sandhill Crane

We have some cranes that live in our neighborhood. I'm pretty sure they were here before any of the houses were. Our neighborhood used to be a BIG swampy, tree filled area. Now, the cranes like to wonder our streets and backyards squawking noisily! I looked up information on them and they are called Florida Sandhill cranes and are endangered. There are about 5000 left and we have at least 3 of them here in our neighborhood.

We have a bird feeder hanging in the tree in our backyard and one of the cranes came by for dinner. He has no problem standing on the ground and sticking his beak in to get some seeds. So that's where all the birdseed is going! The other birds (and ducks!) are scared to come near the tree when the crane is eating. It is quite a sight! It's like Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom has entered our backyard!

Here's a video of the crane having dinner. You can see the pair of ducks in the background wanting to come up and eat but scared to! The crane would squawk if they came any closer.