A Fun Saturday

Remember how I mentioned we were getting ready for a trip? Well... in the midst of it all, I kind of took a Saturday off. It was only going to be a morning then spontaneity hit.

That Saturday before our trip, Jeremy, several of the kids, and I went out looking for bobolinks. We didn't find any. We found plenty of other birds including a lot of snipes so we got some new good snipe pictures. I never see snipes when I go on a snipe hunt but when I don't go looking for them...

We also saw quite a few marmots as we often do in that area.

The sandhill cranes were pretty photogenic as well.

 

After we got back, Jeremy and Jr. went out to help friends move. While they were gone, I got a text from my friend, Stephanie, inviting me last minute to go see a play that her friend was in. Jeremy was okay with it so off I went and didn't do as much getting ready for the trip. But I had a blast.

Three of us drove up to Salt Lake together and met another there to watch the play, The Importance of Being Earnest at Parker Theatre. When my oldest two heard which play I was going to, they absolutely encouraged me to go. They've both read the play. 

I love the theatre. It was such a fun production. We chatted with Stephanie's friend afterward who was in the play. She was so fun to watch in it. So expressive in a humorous way, which the part called for.

After the play, the four of us spectators (audience members?) went up the street to Salt Lake Chinatown (did you know Salt Lake City had a Chinatown?) to try some new foods and had a great time getting to know each other better.

That afternoon/evening was just what I needed.

And I still eventually got ready for our trip. Tee Hee.

 

P.S. That night I spent a bit of time outside taking photos of the Strawberry Moon.

Another Day Off

Well, there was no school again yesterday.  So we took the kids and Nichole's friend again up to Big Springs to play in the snow.  That was fun.

After playing in the snow we went driving around looking for birds.  We found a little bird hiding on the bank of a stream.  It was not one we'd seen before.  Just a tiny thing but it had a long bill.  Hmmm, what could it be?  We tried to get some pictures with the messed up camcorder.  After driving up the road a bit and NOT getting a picture of a brown creeper (those things are fast), we checked the camcorder and realized that the picture of the little bird did not turn out.  Sigh.  Here's what it looked like:

So we went back down the road and turned around again so we could search the stream bank for that bird.  Jeremy has a very good eye for spotting birds so we saw 2 or 3 of those birds this time.
Here are some of the pictures we got:

I also used the binoculars to get a good look at their coloring so we could look them up when we got home.
When we got home we identified the bird as a Wilson's snipe.  So it turns out that when we went searching for that specific bird again, we were on a snipe hunt.  Yep.  And we found some.  They do exist.
We also continued our drive around Deer Creek Reservoir and passed this year's ice castle.

We saw some more birds and when we got home we had hot chocolate.

It was a great family and friend day.

Today, since Jeremy's fortune told us to go birding, we did.  We drove down to Provo, drove around some places, and back home.  The camcorder did let us take a few videos before it stopped working again.  We got a good one of a ring-necked pheasant walking around.  We saw plenty of birds we didn't get pictures of.  There was one point where we passed a tree that had so many starlings in it.  I rolled down my window and got a video with my little point and shoot camera.  Man, those things were so noisy.

Now it's time to take a little break from birding since it seems like we've been going out almost every day.  There are other things to work on, though.  We do have a few days coming up where we will do some birding (National Rationalization Day on February 23 is a good excuse), but for now it's time for a break.  Wish us luck.