~A warm welcome to anyone joining me through the

          Charlotte Mason Carnival~

 We live right in the village of our small town.  There is a sidewalk in front of our home that we can follow to the post office, pizza place, library and many others.  Our house is situated  on a half acre and our neighbors to the north, west and east of us are a stones throw away.  To the south of us, however, is our backyard which ends at what the kids call a "creek" but in reality is a drainage ditch for the surrounding properties.  Beyond that is the WOODS.  Now you've heard of The 100 Acre Wood of Winnie the Pooh fame -- this is more like the 2 Acre Wood. 

  If you were to walk through the woods about 1 block you would end up in the backyard of a home on the next street that runs parallel with ours.  However, I think its this ever-so-small woods that allows us to enjoy some wild critters that normally wouldn't be found around town such as; fox, rabbit, woodchucks, pheasant, a rabid racoon, an opposum or two and these:
 
                             

Look closely and you'll see 4 deer, there was one more not shown in the photo.  My DH took the picture in March of this year.  We occasionally see a deer but never this many at once. 

 Over the summer the kids found several neat examples of  God's creatures/creations that they photographed.  Here are just a few pictures taken by my DD13 and DS10 taken in our backyard.


                                           Cicada that just molted
                              


                                               Leopard Slug
                              


                                                    Cucumber vine
                             

                                  Not sure, can you help?  Nursery Spider
                             


                                  wild rabbit  (taken through window)
                             
                           

                                                abandoned wasps' hive
                              


I probably would have never noticed them unless the kids had pointed them out.
It would be great if they were more interested in their nature journals but I am glad that they are interested in their surroundings and taking pictures at least!   How many little things have passed me by unnoticed because I'm "too busy" to slow down and enjoy them?