Thanks SO much to Pip, Lulu98, Reptile Queen, Kiera, Julia, Kay, and Ariel221 for entering!!! Ya'll are the BESTEST!! -_^ Anyhow.....the names I drew for the prizes are.....

7-11: Kay!!

12-15: Ariel221!!

16+: Julia!!!

Whoohoo!!! I'll be giving ya'll your prizes super soon (and Julia I'll send yours hopefully out today!!) What's really weird is all 3 of the winners were all the 3 last entries I got.....anyhow....

But prizes weren't all my contest had to offer now, was it? Nope. It wasn't. My favorite entries get to be posted on my blog and I'll send out certificates to them! So my favs were....

7-11: Lulu98

"All the Different Animals"

All the owls, are really wise.

Sheep and Cows can win a prize,

All the different animals!!

All the Dogs go, Woof, yap, bark

Then there's birds from a cardinal to a lark.

All the different animals!!

12-15: Kiera

(First of all, this one was a tie between Kiera's entry and Reptile Queen's entry. I just COULDN'T pick, I liked them both so much! So finally I closed my eyes, dropped both on the floor, and picked up one....and it was Kiera's! lol)

"Rusty's Life"

Hi my name is Rusty and I am a American barn swallow. Every year I take a long and tiresome journey. I am going to tell you the story of my life. I came into this world on April 24 and I lived in a barn in the country side of Ohio. I lived in a nest with 3 other barn swallows. My mother, my father, and my sister. When I got too big for the nest, my sister and I fledged and learned how to fly. Away we flew and learned to take care of ourselves...I learned how to catch insects for myself and how to find water and what things were dangerous, like hawks and eagles. Finally, the insects started to disappear and I got ready to go on my journey. I started to travel south, covering a couple of hundred miles a day. I traveled and traveled, stopping at bug filled spots along the way. Finally I reached South America where I was to winter over. I stayed there until it started to get warmer. Then I began my long, long journey back, Finally in early spring I reached the countryside I was from. It was about a 14, 000 mile round trip. Most are lucky to make it this far. And come fall, me and my descendants will make the journey over again.

Watch for us! Rusty

16+: Julia

"The Perfect Shot"

It's hot, humid, my hair is clinging to my head, bugs are crawling on my arms and legs, in my shoes, I am crouched to the ground like a tiger about to pounce, I even take refuge behind bushes, can it get any worse? Possibly. But I see her, the one thing I have been looking for these past three months. Just through the small forest of savannah trees she sits calmly on a rock. her long tail swaying back and forth in the hot wind.

I cannot imagine getting any closer for she will hear me, and attack for her young cubs are near. Twins. They roll around in the savannah grass, one takes a bite out of the grass, the crinkling of disgust soon follows and the cub spits it out just as the other cub pounces on it's twin. I pull out my camera and snap a few photo's. I see another set of bushes a far off, I could hind behind and get some better shots. But I can't stand up, and scare them off. I guess I will crawl over.

Mud squishes through my hands as I crawl through more bushes and more mud piles. Piles? Mud doesn't pile up, it lays flat. Right? I realizes the mud I just crawled through stinks. Really bad. "Oh man." I think, "I knew it could get worse." But it doesn't matter, I want that photo. I probably should have thought of the thorn bush for sitting in front of me is a thorn bush. Around it are more thorn bushes. "Joy." I bite me lip and crawl through a narrow opening in the bush, holding back either screams of pain or laugher of stupidity, I am not sure which. I want that photo.

I see a clearing and exit the horrid bush snagging a few branches to my shirt and hair, just to enter into a pile of leaves, that seem to have a weird three leaf to a stalk pattern. Interesting, I'll come back later to investigate the strange leaves. I see the bush I was heading for, I get behind it and point my camera through the thick bush to the rock. I get ready to take that picture I crave for, when I noticed the rock was empty, nothing sits on or below it. She is gone, with her cubs also. Frustrated I jump up and hit my head on a tree branch, knocking a snake out of the tree and onto my head. I quickly remove the snake, only to find out it wasn't actually a snake, but a vine instead. Hah.

I started to walk back north towards my camp, so discouraged and sad I didn't get my photo. I am covered in "stinky mud", I have a few thorny branches attached to my clothing and long hair, there are probably bugs in my shoes and elsewhere. All that, and I didn't get my shot. As I am walking I spot something over a ridge, I can't make out the figure but I know it's an animal. I move closer to see her once again sitting on a rock near the river, her and her cubs. The cubs drink from the river as she watches her surroundings intently. The wind is blowing again giving her a beautiful calm look. Here's my chance. I pull out my camera, aim, and click! I got my shot! I got the shot of rare King Cheetah. She is looking at me, not moving, just staring. It's almost as if she's saying "Happy now?" I nod and smile. Her and her cubs walk away from the river and head off into the horizon. I thank her as she moves off. I thank her.

*sigh* I loved all my entries. lol Thanks again to all those who entered, I couldn't have pulled off the contest without your stories! You're ALL winners in my book! ^_^

Love to all,
Toria