Adventures in our new yards

Not long after we moved in, Amanda declared a game of Duck, Duck, Goose. Curtis loved "ducking," but he liked "goosing" and catching people even more, as in the case with Amanda here.

Lydia thought the whole thing looked like fun . . .

. . . so she was very happy when Dad stepped in and gave her a lift so she could play, too.

Despite a distinct lack of cardinals in our new yards, we did nevertheless spy this interesting bird out the back window:

We're also fresh out of squirrels and chipmunks here, but the kids seem to like these large mammals just as well or better (especially when they get to throw them scraps of food):

And, yes, the dogs are big. VERY big. Keep in mind that the fence is taller than Curtis. These dogs can look Mom and Dad in the eye if they feel like it. Since they seem to like us, Mom is glad to have them on duty by Amanda's bus stop.

We've also been visited by a chicken or two, residents of another adjoining yard (NOT the big dogs' yard).

As ever, the kids are fascinated by creepy crawlies. Here's a fine worm Jared found. Keep in mind that it really looked much better before being re-homed multiple times in various dirt containers.

We saw a few slugs in our old yard, but here we have snails. Since we have no garden plot here, they're actually quite interesting. The chickens next door also seem to keep them in check.

Jared collected a whole family of snails today, with big "mommy and daddy" snails and little baby snails, too. Here he is with a couple of his snail friends.

The yard with the chickens is also home to a smaller dog (shown in an earlier post), a couple of rabbits, and, most fun of all, a multitude of cats. There are several colors of cats there, but for some reason the orange ones are the friendliest. Here are Curtis and Jared with Rowdy, the patient cat who endured Curtis "carrying" him home to our yard before he escaped back to his own yard again.

One of the nicest things about our yard is our tree collection. There aren't as many as were in our old yard, by any means, but there are enough to cover the bases (one in front, one in back), and they're both very nice. Interestingly enough, the back yard tree is a maple, just like the one we lost in our old yard and mourned in a post last year (click here if you missed it and are curious). Our front yard tree is a big old apricot tree. We missed its fruit season, but the kids have had fun "planting" old pits they've found near the tree. The best thing about the yards, though, is just the same as in our old place: it's a good place for the Muffins to have fun together.