Birds and the hose

The boys are usually very entertained by the backyard here. My dad is especially good at making anything seem interesting. He is passing on his love of birds and bird watching to the boys. He has about 6 birdfeeders outside the kitchen window and both boys will look for birds over morning cereal. Bennett will excitedly point out "bird, bird!" and Austin is getting good at recognizing birds...robins, cardinals, bluebirds to name a few. We have also had some interesting escapades chasing the squirrels off of the feeders. One morning Austin and i figured out that they were climbing on the grill, taking a flying leap off it onto the feeder. Austin would run outside and yell at them until they ran away.

Last night Austin helped Bop refill all the bird feeders. He was very attentive and wanted to fill them all up to the very top. Today he watched the birds eating and said "Look, they're eating my food!"

Bop also loves his yard and Austin will help him water the flowers. At first, he would not go outside at all. It seemed so weird. Then finally we realized he was afraid it would storm (thunder) and of airplane noises. I am not sure where the airplane noise fear came from, unless he thinks it is thunder. A bad storm right before we left China started a phobia of storms. Now, 3 weeks after being here he has finally warmed up to being outside again. Here are a few shots from last night.

Austin feels very powerful with the hose I think...he loved to hold it, water the flowers, fill the plastic pool and almost squirted Mommy with my nice new camera. Fortunately I escaped.

Bennett hung out with Nana awhile before wandering around the yard. He later became fascinated with pieces of grass, ants (he calls all bugs ants but he was right that time) and dirt.

The night always ends with books...sometimes Austin only wants me to read, but often Bop or Nana take turns reading and he especially loves a read on the water bed. Both boys cannot get over the excitement of my parents water bed and last night was no exception. Bop and Nana always have a great supply of new books to keep the boys reading.