Critters.....

Let me begin by explaining a few small details. We live in an old farmhouse, built in the early 1800's....a really beautiful area, and feel very blessed. I cannot complain about the amazing views that surround us. We really are going to miss this peace and serenity when we move in a couple of months.

However, having said that, along with the beauty in this area of New England, we have critters....many....many.....critters. 

Some small...some not so small. Here's a quick list....

Abundance of chipmunks and squirrels...ok, they're furry...kind of cute, fun to watch and they don't bother us much. Then there are the wild turkeys and the deer who we see on a regular basis...again, I can totally handle them...they do their own thing....neat to see. 

Let's go on....coyote are around, close by as we can hear them at night. I myself have never seen one....but the howl is enough thank you. And onto our biggest critter....the black bear, yes, we have bear.....in our driveway actually a couple of weeks ago...a mama and her 3 cubs. Yea I get a little nervous....my kids are outside all of the time....but we are careful....and they really are quite fascinating to watch.

Ok, onto the critter in this post. The snake.....let me just say that I have seen enough snakes here to last me a lifetime. Jared and Noah caught 17 milk snakes last summer....it was starting to become a hobby for them. Jared would come home from work and Noah would be waiting for him...."Come on Dad, there's a big one under that rock." They would drive them to the end of the lane and release them.

Yesterday, there was a garter snake just minding it's own business, slithering beside the infamous rock wall where most of the snake hunts take place. A friend of ours had stopped by to pick up some things, saw the snake and thought it would be a good idea to hold it......who knew? We catch snakes around here....we don't hold them.

Noah was slightly hesitant at first....but carefully took the snake and was proud of himself for being brave. 

He wanted to share this experience with his brothers and sister....as you can see by Nate's face, he was less than thrilled to have Noah holding a snake in front of him. Nate's response was, "All done."  And he continued down the driveway.

 Next, on to Lauren....she pretty much had the same response as Nate...she wasn't quite sure why her brother was holding a snake and why he felt the need to get that close to her with it.

Luke was the happiest of them all to see the snake....he was grinning ear to ear, and probably would have loved to have grabbed the snake if Noah would have let him. Ok, so Noah would have let him....but this Mama would not.

Nope...I am not going to miss the snakes one tiny bit!  

But I will have to admit that it was pretty cool to watch my son hold a snake.  As soon as he went into the house he ran for the phone and called his Daddy at work. The excitement in his voice made me smile to myself. 

The best thing of all is that he wanted to share his excitement with his Daddy.  These moments in our lovies' lives are precious. It means so much to them if we share in their excitement and really listen when they talk. They help us to see life through a different kind of lens...and I am so thankful to God for that!