The Daily Duck

The ducks are getting so big!  This video is from about a week ago.  They've changed drastically in the short time we've had them.  They have some adult feathers, are known to quack now and then, and get SO excited when I come out in the morning.  Sometimes they'll eat out of your hands and sometimes they'll think your feeding with your hands and peck them, searching for anything edible.  They still don't 100% trust me, stretching tall together as far in the corner as they can.  They are fun to watch in their baby pool.  Bruce has the most fun.  He'll "duck" his head under and come out wriggling in an attempt to splash water on the rest of him.  This excites the others and soon you see them all splashing and trying to swim.  They are always together, hot or cold, they're a pack, a gaggle? Either way, it's been strangely therapeutic having them around, having something so small that depends on me to care for it.

What plans do our lives have other than ducks?  For now, its the beach!  We're heading down the Florida Panhandle in June two days after I deliver one awesome baby shower!  I'm very excited.  I haven't been to the beach in over a decade, maybe even 15 years.  This will be our first family trip together and first big trip since the boys died.  D needs a break from work and I need a break from familiar.
Here's a better look of the ducks now.

Noccalula Falls

Ducks, waterfall, and TRAIN!  All parts of Noccalula Falls Park.  If you know our son, you know what we had to do.  We met up with D's parents at the park and had a nice picnic lunch of pita sandwiches and cherry coke.  It was nice having a day of no stress, no worries, and being able to walk around and enjoy my little family.  Riding the train was the highlight of the day.  We had to have ridden around 3 or 4 times easy.  Through a tunnel and beside the gorge below the waterfall ... it was a wobbly but fun time!

Safe!

The Nixons are safe!  Life and property intact, so many others were not as lucky.  Hundreds have perished, and hundreds more have lost their homes.  Several counties in the state have been declared disaster areas so hopefully everyone who needs federal help will receive it.  It will take time, but we'll all get back to a sense of normal.  For us that normal is merely having power back.  For some dear friends, it will be months before they've picked up all their pieces, gotten their ducks in a row, and back in a home of their own.  Praying for our friends who are merely 10 weeks away from having their second child; and for everyone who has suffered in any way from the April 27th tornado outbreak.