this morning/my summer life

Dad and Mom and I went for a walk at a beautifully done park/nature preserve this morning. We spent about an hour walking around the pond and on the natural trails in the wooded area.

We saw several fun things while we were there! First off, I saw a couple Kingbirds and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers. I love Scissor-tails - they're so pretty and polished looking ;-) We also saw what I think was an American Bittern - but he was up in a tree! He sure looked funny up there :) Shortly afterward we saw a pretty Indigo Bunting - he was singing up in the top of a tree. Indigo Buntings have a really pretty song! Later, we saw two big Great Blue Herons flying across the lake - also a big white Egret. We even noticed a cute little hummingbird feeding from some red wild flowers! While we were there we saw and heard several hawks, one of which was getting chased away by a Kingbird :) Of course, we did see things other than birds too ;-) A couple little frogs, tiny skinks, a spider that was wrapping something up, and a bunch of moths on a tree that startled me. The moths were big ones - probably about an inch wide and an inch long. They blended in really well to the tree bark, and there were 7-10 on the same side of the trunk! Well, we were walking by, and they all flew off the trunk at once - and that's what startled me :D

So - about the rest of my life this summer...I only have one month left before I head back for the fall semester at JBU, and I am really starting to look forward to it (as in, I'm starting to miss school and all my friends from there!!!). I'm very very thankful to God for the way He's provided for me this summer. I have my nanny job (20-30 hours/week) that pays very well, and then I also have other babysitting, working for my teacher from high school, and house sitting. I did one house sit in June, and I'll be doing another one next week. So I feel a lot more financially "secure," thanks to God's provision :) Oh, and we had a garage sale that I made $50 from! ;-)

Only downside is that I've been working a lot and so that has kept me pretty busy.....I have been able to hang out with friends here a few times, but the summer has been running away a little too fast.

Nathan is away at the US Air Force Academy, so I miss him tons. I try to keep up with WebGuy, a blog that talks about what the basics are up to. I then post stuff that deals with Nathan on the blog I developed for him. I post on that one a lot more frequently than I do on here...partly because I know people read that, and I'm not sure anyone really reads this.......

We're going to go see Nathan's "graduation" from Basic Cadet Training (ie, boot camp) about a week and a half from now. I'll be super super excited to see him!!!! even though it will only be for a couple hours :(

I'm finally getting back to exercising consistently again! I took most of May and June off from that because I was too busy :P I should have kept it up. Now I'm trying to work back up to doing more. But it's going well, and I am making progress :)

I've also been able to read several good books, which has been really nice. There's two I'm reading right now that will get book reviews on here like Grown-Up Girlfriends did (see below).

Well, that's about it...ta ta for now!