one crazy not-quite summer...

It has been hot and dry already this year. We're hoping for some rain tonight into the next few days. My gardens will all be thankful. Grams and Pap-pap were just here visiting us so I wanted to share some photos of their visit and some photos of other things happening around here lately. Enjoy!

Here's a turtle we recently had in rehab. She had an injury to her rear leg and we cleaned her up and fed her for a few days to make sure she was ok, and then let her go. She was a very good patient and Rory enjoyed digging up worms and grubs to feed to her.

Just some local fauna. An eastern cottontail rabbit that calls our neighborhood home. Here she was sitting just a few feet from our front door so I was able to get some good photos.

Here is a photo of a zebra swallowtail butterfly checking out our butterfly weed...

...and another.

One of the things we did when Grams and Pap-pap were here was to finally tour Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art right here in Northwest Arkansas. It was a lot of fun. Here's Chad posing looking through a large red lens they had on display.

We also went up to visit Aunt Lynn at her house where she does wildlife rehab. I do some of her baby rabbits and occasionally hold onto another species or two until I can get them to her (like the baby oppossum we had for a bit), but she has lots of other fun stuff like goats and raptors.

Speaking of goats...that's Punkin looking for attention and treats.

Have I told you that Rory likes to read? One of our favorites right now is "The Seven Silly Eaters" by Mary Ann Hoberman. We checked it out from the library and had to get a copy. Good thing Grams like to read too...

We were also able to see at least a little bit of the solar eclipse we had while Grams and Pap-pap were visiting. Grams, Rory and I drove a bit so we could get a little bit of a better view than from our house.

Here are Grams and Rory in front of Crystal Bridges and the large stainless steel tree sculpture...

Here's Rory hanging out in the front yard with Pap-pap...

...and playing hopscotch on the sidewalk.

...and (shocking, I know) having Pap-pap read to her.

One of my favorite things that Rory has been doing lately is "drawing pictures of Papa" on her Magnadoodle. This is one of the first ones I saw. She's getting better with adding his beard and glasses, but I thought this was pretty good so I'm trying to take pictures for posterity.

It was great having Grams and Pap-pap visit for a few days. Rory got her fill up of love from both of them, and as an added bonus, Bunny Tracks ice cream by sticking close with Pap-pap when he had a bowl. In a few weeks, Grandma will be coming to visit too. It'll keep us busy, but it's nice to have family come visit when we can't make it up there as often as we would like. Hope everyone is doing well!