Feeding the Ducks...

Ah! 'Twas a gorgeous warm and sunny Florida afternoon, and we wanted to make the most of it! So, looking for an educational opportunity to sneak into our planned excursion to a nearby park, I grabbed two wonderful library books that the kids have grown to love, the last two slices of bread in our house, and (of course!) our camera, and off we went! This sweet little park is only 10 minutes from our place, and it seems to be the residence of a variety of local ducks and birds. So! We all sat down on a bench and Mama read "The Story About Ping" and "Angus and the Ducks", both by Marjorie Flack, and both perfect stories to read before a highly anticipated...duck feeding! (Now, I might note that I noticed when we got to the park that there was a sign as we pulled out that said something like "Please Respect the Ducks... Don't Feed the Ducks... It will interfere with their natural habits and the natural ecosystem.....um...I don't actually remember the rest of what the sign said, but that's the basic gist of things...) When we finished reading and talking about the books, I debated for a moment whether we really shouldn't feed the ducks, after reading the sign. However, during our little storytime, it was hard not to notice the two or three other families that were lavishly feeding "KIX" cereal and other less than 'healthy' commercial foods to these eager ducks/birds. I looked at our meager two slices of bread, now smushed lovingly by the kids, who were making sure the pieces were small enough for the birds ("so they won't choke, Mama"), waiting and begging me to give the green light to get off the bench and head to the edge of the duck pond and do what we came to do: feed the ducks! Mother Earth, forgive us if we interfered with 'the natural ecosystem' and upset the way of life here at the duck pond! But I daresay, these ducks looked pretty well used to folk like us, and afterall- our two slices of bread were 100% whole grain! M and L thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon, and C was greatly entertained by watching her brother and sister having so much fun. What a great little pond- with at least 5 different kinds of birds/ducks, and a large family of turtles sunbathing on the opposite side of the pond (we tried to get close to them, but they scuttled into the water faster than I could snap a picture when we got even remotely close to them. Oh well!) It was such a refreshing afternoon with my three lil' Ducks!