All Aboard!

This morning we went to the train museum in Portland. When we arrived they had no power, but we decided to hang around and ride the train. The train ride was great! The weather was nice and the scenery was terrific. When the train arrived back at the museum, the power was back on so we got to go inside. Ethan had fun checking out all the old train cars!

Ethan and Daddy waiting to go on the train

Checking out the engine

The conductor punching our tickets

Ethan and Daddy

One of the Casco Islands in the distance

Ethan is 3!

Ethan turned three today! We had strawberry shortcake for breakfast, where he requested that we "sing my cake song!" We opened some great presents from Aunt Jessie and Grandma Deb, and Great Grandma Bowden sent a mini keyboard with a handle that Ethan played with for what seemed like the entire 3 hour car ride to Portland, Maine.

We arrived just after lunch, Nate dropped us off at the hotel then continued to drive 2 more hours up to Bangor do do some stuff for work. Ethan and I went across the street to the children's museum for a few hours. He had a blast playing with the water, climbing up a fire truck and a tree house, and most of all playing in the cockpit of the space shuttle. Here are some pictures.

Driving a tractor...

Playing with water...

Driving the fire truck...

Watching the video of himself that he made...

Playing in the space shuttle! He kept shouting 1 2 3 liftoff!


After the children's museum we went to the art museum next door. Ethan loved climbing the stairs most of all, I enjoyed looking at the paintings. It was a very big day!

Car Wash!

Ethan loves helping Daddy wash his car!

Memorial Day Picnic

We had fun at the Ashford Ward Picnic at Mansfield Hollow Today. Ethan and Ammon had a race to see who could run away from the picnic site the fastest-they got pretty far before we caught up to them! We had perfect weather and had lots of fun playing, flying kites, walking, and eating yummy food! We saw an Eastern Towhee that came in really close to us and was singing right over us, here is a pic from John Schwarz's site, birdpix.com.

Baby chick!

Ethan and I went to Anne's house to give some riding lessons and have a fun lunch with the girls. While we were there the first bantam chick was hatching! There were 2 other eggs just about to hatch, you could hold them up to your ear and hear them peeking and pecking at the egg shell!

Fourth Annual 90 Bird Day at Pomfret Audubon Center

Friday I joined about 10 other people for a 9 hour birding expedition, the goal of which was to see 90 different species of birds. We came close and saw 82. Ethan had a fun day at the McReynolds while I did this-thank you Kim!!! It was great fun and I can't wait to do it next year. We carpooled to different areas of Pomfret, Hampton, and Eastford and stopped at many locations to see different bird species. We called in a Red-shouldered Hawk and a Pileated Woodpecker who both came in right over our heads. We also called in a Yellow-billed Cuckoo who didn't want to leave once he came over to see us. He stayed right over our heads while we tried to get other birds to come in. My favorite was the Chestnut-sided Warbler, he came to check us out and found a bush about 4 feet away from us to have a better look.
My ibird Pro was great to have along, I used it all day long! Here are some great photos taken by John Schwarz of birdspix.com.
Chestnut-sided Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Cerulean Warbler

Birds continued....

Here are some more pictures taken by John Schwarz of birdspix.com
Black-throated Green Warbler
Hooded Warbler

Prairie Warbler

American Redstart


Here is the list of all 82 birds we saw:
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Turkey Vulture
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestral
Wild Turkey
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Black-billed Cuckoo
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Phoebe
Great-crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Warbling Vireo
White-eyed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Barn Swallow
Tree Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Veery
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Cedar Waxwing
European Starling
Blue-winged Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Pine warbler
Priarie Warbler
Black-and-White Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Waterthrush
Louisiana Waterthrush
Ovenbird
Canada Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Northern Cardinal
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole
Eastern Meadowlark
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
American Goldfinch