Animal Lovers

For a family that has never had a real pet, our kids are especially animal lovers!  I think one reason could be their love for reading Ranger Rick magazine over the past 5 years or so.  Out of them all, John Hardy has become our animal expert as he reads and re-reads some encyclopedia-like books on animals.  Yesterday he commented that he wished James was a veterinarian instead of a doctor.  He is often sharing random animal trivia like he did today as he shared with Chaya and I that there is a kind of bird that drinks the blood of other birds.  I had to look it up just to verify his story, but in every case he is accurate in his description.  (You too can learn about the "Vampire Finch"if you want to.)   

One of the things Eliana and John Hardy enjoyed on their trip to TX was spending time with the animals that our extended family has.  Here are a few snapshots they took.