Our Take on Nature: Coote's Paradise with Friends from the Caymans!

Since earlier in the year we had some homeschool friend who lived pretty near to us move to the Caymans temporarily. They came back this month! They went on a hike with us within a week of being back!!! The goal of our hike to Coote's was for them to be able to see an eagle and I'll be dog gone if they didn't. It was a great trip, here are the highlights!

Aren't the trees just beautiful?! They don't look like this now, most of the leaves are gone, but last week, they were beautiful!

Waiting for our friends to arrive!

I'm not sure why, but every time she notices she's getting her picture taken, she seems to think that requires that her tongue come out!

I have to tell you, I LOVE these pictures! It is so pretty here, with the leaves covering the ground, it is SO FALL! The essence of Autumn. Perfect.

Here is the bay. The water is quite low here.

As always (mostly always), I LOVE taking close up shots of things. There is beauty found in simplicity, but there is also complexity found in it too. The water droplets were so lovely with the light reflecting off of them. Had the leaf been in it's colorful beauty, it would have detracted from the worlds of the droplets themselves.

Would that I could have gotten closer up than this!

Here is a TINY little spider on the side next to the leaf. Almost didn't notice him there. Makes you wonder what he ends up being able to eat, huh?

This is the kids playing where there was water several months ago.

She's a cool dude, just ask her.

Walking back from looking at the bay up close.

He takes a nice picture doesn't he? His name is Ian and he just got back from the Caymans with his mom and brother.

Someone thought she didn't need her jacket. That didn't fly for long.

Following her dad. Isn't this picturesque?

You see the clear stuff on the tree and the leaves sticking to the tree? It's a jelly like substance. I have NO idea what it is or why it's there. It was on several trees, up and down the whole thing! Haven't been able to figure out what it is or why it's there yet.

There is a deer back there, see it? You may have to click on the picture and enlarge it to see it.

Mike and Aurora. The others had gone on ahead of them. Mike found some birds to feed and he just couldn't go past them without standing there.... and standing there.... and standing there and feeding as many of them as he could. There were chickadees, woodpeckers and nuthatches. Rora felt obligated to stay with him. He pointed out that with it being so close to winter he had to help them store up food for the winter.

Here are some of his customers.

Ruth and I are standing on a hill looking out at the bay and a boardwalk leading to an outlook that just happens to have my husband and children on it and her two sons on it. See them WAY out there?!

There they are again!

You can't tell me that that isn't just magnificent!

Here she comes!

I don't know what type of leaf this is, but it's so pretty, I had to take a picture of it.

See the Nuthatch? They really like getting their pictures taken. I'm not sure why, but they stay still so well for them.

See, there's another one posing! God must have made some birds to really enjoy getting their photos taken and being admired by the public at large (even the little ones in the public too.)

Caleigh FINALLY managed to get a couple of birds to eat from her hand. We had to wait for the tall people to leave before this would happen though.

See that smile?! This is the smile of a 3 year old that had a little bird eat out of her hand for the first time. THAT is a smile of a stoked little girl!

There is another look out. It's looking out over another part of the bay. From here you can see an awful lot. Sometimes even eagles!

This is what it looks like to look down at children from up there! "Hi!"

That is the look of a man who got a woodpecker to eat out of his hand.... AGAIN! This particular woodpecker had actually been following him around, kid you not. He REALLY liked Mike's seeds. Eva is looking at him and offering him some of hers too. If you click on the picture and look closely, you can tell he's considering it.