An Aerial Delight

Hello all!  I'm finally getting around to writing about some things that happened after Christmas.  Our Christmas festivities went on for about 2 weeks this year.  Some of our "Midwestern" side of the family decided to come out for a visit the week in between Christmas and New Year's.  We were thrilled to see my grandparents and aunt and uncle for a week.  On December 30, a Sunday afternoon, we got an extra special treat.  There is currently a Bald Eagle's next out at Berry College, and all of the visiting family, along with my parents, decided to go out and see it.  It was a cold day, but sunny, and it was a fun, outdoor family activity.  Cline and I and the girls went to church in the morning, and then came home for our afternoon rest.  It was one of those rare, perfect days where everyone went into a deep sleep, and Cline and I both had the opportunity to sleep simultaneously for a good couple of hours.  I ruined that, though, when Mom called and said they were all heading out to see the Eagle's nest.  I woke Cline up, and informed him that we were going too, which would require us waking up all 3 sleeping girls and loading them in the car immediately.
Cline protested, of course.  We don't give up our opportunities for a nap lightly!  But I insisted that it would be a fun, family activity, and we hardly ever do outdoor, nature-involving family activities, and it would be an educational experience for the girls.  Cline warned me that we wouldn't be able to see anything, telling me that we were going to get the girls out in the cold and try to point out which far-off pile of sticks in a tree was supposed to be the nest, unsuccessfully, of course.  (He wasn't being difficult or mean in any way, and certainly wasn't trying to avoid seeing my family.  He was just making a good case for allowing our family to indulge in the rare nap we were experiencing!)
Although he's usually right about these kinds of things, I would not be convinced.  So we packed some hats, gloves, and snacks for the kids and drove out to Berry College.

 As it turned out, I was right this time.  We could clearly see the 2 ton nest, and it was fascinating to look for the Bald Eagles!

 Lo and Behold, one of them flew out of the woods and perched on a nearby tree.  He flew around a few times right in front of us, landing closer and closer to the nest each time.  It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, and it was HUGE!!  I did not think to bring my camera with me, but my Aunt had a great lens, so she shared her pictures with me!

I heard someone say that the nest weighs about 2 tons, and the babies (2 of them, I think) have since hatched.  Not too long after we'd been there, just to really finalize my bragging rights about how we were right to sacrifice our nap for this experience, the OTHER Bald Eagle put on an aerial show for us before settling in/near the nest!!  Even Cline admitted that it was so cool, and that he was wrong in his reluctance to go.

The girls had a great time, and walked down to the pretty fountain area with the family, while Cline and I walked slowly with Elizabeth.

It was a great, family day, enjoying nature!