"Food always tastes better when you eat in nature!"

My sweet boys bought a kayak for my birthday a while back and we spent that weekend playing around on the lake.  I cannot think of a better way to spend a day.  The lake that we spend our summers at is filled by run-off from  a near-by mountain.  We decided that we would paddle up the creek to see how close we could get to the mountain from the lake.

It didn't take too long before little man wore out so we tied his kayak to the back of mine.  That way when he needed a break he could take one.  Which came in handy as we went further up the creek and the current started pushing back.

As we neared the shallows a hen grebe flushed out from under a mud cave.  She put on quite a show flapping from bank to bank acting like her wing was busted and squawking at us.  My son (who wants to be a vet someday) asked if we should rescue the poor thing.  I explained that she was not hurt, she saw us as a predator and was trying to draw us away from a nest.  So we we scanned the bank and sure enough hidden just under the grass roots in a little mud cave was a baby grebe just barely peeking out above the water.

I only had my cell phone with me so it's not the best photo ever, but if you look closely you can just make out the head in the shadow by the wall of mud.  Lesson learned...always carry your good camera and camcorder.  I would have loved the opportunity to share this moment with everyone.  Duck mamas will go to great lengths to protect their babies.  We didn't want to flush out the baby or scare mama any more than we needed to (plus we had reached the shallows) so we backed out and headed back to the cabin for lunch. 

 Little guy was really mad that I didn't want to eat at the beach, but I just don't like sand in my food. "MOM!  Food always tastes better when you eat it in nature!"  So he staged a little protest and moved his chair off the deck so that he could eat in "nature."