Bats

There are so many (past) things that I want to update on this blog, but for now I’ll start with last night.

Ever since we’ve moved here we have wanted to go on one of the bat tours given by the local wildlife association, but when we would remember to check out the dates and times (they only do 5 or 6 a year) we would be out of luck. A few months ago I happened to stop by my bosses office when she was attempting to sign up for one of the bat tours and complaining that almost all the ones she tried to get tickets for were sold out. So, I jumped on it and got tickets that night, for the last tour that still had openings. Little did we know three months ago when we signed up for the tour that it would be the same day and time as Ari’s back to school night, so we had to do some finagling to meet her teacher and such at a different time, but it all worked out. Unfortunately for me however her teacher remembered that I had be the class coordinator last year for the end of the year BBQ and asked me to do it again since I would be an old hat at it. See, it’s a 6th grade only BBQ, but Ari was in a 5th-6th combo class last year and when her teacher asked for volunteers I told her I’d help out if she needed me to. She gladly accepted my help, but then as a side note mentioned something about it really would have been nice to have a 6th grade parent do it since it’s a 6th grade BBQ. Ari felt pretty special last year however; because there were only nine 5th grade students in that combo they got to do almost all the stuff the 6th graders got to do, therefore they were invited to the BBQ as well. So, long story short, I get to do it again this year, yippee!

So, back to the bats…

They have a little lecture before hand, which DH and I were dreading knowing how well Devyn was going to sit still for a 45 minute presentation on bats, and we were right…she was a terror! But at the end the kids were allowed to go up and see the bats close up which she loved! All the bats that live around here are Mexican Free Tail bats, and they are tiny, only about four or five inches long and it take three of them to make an ounce. There are two colonies of bats right around us, and by saying right around us I mean one of them(the small one) is a few hundred feet from our front door. I don’t know how many are there, probably a few hundred or so, but Devyn and Ari love to go and look at them and hear them chatter as cars drive under the bridge. The other colony, which we went on the tour to see, has approximately 25,000 bats and lives under the causeway that leads over to Sacramento. They are amazing to watch as they fly out at dusk. It looks like a wave of smoke billowing out from under the causeway.

(I didn't get the greatest pictures, but you get the idea)

It also happened to be a full mom last night so when you turned around from watching the bats this is what we saw.

(DH took this shot of the moon, he's a much better photographer than me)

My boss, Kathy, also ended up at the same tour and Devyn immediately fell in love with her daughter Claire who is six. Today Kathy said that Claire asked last night if she thought Devyn would want to be her sister...too cute.

By the way, I am totally addicted to this...I used it on a couple of these pictures. It's a photo editing site and you don't even have to have an account or anything. I would really like to have this photo editing program, but before I get that I'd really like to get this camera, which then I would really need to learn how to use it, so for now I'll just use Picnik!