Back from Seattle!

Well, it took 12 hours of flying time, but I arrived safely back to a beautiful spring in Rochester!! Despite the long flying time, the flights (3) were uneventful and I did manage a little sleep (the first was a red eye). I bid adieu to little Amelia yesterday evening but thanks to the power of computers, I will be able to see her live via Gmail "phone" calls. She gave her first real smiles yesterday and what a treat!! Dad and mom were giving her bath which she LOVES and she looked over at Dad and just beamed -- totally ignoring mom I might add!! Alas, no camera was around and there was quite a crowd in their small bathroom already!!

Her eyes no longer have that goofy baby eyes look about them. She now spends long times just watching her toys that hang over her tummy mat or her vibrating chair!

Here Dad is playing rocket ship with her which she thinks is a great deal of fun!

We finished up the two weeks with another walk down the beach (on the Puget Sound) and I was treated with some new bird sightings to add to my non-existent list!

This is looking down the Puget Sound beach -- a very popular place when there is a low tide and nice weather like there was on Sunday!

These are Brants, which are relatives of the Canada Goose. They migrate through the area and there was a very large flock sitting on the Sound water. They are a large bird!

This is a Gadwall which is a relative of the mallard. There were lots of mallards on the ponds and these looked a lot like the mallards, but different...

This seems to be my year for identifying a lot of duck species!! My friend Debi's husband Bill says that there are lots of wood ducks up here on the ponds in NY. I will set my sights on seeing some of these in the wild this year! There are certainly lots of places to see birds around here!!