Montana Wildlife!

As I blogged yesterday, homeschooling has many perks!  Picnicing outside being a special bonus in nice weather (who wants to sit in a stinky, noisy, crowded lunch room on a sunny day?).  Another perk we enjoyed this week and last week was the wildlife.

No, no... not that kind of wildlife!  Although, Montana can be known for its dinosaurs.  We haven't had the chance to visit the Museum of the Rockies yet.

This kind of wildlife is more of what I was thinking:

Maybe it was Faline ;-)  We were doing math at the dining room table and one of the kids noticed movement out the back sliding door.  Upon checking we stood in awe for nearly 5 minutes as Doe and fawns grazed in our yard :-) 

Yesterday I began to wonder if it will be a hard winter.  Maybe the deer are filling up anywhere and everywhere to prepare for scarce supplements in a few short months.  As we prepared to sit in the living room and read about Ancient Greece, our attention was drawn out the front windows as a Buck and two very young bucks grazed in our front yard!  My husband snapped this picture from just outside our home-office door:

As I type this I am reminded of our trip to the Zoo when we were in Chicago a couple years ago.  I expected my kids to be ultra-excited at seeing such a managerie of animals.  They were impressed with the dolphins but everything else didn't seem to hold their attention as I expected.  Perhaps wild deer, bear, and mountain goats almost close enough to touch have inhibited any fascination for other caged beasts! 

The thought to leave here with?  If they had still been in public school, they would have missed the wonder and marvel of local wildlife.

Blessings to you this weekend.