In Which I Photograph A Dead Mouse At the Request of My Child (You Have Been Warned)

Riley got really upset with me last year.  "You never go on field trips with me!"  It was true.  I never had been able to go on a field trip with Riley because I couldn't go on field trips when Kaleb wasn't in school (no on to babysit him), and then, I babysat other peoples' kids for two years.  Sometimes, if a field trip was on a day I wasn't watching kids, I could go with one of the boys on theirs.  Riley's just never fell on a day off for me.  So this year, because I am no longer working during the day, I promised Riley that I would go on one of his field trips with him.  In the end, I actually got to go on two with him.
The first one was last month when we went to the Utah Museum of Natural History.  I hadn't heard from his teacher about whether he wanted me to come on this one or not, so I said, "Am I going?  I never got an email from your teacher asking me to."  "YES!"  He said enthusiastically.  So I showed up.  His teacher told me he wasn't actually planning on me coming, but I still could.  That made Riley happy.  I was perfectly willing to go home and not come that time, but his teacher is really nice and let me anyway.  It was a lot of fun, too.  We got to explore the entire museum.
Then today, we went to the Wetlands.  In Layton, Utah, there is the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve.  I love it there.  There is a mile long boardwalk where you can look for birds and bugs and frogs.  I need to go there more often.  But this time, we had a tour guide and he talked about the different plants that were there and about water levels and habitats.  We ate lunch and then the bus took us over to USU's Wetland Discovery Point in our hometown.  The kids had fun looking for macroinvertebrates, and looking up close at some of the plant life we found at the preserve.  By up close I mean under a not microscope, but I can't remember what it was really called.  It was just cool and I want one.

 Summer is the best time to come to the preserve because right now, last year's growth is still covering up this years'.

 I just love this building.  It's so cool.

 Our guide pointing out some awesomeness.

 A nest under the stairs.

 I don't know all the names of the birds I took pictures of, but this one is a red-winged blackbird.

 It's our bus!

 They called our group the Snowy Plovers.

 Riley and his friend told us about the Wilson's Phalarope.

"They pretend to have a broken wing to protect themselves from predators."

Which means if there is a fox or a skunk that wants their eggs or is getting too close to their nest, they will pretend to have a broken wing to lure them away.

 I don't' know what these birds of prey are called.  But they sure did a number on that mouse.

 Some of the kids were really excited to see this half eaten mouse.  Some were grossed out and said things like, "I'm not hungry any more."  Most of the latter were the boys.  I only photographed this because Riley asked me to.  It reminds me of the time I photographed a dead mouse (it wasn't torn apart though) at youth camp one year.  He really does take after me.  :D

 At the Wetland Discovery Point.

 These ducks are juveniles and they are hybrids of white domesticated birds and wild ducks.  Pretty cool.

 A coot.  Which is basically another duck.

 An awesome bird built a nest on the building.

 This is where we saw our plants up close.

 Our guide told us what this is, but I forgot before we were even out of the parking lot.  A long-tailed something.  It's related to magpies.

I don't know what this is either, but it's beautiful.