Soaring Overhead

Twice this week I have looked toward the sky to find quite a magnificent surprise. Yesterday while driving in our neighborhood I looked out over the canyon to see two giant birds soaring and dipping down close to the road. One of them looked as if he had found something for dinner so I, instead of taking the turn to head towards our house, took the road down into the canyon to get a better look. With giant wings flapping he took off and rapidly gained altitude. I told the girls I thought it must have been a golden eagle. We watched them flying way overhead as we made our way towards the house. As I was getting Little One out of the car I heard Em yelling "Quick Mom, over here!" several times. Hurrying as fast as I could, with baby attached to hip, I ran around the side of the house to find the bird agilely landing on top of a mesquite tree just on the other side of our property. I was wrong it wasn't a golden eagle at all, it was a bald eagle! I was so excited I ran for my camera, but by the time I juggled it open and a now squirming Little One it took flight. I sat outside for awhile hoping it would reappear but it never did. But how exciting it was to be so close to such a spectacular bird!

Tonight as I listened to Em read I glanced out the window to find this gliding past.

We ran outside waving and this time I was able to juggle both baby and camera and get some pictures. As I was frantically taking tons of pictures of this balloon I kept hearing "Helllllloooo" bouncing off the canyon walls and I could hear my girls on the other side of the house calling back. Then I heard a loud "whooosssshhh" and I looked straight up to see this!

The two men on board had been the ones waving and saying hello, silly me. They were probably watching me taking all sorts of pictures of the first balloon and thinking why doesn't she just turn around and see us hovering right over her shoulder!!

Anyway, we were thrilled to see such a wonderful sight two afternoons in a row.