I was pretty astonished to see a good-sized turtle leisurely walking through our backyard this morning. The boys were beside themselves trying to get past me to go outside and check him out, in which I recommended that they first put on more then just underwear and a 12-hour-old
pull-up to greet our new friend. They looked at me like I was crazy even suggest such a thing (Clothes?!?! You've got to be mad woman! Don't you know it's summer?), but the lure of the very large reptile was too much for them to bare, and soon they conceded. 

By the time we were able to get outside, Mr. Turtle was already in the neighboring yard, 

which happens to be vacant right now, so we didn't mind doing a little trespassing
to get a better look at him (yet another reason I should be nominated for mother of the year).

 We tried to bribe him into friendship with some food.

Let's just say that the turtle is now gone, and the carrot still remains. 

Ben's thoughts: "See mom, nobody likes carrots."

We sat and stared at him for a while, and he at us. That lasted all of five minutes.
We wished Mr. Turtle good luck in his adventures and went back inside
to watch yet another rousing episode of Go, Diego, Go (yay).  

Along with the lizard that Darrel and the boys discovered last week, and the legion of salamanders the week before, I really don't know how I feel about all this unexpected wildlife in my backyard.

Whatever happened to precious little baby bunnies, the non-intrusive blue jay,

and playful squirrels?

Hmmm...I think I know what  happened to them.