When Nature Attacks

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day in Portland so my clan decided to make the most of it by going down to the river beach and feeding the ducks. We often went and fed the ducks in Arizona, but never have done it since we moved here. Over the last few days Merrick has been asking to go so we took advantage of a rare sunny day.

There were a lot more ducks than I thought there would be and they were anything but shy. As soon as the bread came out, the ducks came running. Merrick enjoyed throwing the bread and kept saying "hi ducks" over and over.

But then the unthinkable happened. Merrick held the bread in his hand just a second too long and a duck bit him (is it considered a bite since ducks don't have teeth?). Merrick flipped! I don't know if it really hurt him or just scared him, but after that he just wanted Jeremy to hold him. If you ask him about it today he will tell you that a duck ate him (I don't know where he learned to be so dramatic, certainly not from me).

When we finally got him calm we decided to take a walk along the river. That is when Jeremy noted that I had been hit. There were seagulls around while we were feeding the ducks and apparently they weren't too happy about not getting fed so they decided to take it out on me. I had a nice big seagull poop down the back of my jacket and in my hair.

Needless to say, our little outing was over. Jeremy and I have joked before that we were more of outdoor observers rather than outdoor people, but after yesterday even that might be a little much for me.