the picnic that wasn't

Last week I decided to meet Brennan down in Coralville after he got off work. The farmer's market is right by his office and starts an hour after he gets off.  There is also a cute little park with a pond next to his office.  So, we figured we could have a little picnic and let Tatum play outside for a little while, grab a few things at the farmer's market after is started and head home. Great idea right?  Well I sure thought so. And I made some pretty yummy chicken salad avocado wraps for dinner.  Little did I know there were killer ducks at this pond...

We hadn't even opened up our cooler when we were completely surrounded by ducks.  I had Tatum on a blanket on the ground and I had to snatch her up before the ducks ate her.  I kid you not. There were also two geese and Brennan claims he was attacked by geese in Mount Vernon the before that, so I was a little nervous about the geese. 

Okay, okay, so maybe the ducks and the geese weren't deadly or out to get us. But it still managed to pretty much ruin our picnic and gave us no opportunity to just relax and enjoy being outside. I really didn't feel like I could leave Tatum on the ground since the ducks had no qualms about coming right up to all of us and they were pecking at the blanket she was sitting on.  There was a sign by the pond that said "Help keep our wildlife wild. Don't feed the animals." Clearly, that sign has been ignored because these ducks thought we were there to feed them.

Tatum and Brennan playing. Of course, by the time we were completely finished and just about ready to go, the ducks had finally given up hope and had given us a little space.

 Attempting to get photographic proof of the way Tatum always holds her left arm/hand.  She always sticks it out, palm up, kind of like what Brennan is demonstrating with his right hand.

 I wish I would have thought to get out the camera when the ducks were all around us, but of course I didn't.  So I just got this shot of Brennan and Tatum with some ducks on our way out.

Trust me, the ducks were creepy.