an unexpected guest

We had an unexpected guest on Easter morning. Yes, the Easter bunny came, of course, and he hid some eggs throughout the house leading to some pure excitement for the 3 kids and lots of chocolate for mom and dad to eat ;). After breakfast while I was on my second cup of coffee, reading a book and basking in the sunshine coming through the kitchen window while the kids were quietly playing (as blissful a moment as can be around here) when all of a sudden, from the corner of my eye I see a dark form come smashing on the window along with a large thud that jolted us all. I knew right away it was a bird and a large one at that. We all went outside and there was a Pileated Woodpecker. Had never seen one so close by. It was stunned at first, of course. The kids were approaching it ever so slowly and talking to it gently. After 5 minutes or so, it jumped on the fence and was whistling gently as if talking back to baby girl. Their conversation went on for a good 10-15 minutes and then all of a sudden it flew away. What a neat surprise for the kids.