Peek A Boo!

My first minivan had two bench seats and I always thought my life would be simpler with captain's chairs. I don't know why. It just seemed like it would be roomier for the kids, I guess. Well we got a new van last October and I was so thrilled to finally have my captain's chairs! But I hated them. It was impossible to help whoever was in the third row get buckled in properly, there was no place for groceries and the aisle between the seats was way too narrow. Since we really only needed three seats, we decided to take the 4th one out of the van and store it for awhile. I love the new arrangement because I finally have a place to put my groceries and I can easily reach into the third row to buckle my youngest into her carseat.

We removed the seat and needed to find a place to store it. Our garage is loaded with the homeowners' things, but my husband was determined to make some room in there for the seat. He works 10 hour days and can really only do projects like this on the weekend, so the chair sat on the back porch for a week until he had more time. Meanwhile, and unbeknownst to us, a bird decided that my van seat would be a great place for a nest.

Who can blame the bird though? It does look like a safe and cozy spot to raise a family! (Please ignore the mess, we were cleaning the porch/garage when I snapped the picture). Apparently there's just enough of a gap where the seat folds over to make the perfect nesting spot.

So now we are hosting three gorgeous baby birds. Aren't they adorable?

I have no idea how I'm going to clean that seat up once the babies leave the nest! In the meantime, we've been learning quite a bit about birds. My oldest did some research and found out that the old myth about touching baby birds is untrue. It seems that birds have a horrible sense of smell and really don't care if you touch their babies. However, the babies are extremely fragile and can be easily injured by even the most careful human. So, for now, we watch and look forward to the day they fly off into the trees.