Black Bear, Black Bear...

This evening was so enjoyable. M had a doctor's appointment so that he could get a sports physical (in the hopes of getting him enrolled in Karate, swimming, basketball and/or soccer. C's turn will come shortly; as soon as I can get her an appointment). We also needed to verify his shots were up to date for school next year.

I dropped Matt off at work this afternoon and took off to the hospital. We had to wait a very lengthy time because the physician was running extremely late (kind of unusual in this location... They seem to do very well maintaining their appointment times). We finished with the doctor at around 3:20pm and headed home.

After chatting with Mike (I was trying to reach my sister and instead got her other half) for about 30 minutes and then my mom for another swift 30 minutes, I headed off to pick up Matt.

On my way there, I decided I didn't want to cook! So, I took Matt home to change before we headed out to Denny's (it's "Kids Eat Free Tuesday" dinner night). The meal was nice and, considering it was actually payday, the restaraunt was quiet.

We headed home after our delicious meal. As we headed through the North Gate of post I told Matt that there was a movie I wanted to buy, though I couldn't, for the life of me, recall what it was. So, he pulled into the shopette to purchase the movie there.

The cool thing was that as we pulled in, Matt slammed on the brakes and just stared towards back side of the building. Moseying down the dirt path was a big black bear!!! It wasn't more than 20 yards in front of our van. I'm scrambling to point the bear out to the kids and it suddenly dawns on me that I should have brought our camera. I mention the thought out loud and Matt says, "Use the phone!"

I grabbed the phone and, in a dither about how to get a quick shot, I clicked the button. Unfortunately, right about that time, some young soldiers, who had pulled in behind us, started yelling at the bear and chased it off. They followed it down the path in their car. I'm not sure why they did that, but it kind of ruined the moment for me.

I must admit, though, I pulled a REALLY stupid move in photographing the bear: I got out of the van in an attempt to walk towards it! Yes... I was very dumb at that particular moment in my life. I was just so excited to see a bear roaming free in the wild. That is one of the most amazing things about the military: They are very cautious about encouraging nature and regularly replant trees, build safe havens for birds, and ensure the wildlife on post is protected.

This is the photograph I got of the bear... It's the little black speck in the middle of the picture!!!