Turtle Bonding

So, this weekend, I got to figure out something that my nephew and I share.  We both think that turtles are cool.  While my Mom, Sister, and Niece went to a craft show; Dad and my nephews and I went for a hike through the woods.  On the way back to the house, Nick spotted something and said "what's that."  What he had spotted was a cool little turtle.  It was cold and so we took him up to the yard where there was some nice grass and sunshine.  Nick ran off pretty quick, but Joey was fascinated.

Joey said he'd never really seen a turtle like that before, full grown but not like the ones at the Zoo.  He had the same look on his face I get whenever I see a turtle that I get the chance to admire.  He just wanted to watch and observe the little terrapin.  Once he warmed up, the turtle decided we were alright.  We tried to offer him a green tomato and a ripe one, but he wasn't hungry.  He walked around a bit and kept trying to find a place to hide. 

What was funny was that he didn't run away from us to hide.  He ran toward us.  I've never seen a turtle go toward a person before, but this one kept trying to bury himself under our pants legs to hide.  Nick came back over at that point and both the boys made a game of watching walk under them.  I hadn't anticipated finding a common bond with my nephews by spotting a little turtle.  But getting to share that moment of just watching a little turtle and sharing a bit of fascination with these really cool creatures was a really fun moment of bonding for this proud Uncle.