Make Way for Ducklings!

The boys really get along well with the kids of one of our neighbors.  They have 4 girls and 2 boys.  The youngest is just a baby, but the other boy and his four sisters play outside a lot in a grass common area they have for their town homes, so Ethan and Austin have started playing with them a lot this summer.  The girls now come over and ask if they can play several times a week.  They'll come in the backyard, or sit in Bryan's truck out front and make up games or play pretend things, or play in the grass area.  One day earlier this summer they were playing in the backyard and I looked out front and saw a mama duck and her little ducklings walking around the parking lot outside our front door; so the kids came around to see.  The mama duck didn't seem like it wanted to leave and was kind of squawking and hanging around by the cars.  We didn't think anything of it and were trying to decide if we should call the animal patrol people to help the ducks get back by the lake or wherever they came from.  Then as my neighbor came around the corner she saw one of the baby ducklings fall down into the sewer drain :(  It was so sad.  She looked down the drain and saw 6 baby ducklings at the bottom of the drain, and amazingly they were all okay.  I called the police and talked with animal control and they said that they would come and help, but it might be a while because they were already out on a call.  So the dad of the girls came over and he and Bryan actually were able to take the drain cover off and Bryan shimmied down with a foot on each side so he wouldn't land on the ducklings, and helped the ducklings out.  When the animal control arrived they then transported them back near the lake or river.  Pretty exciting day for the kids!