Turtle Eggs

We see a lot of turtles at the lake and they love to lay their eggs in my yard.  We often get up in the morning and see freshly opened holes littered with broken egg pieces after baby turtles hatched the night before.  On occasion we even find the baby turtles crawling through the grass, slowly making their way to the lake.

But last week we finally got to see something we've never gotten to see before - a turtle actually laying her eggs.

First she found a nice spot and slowly dug out a huge hole with her back legs, piling a small mound of dirt behind the hole....

When the hole was to a depth of her liking, she quickly starting plopping out eggs.  After she laid each egg, she brushed a small layer of dirt over it with her back flippers....

When she was finished laying the eggs she brushed the remaining dirt over them and crawled away.  Looking at this spot, you'd never suspect that it held a bunch of turtle eggs, would you?

Does this make me a grandmother??