Our beautiful Silver Maple:

Above is the last picture I'll ever take of our beloved tree

We've been told for 6 years that this tree was getting sick and would eventually need to be cut down, but we put it off for as long as possible because we just love it.  If you notice in that top picture, there is a large portion that is dead, with no leaves on it.  Throughout the tree there was a lot of dead and dying wood, ant infestation and fungus growing so we decided it was time to cut  it down :(  

The children were so so so entertained watching the show of it being cut down.  It was pretty amazing.

The kids requested several pieces of the tree to be left behind so here's a picture of their collection :)