Lynnwood Park Zoo

I just got back from North Carolina!  My first time visiting the East Coast.  I did a lot of touristy stuff out there, so I have pictures to share.  

Now, you have to understand, coastal North Carolina is muggy.  Like, you walk out of a building and get hit in the face with a wet washcloth type muggy.  So I walked through this cute little zoo taking pictures and dripping sweat.  In the shot above, I was actually trying to capture the curly horned guy in the shed.

There he is!  I had to crop and lighten to be able to see him. 

That's a bunny.  He looks like Milo, our first foster bunny. 

I was trying to get a decent picture of these hawks when....

...one mooned me!  At least you can see the beak on the right one. 

Lynnwood Park Zoo is in Jacksonville, NC. 

The paths are white sand.  There are squirrels and dragonflies and butterflies, and the sound of cicadas. 

Probably ought to have lightened the emu picture. 

Prairie dogs!  They were busy little diggers. 

This snake kept trying to climb up the side of the cage and without anything to hold onto, he'd flop over about 3/4 of the way up. 

Biiiiig danger noodle. 

No, that's not a mirror.  When I paid my $10 (cash only!) admission, the gate guy mentioned that there are turkeys roaming free. 

Which was weird to me, because the peacocks were in a cage.  Here, (well, Folsom) we have peacocks roaming free at the zoo. 

The gate sells bags of corn feed that you can toss in to the animals, so many of them will come right up to the fence, hoping you have food for them. 

Kangaroo! 

The bobcat was aloof, as cats typically are.  I was just happy it was awake, since they're nocturnal. 

When I saw the alligator, I missed my teens.  I didn't have an audience to sing, "Never Smile at a Crocodile" to.  I feel like the other guests at the zoo might not have appreciated my solo. 

One of the zookeepers brought out some behind the scenes animals for me.  There was a large tortoise and a small tortoise, a fluffy white chicken, and a couple of reptiles. 

I felt like I took more pictures of them, but I guess either I didn't, or they got lost in the shuffle.  I had to upload my pictures to facebook and delete them from my phone a couple times during my trip. 

Hopefully over the next several days I'll get a few more posts up.  I've got pictures from a Civil War Battlefield and Governor Tryon's Palace to share, among other things. 

An Update On Me

So, when the kids all went to school a couple years back, I started volunteering, right? 

Yummy volunteer brunch at Book Den.

And the vast majority of the Book Den volunteers. 

I even got a little pin and a volunteer service award. 

But. 

I decided to take the summer off from volunteering.  (At least the regularly scheduled, every Tuesday, every Wednesday, gone from the house stuff.) 

And I sort of stumbled into a new thing.  Walking.  I saw an ad for Yes.Fit and was intrigued with the idea of virtual races.  I decided to try one, and I picked Zeus on Mount Olympus because one of my kids actually saw Mount Olympus not too long ago. 

If you're new to Yes.Fit, use the Promo Code wI3IOsHM during check-out, and you get a discount
and I get a gift card! This is win-win for us. Don't forget to use this code when you purchase your first
race, otherwise we both lose out. This one-time discount can be applied to any race, as long as it's
your first.

Eli and I did Walk For Veterans on Veterans Day. 

I was having some foot pain, so Paul took me to Fleet Feet and got me "real" shoes. 

Eli has been great. 

We walk together many nights after the weather cools down a bit, and eventually, we worked our way up to my first 5k.  Which, I'll be honest, I thought I was dying by the end, but in my defense, it was 94* out. 

Paul and I took the girls to Walk For Love again this year.  (We missed last year, but here's 2017.) 

After the walk, there's all sorts of fun stuff for the kids.  They even came home with Legos and water bottles this year. 

Lunch is always a highlight. 

Katie went back and forth from one jumper to another. 

Hannah's not much of one for bounce houses, so she went to do the stuffed animal hospital. 

Then Katie did, too. 

Love supporting Shriners.  They've done so much for our girls. 

I got tired of walking around our neighborhood.  So I drove a bit and walked a trail instead. 

Happy in the great outdoors.

The geese have goslings, so this was a clear indicator that it was time for me to turn and head back. 

So, you remember the Yes.Fit thing?  Well, I finished my virtual race, and my award came in the mail.  (I'm all about giving myself a carrot for doing things I don't want to do.)  Grumman lost his mind and started attacking the motivational card that came in the package.  But now I'm totally hooked.  I've finished my second race, Sherlock Holmes, and I'm currently working on Mark Twain.  I've also lost 10 pounds, which is just a drop in the bucket, I know, but it feels good. 

I know I said I wasn't going to do any volunteer work this summer.  But...  This is Milo.  We fostered him briefly while waiting for space to open up for him at Petco.  You can read about this sweet bunny here. 

When Milo left, Puff and Blackberry arrived.  They're babies, so they'll likely be here until they're old enough to be neutered. 

Then yesterday we added a foster kitten, Purrcilla, to our family farm. 

So, to summarize, I'm good.  Summer is about more walking and more animals for the moment. 

Hannah turns 12

Catching up on old pictures.  Hannah's birthday was actually 2 months ago. 

Eli igniting the candles.

Singing Happy Birthday

The birthday girl.  She's starting to turn from a little girl into a young lady.  It's a beautiful transformation. 

You know how good parents present their children with elegantly wrapped gifts that are almost too pretty to open?  Yeah, that's not us.  Here's a box and a knife, my darling. 

Legos!  (As if we don't already have a whole roomful of them.  Don't get me started.)

Beauty and the Beast reusable bag (which just happens to match her next Halloween costume) full of books for my voracious reader. 

And one of the biggest perks of turning 12 in our house is that you're finally allowed to sit in the front seat! 

Graduation and Other End of the School Year Events

It's summer!  Huzzah!  May is always such a crazy month with all that goes into wrapping up a school year.  It's nice to be past all that. 

So this happened.  Although I can't predict the future, Eli is probably our last graduate from BCS.  The younger kids fit much better in a smaller school. 

Eli and Miss Adorable, aka the graduates! 

Grammy and Annaliese came up for the big event.

The obligatory graduate and parents photo. 

Graduate and family!  Only missing Brianna, Sam, and Heather. 

Jack had an awards ceremony.  He received perfect attendance, certificates for woodshop and trap shooting, and a pin for drama. 

The elementary play this year was For The Love of a Good Book. 

I kind of like that they do play t-shirts each year.  Gives the girls something to wear to camp, lol. 

Hannah, friend, and a "book" from the set, made from a cardboard box.

My lil thespians.  Love the library backdrop. 

Elementary awards night.

Miss Hannah really cleaned up in awards this year. 

And Katie bagged a few, too, of course.

Katie and her teacher for the last 2 years.  Miss N will be taking a year off to write, and Katie's aged out of her class, anyway, so she'll be moving up to Hannah's former teacher next year. 

Hannah and her teacher for the past 2 years.  Hannah finished 6th grade, so she's bumping up to Jr High, where the kids actually change classes.  Hard to believe my tiny 12 year old is ready for that. 

Katie brought home 3 certificates and 2 trophies this year.  (She missed perfect attendance during asthma season.) 

Hannah brought home 7 certificates, 2 trophies, and a pin!  Probably the most impressive being the President's Outstanding Academic Excellence award, which is one of the certificates and the little round pin Hannah is wearing. 

Thrilled to have school out for the summer.  We've been hitting the library regularly, and just enjoying the down time.