And now for the main event!

This weekend we did the Pinewood Derby for Audie's Scout troop at church. Because there were only 10 boys, they competed against each other. They had some circular bracket system that provided each scout 2 races in each of the three lanes of the track. First place of each race was awarded 3 points, second received 2 points, and third received 1. At the end, scores were totaled and the top 3 raced against each other in 3 races to allow them a full rotation through the lanes.

Audie was a little disappointed that he didn't win, but he did receive a certificate naming his car the Car-ma Chameleon (after the song) and a participation medal. Ashton was our first place winner, and as a special treat, we raced his car against mine from the cake.

I started with a piece of green floral Styrofoam the same size as a pinewood derby blank and carved it into this shape. Then I covered it in fondant and had Dougie pick the colors and design the paint job. I used real pinewood derby wheels.The whole thing was 1.2 ounces under the max of 5 ounces, so Ashton's car already had a clear advantage. As his car was crossing the finish line and mine was 3 feet behind it, the front 2 wheels flew off and the car skidded to a halt. It wasn't meant to be a serious race, more for entertainment, and everyone loved it.
This last shot was on the table at the derby. I was also asked to coordinate food for the event, so in addition to cake we had chips and dip, a veggie tray with ranch dip (that I totally rocked, BTW), and taco bites.
After the race was over and clean-up complete, we headed down to Winchester to see my newest nephew, Matthew Vinh. I got to hold him, so tiny, and snuggle, look at him, look at Tim, look at him, look at Tim and smile, and hear, "No, we already have 3!"

Tim even held him... and I have PROOF!!!

All you see is a little fuzzy head and then Tim's ARM!
I want one! OK, reality check. I'm satisfied to snuggle and coo at this little guy. In the mean time, I was the first on the Whitcomb side that got to hold him... Nanny, Nanny, Boo, Boo!

A force field of stink

Sometimes I forget that Audie is a kiddo when he says things like that. Apparently, the skunks were encouraged by the ground hog's prediction of an early spring, but their senses are still a little groggy. I've counted no less than 6 dead along the road. Worse yet, as you drive around them, the stink gets in the car, and the only way to get rid of it is to open the windows for a time. As Audie was describing this, he called it a force field of stink. Tim and I just looked at each other and laughed. Very clever, kiddo!

Chloie had a similar instance with the "fresh air button" on the AC controls. Dougie is, well, DUDE. I have awesome kiddos. Chloie is feeling better, though the cough is still a little harsh. I'm hoping that since her fever broke Saturday night, it'll go away without too much persistence.

Is it Chili's in here?

In a move of total spontaneity, Tim decided that we should go to Chili's in Winchester for dinner. We LOVE Chili's. We were delighted when we discovered they'd brought back the classic nachos. YUM!!! The ones they had in place of them just weren't the same. Tim ate his classic bacon burger, I had honey-chipotle chicken strips, Chloie had a cheese burger, Dougie had pizza, and Audie had a corn dog, 1/2 of Chloie's burger, and a piece of Dougie's pizza. That kid can really pack some food away!

A sweet paint job!

I promised pictures of Audie's pinewood derby car, and here they are... Tim helped him pick a design, and I drew it on the block. Then he and Audie cut and sanded the car and painted it with flat black paint. Then Audie and I taped off the windows and coated it with 2 layers of chameleon paint.

From different angles it looks blue, purple, pink, greenish, etc. Finally, we taped off everything except the racing stripes (painted in chrome) and finished with a clear coat or two.

I don't think he cares if he wins or not (which is kind of the point), but he's really proud of his car. I think it looks awesome!

I can't wait to see what we come up with for next year!

Chameleon paint, food orders and more...

I suppose we had an eventful weekend. The kiddos and I finished the second season of Star Trek: Voyager and got the third season from Dad. We had dinner with my parents Friday night because I got stuck waiting for the Variform train on Route 9. Grrr!

Dougie and Chloie went grocery shopping with me in Hagerstown on Saturday while Tim and Audie worked on his Pinewood Derby car. They looked online for ideas and asked me to sketch it onto the blank for them to cut out and sand. It looked really good when I saw it painted black on Saturday. I promised Audie that we'd put the chameleon paint on it Sunday after church. This is the same paint I have on my motorcycle. We taped off the windows so that when we're done, it will look like he has tinted windows on his car. :)

I also placed my first food order from the Church's provident living department (or whatever it is called). I'm going over to my friend's house tomorrow to can all of my dried goods. I'll finally have a year supply on something! Now if I can get the garden working, I think we'll be OK.

I did record the Super Bowl for Tim. We started watching it when he got home at about 9, but I couldn't stay up long enough to watch past the second quarter. What I did see was a pretty awesome game, and Tim told me that the Packers won. Since there wasn't a clear underdog (like the Saints last year) and his favorite team wasn't in the game, we rooted for Green Bay. YAY WIN!

What year is it again?

You know, right when you get used to writing 2010, they go and change it on you. Now I get to spend the next 12 months trying to remember to write 2011.

Tim and I had a good couple days at home together last week. We watched movies, beat each other playing Wii games, cuddled... it was wonderful. No snow, I didn't have to work, and we got to relax. I did have a list of things to do, however, and completed those things while he was working. I typed most of the Primary stuff for music time, learned the songs, did some dishes, caught up on laundry, put a bunch of yarn away, and did some cleaning. Oh, Oh, and I got to try out my new game. You know, the one Tim got me for Christmas? Star Wars: the Force Unleashed is awesome!!! I spent 3 hours playing it Friday night and didn't realize it until Tim got home.

Tim and I didn't celebrate New Years. We decided to go to bed somewhat early so that we'd be well rested for the trip to Knoxville Saturday morning to pick up the kiddos. Thankfully, there was no snow, just rain, and the temperature was kind of nice (if you can contain excitement over a 50° heat wave). We stopped at a Burger King on the way home and let them play in the "complex" they had for a play place. This thing was 3 stories tall!

Chloie kept asking if I'd teach her how to knit since we got her pink yarn, purple yarn, and a set of knitting needles for Christmas. I told her we'd work on it after church on Sunday. She picked up casting on very quickly, though trying to knit the stitches is a little tricky. We'll just have to practice a little more. :) The boys put together their Lego kits - Audie his sea plane, and Dougie his race car. Audie did his all by himself while I helped Dougie. The kiddos even played the Wii some. Chloie seems to like archery like me while Audie liked sword fighting.

We had a good Fast and Testimony meeting Sunday morning. Tim even got up and bore his testimony about fasting. I'm so glad it works because we have a lot to be thankful for due to fasting. I was SO happy he got up there. He laughs at me for it, but I can't help but be happy that he's come so far from when I met him, but then again, so have I.

Well, now that the holidays are over, I guess it is time to return things to "normal" if there really is such a thing. I need to go grocery shopping...

Parent Teacher Conferences

We talked with Audie's teacher last night, and I'm glad we did. It turns out that the things we've been noticing weren't us just over reacting. Audie's been having trouble reading. Funny thing is that he doesn't have as much trouble reading scriptures each day with us, just the stuff from school. His teacher confirmed that he gets distracted easily, and as a result gets frustrated when he has to catch up. She recommended some ways to help him from home, and even agreed to send his reading book home an extra day during the week so that he can practice more. I think we'll start seeing some progress.

I really like his teacher (and her in-classroom helper). They really care about their students, and were willing to discuss at length the progress of our son. I don't remember some of my teachers being that nice when I was in school.

I want my bird.

Bonus points if you can tell me what recent movie that is from. Really it was pronounced more like, "I want my boid." Any takers?

I was up late (midnight) last night working on this bird... for a cake... due tonight. It's huge. I managed to transform it from a vague lump of green floral Styrofoam into a detailed chocolate-covered bald eagle. Yep, you read correctly. A BALD EAGLE. Lofty goals, much?

In truth this cake is for a young man in our ward getting his Eagle Scout tonight. I remember talking with him and his mother in passing last year about it. I told him that if he earned his Eagle, that I would put a 12" tall bald eagle on a cake for him. Well, he did it, and so have I.

I'm so proud of our Scouts. Audie and others in his den have earned their Bobcat badge, two of our scouts have recently earned Arrow of Light, and this is the second Eagle Scout in as many weeks. We have an active pack! I was surprised when Audie got his Bobcat and he got to pin me with a mini Bobcat badge. As I was new to scouts, I wasn't expecting it. I was expecting the dads to get all of the credit because they do the camping trips, hikes, etc. Way to go Moms!

I promise I'll post pictures of the finished cake after I deliver it tonight. I can't fully assemble it until I get it to the church. Did I mention that chocolate feathers are delicate?

Hokey Happenings

Yep, it's that time again when the kiddos can't make up their minds about what they want to be for Halloween. We finally decided on the following three candidates:

Audie testing out his ninja skills. To his credit, he really is a sneak... especially when he's in costume with mask and all. He was "practicing" all week.Dougie posing as Iron Man. It's hard to see here because it is after the evening's festivities, but his face is painted to look like the mask.Chloie as a water bender. While the other two were store bought, this one was home-made. We're looking at a bathrobe, curtains, and retired ribbon.Of course, the evening wouldn't be complete without cake. This duo was for the trunk-or-treat at the church. Because we forgot what time it started, we got there 1 hour late so it didn't sit on the table long. After I hacked it up for all to eat, it lasted for even less time.

As for my first official day as Primary Music Director... well, lets just say we all survived. I've learned a few things in the last 24 hours.

1. Junior primary are easily entertained.

2. Senior primary not so much, but they will sing for food.

3. 40 minutes of solid singing is tough for the uninitiated. Next time I'm bringing a water bottle.

Not this time.

We have a pack meeting tonight at Scouts. I was kind of excited... scratch that, very excited... that Audie had completed the requirements for his Bobcat badge because that meant he would get it at the next pack meeting. Right?

I checked his book last night as we were working on another requirement for his Wolf badge and found that they hadn't recorded it yet. Meaning he won't get it this time. The whole family is a little disappointed. Apparently the den leaders have to notify the pack leader in the week before a pack meeting of any new achievements so that they have the time to get the needed items from the Scout store, and by the time we found out that there was an issue, it was too late to get to the store again. So we wait.

It's OK, though, because it gives us a little more time to work on more Wolf requirements. We're in section 4 creating job lists, phone lists, and learning how to answer the phone and door. We need to visit a historic site in the community for one of the requirements in this section... any ideas?

My Little Scout

Audie's first day in uniform. HUGE PMM (Pround Mommy Moment)!!! What a smile! :)

I got to go upstairs!!!

I've been giddy and grinning from ear to ear all weekend. It was a long Saturday, but worth every minute of it. I decided to forgo walking on the treadmill in favor of getting some extra sleep (I'd been told that it would take a lot out of me). Tim and I got up at 6am and made up our grocery list, and I got ready to go. Amy was there just after 7am, and we were off!

After stopping at Burger.King for a quick breakfast, we got to the temple around 9am and went to the distribution center to purchase the needed items for my first time through. I learned very quickly, however, that the fit is a little different from the measurements and ended up exchanging the bottoms before we left later in the afternoon.

I can't even begin to describe how awesome it was to walk across the bridge and into the temple! We got to sit and enjoy the mural on the second floor. I'm told the painter painted his entire family into both sides (apparently he wasn't sure on some of them). I love how he included people from all different time periods and the expanse of righteous people represented on the right hand of the Savior in light. It was very powerful. There is a girl in a blue dress almost front center helping a small child that looks like JaNae's daughter. I wonder if there is a likeness of me?Most of the rest of my time inside the temple can't and shouldn't be discussed here or anywhere but inside the temple, and I know there are websites out there that lay bare the author's version of those events, but I feel that those entries were penned without the Spirit and prompted by something with less than benevolent intentions in mind. While researching the temple a couple years ago to make it in cake, I found a spectacular picture, but it was attached to one of those sites. Not knowing what I'd found, I read through and couldn't believe what I was reading. The author repeatedly put down the church and its practices and mentioned how "silly" they felt. As time went on and I wanted to go and was preparing to enter the temple, I was worried that I would feel the same way. Thankfully, I didn't. I had a wonderful experience, and aside from some slight issues with the ceremonial clothing, everything was fine. I left feeling empowered and maybe walked a little taller. I wasn't confused, and I didn't feel silly, but I did feel at peace, like I'd accomplished something important. If you haven't gone, I encourage you to do so, so that you can feel for your self. If you've already gone, I encourage you to do so as if it was your first time and recapture the giddy excitement. Sitting in the Celestial room, I couldn't help but think I'm finally here! It was beautiful! Everything in the temple is beautiful. Even the banisters are beautiful. The stained glass was breathtaking, and the details are incredible. I can't wait to go back! I do, however, need to make my own dress for my next visit. And Tim and I have decided that we want to go back often enough to warrant purchasing our own "accessories".

The outpouring of support was phenomenal as well. I couldn't believe how many people showed up just to be there with me. I'm so grateful that my ward family (and my BIL and SIL) were there, and especially my BFF Amy for escorting me. Most of us went to Red.Robin for lunch afterwards. I was good to revel in their friendship and enjoy our time together. We had an excellent lunch, and then start our trek back to WV, pick up the kiddos, pick up pizza, and go to the Elders Quorum activity. Pizza and games... fun! The kiddos really enjoyed playing Twister, musical chairs, and whacking at a pinata! There were pieces of yellow and purple streamers flying everywhere with the swing of the sword they were using. The brethren finally had a go at it after the kids made 2 runs through. Sam whacked it so hard that it came off of the rope and tossed it at Tim; he wasn't expecting it, and it split open when it hit him. :) After everything was cleaned up, we went grocery shopping for our 2 week menu and rented Prince.of.Persia from Red.box. Awesome movie BTW (Tim and I watched it Saturday night).

After completion of Saturday's festivities and a quasi-good night's sleep, were were honored to see the Primary program Sunday morning. Dougie was brave enough to say his line this year, Chloie played shy, Audie did great as always, and everyone sang their songs with gusto! The rest of our Sunday was peaceful, which was a welcome break after such a busy few days. We celebrated my parents' birthdays and Dougie's birthday with cake and icecream and presents for Dougie. On Wednesday we're taking my parents out to chinese for their birthdays. Mmmm, tasty!

I'm awake, I promise...

I finally did it. I woke up at 4:30 and walked for 30 minutes for the first time this week. It felt good to get back on the treadmill.

... wow did I just say that???

I tried watching some streaming video through Net.flix, but the Internet spazzed out. I ended up watching part of the 2-part Warehouse.13 instead. Love that show. :) I know... geek.

Getting across town yesterday was, uh how you say? fun. Note the sarcasm. I must have hit every red light through town, and I was stopped by the train a mile from my parents' house to get Dougie. I had to call the school to let them know that I was running late and ask them to tell the bus driver. Luckily he lives a quarter mile from the bus stop.

The kiddos did an awesome job taking care of things when they got home - putting away their shoes, emptying their lunch boxes, and starting their homework. I've decided that instead of reading our scriptures before bed, we're going to read them after homework is done, and they can do activities and play games afterwards.

Speaking of activities, these are the recent wee nifties we've created using the hamas beads. The princess and fairy godmother are Chloie's the aquatic life belong to Dougie, and the car and trophy are Audie's. They sit down with their board and pattern, I pick out the beads by color they need, and they put them on the board. I get to do the ironing.

You know what, I'm giddy with excitement about this Saturday. In 48 hours I get to go INSIDE!!! I think I might do a little happy dance! :) Every time I think about it I start grinning from ear to ear. Was it like this for everyone else?

I'm beginning to like this new schedule.

It's still a challenge getting up in the morning with no one else awake. I'm still trying to figure out the best route to take to work that early in the morning. We're still working out the kinks, but I think it's worth it.

Yesterday I met Mom and Dougie at our favorite local craft store. She was looking for yarn so that she could also participate in the Bernat mystery crochet-a-long (follow along on Wednesdays here). I'll be posting my progress on here, don't worry. I found a soft, light-weight teal yarn I'm planning on using to knit a sweater after my favorite store-bought one. I'll adjust the pattern as I do it, however, to account for my height and a little more length in the sleeves.

We got to the bus stop to wait for Audie and Chloie, and I let Dougie play with my phone. He received great joy shaking the free "rolling dice" game and adding the numbers together. We got everyone home, homework done, and planners signed. They even washed out their drink containers and cleaned their lunch boxes! Chloie finished her homework first and asked to play her PS3 game, Audie asked to do his Hama beads set from the movie Cars. He made a trophy and an image of Lightening.McQueen. Dougie played with Chloie on the PS3 for a while. We had Mac-n-cheese with hot dogs for dinner, and I taught the kiddos how to rinse their dishes in the sink after meals (something else they're going to take more responsibility for). We left for the church for Scouts on time today; I love how this schedule doesn't make our evening activities so rushed and hectic. I scoured the house for Audie's form, but couldn't find it, so I had to get a new one from Sister Vincent. I was able to work on redoing the visiting teaching routes while Chloie and Dougie played, and JaNae and I sat there for another 45 minutes after Scouts were done going over the results. I plan to go in a little early Sunday to finish up and get everything printed out for the supervisors.

We stopped by Lowe's to see Tim. His boss, Chad, got to meet the whole family finally, and we purchased more 3/4" screws for our dresser project. By the time we got home, it was late. I mean LATE. 9:30 is well past their bed time, and I'm starting to see that it's almost past mine, too. With this new schedule, I can't seem to get up and exercise. I'm planning on going to bed by 9:30 tonight and do my walk tomorrow morning. Luckily, I haven't gained any weight back... I'm still sitting at 273. We'll see how I feel about getting up tomorrow.

I can't believe I'm actually saying this...

...but I missed my walk this morning.

My first mistake was tyring out the alarm feature on my new phone and sleeping through the 5:55am ringer (it wasn't up loud enough) so I missed getting up on time, which means I missed walking, and I actually missed it. I've noticed that my attitude/outlook is a little grumpier this morning than it has been the last week or so and that I'm yawning a lot. Who knew? Since I missed getting up on time, I missed leaving with Dougie on time, missed leaving my parents' house on time, missed clocking in by mere minutes. I'm missing a lot of things today, and all because I missed my walk. Wow. O.o

Last night was fun; however, as it was Tim's and Audie's first day Scouting. I also got a crash course in Scouts from JaNae and Annabelle. I have to get to Winchester sometime before Tuesday and get Audie his shirt, patches, scarf thing, etc. There's a book with things on which we need to work with him to help move his progress along. So much stuff. Yikes! Tim spent the night getting to know his scouts and updating progress and paperwork with them. He's planning a trip to the Sheriff's department for a tour to fulfill one of the requirements in their books.

We've decided that for as long as we're doing scouting, we're meeting at the church to eat a picnic lunch and finish homework, then do our activities. I'm going to bring some knitting/crocheting to do while I'm waiting, and there are younger kiddos for Dougie and Chloie to play with while Audie is in his group. I also learned that next year Chloie will go to Activity Night for girls. Wow, they grow so fast!

I think we survived...

Eyebrows? ... check.

Hair? ... yep still there.

Sanity? ... debatable if it was there to begin with!

Looks like the family survived the weekend! All of the orientations are done; I like the kids' teachers this year, and they seem to be ready to go. Audie and I went grocery shopping Saturday morning while Tim, Chloie, and Dougie cleaned up at the house. It wasn't a long trip (thankfully), and Audie downed an entire 20 oz. bottle of orange soda on the way home. I think he's a camel... who will turn orange... and bounce off of the walls!

The birthday party went well also. We tried a new recipe for BBQ ribs from the crock pot cook book that turned out really well. I'm planning on using the left over BBQ liquids for the pulled BBQ chicken we're doing later this week. Mmmm, yummy! I even made ice cream cake for them. I'm liking it more and more!

We took a short nap after everyone left then headed up to Hagerstown to catch a Suns game as part of an Elders Quorum activity. I couldn't argue with the price! A hat, a complete meal at Chip.oltle, and game admission for $6.25 a person. For the 5 of us at Chip.oltle would have been $50 easy. It was a good game; I loved how they kept you entertained with little games, dancing, etc. while the teams switched. The kiddos liked it, too, and I was surprised at how much I knew about the game while explaining it to them. The Suns lost 6-1, but it was a good time, and President Fugate even caught us on camera dancing to the Cha Cha Slide.

We got to hear about the 10th Article of Faith during sacrament on Sunday, and hearing President Fugate speak is always a treat. :^) Our RS meeting was about helping our children stay in the Gospel or come back to it, and applying those methods to fellowshipping other Saints and non-members. I had a complete blond moment and thought we'd be doing a lesson from the manual and practiced songs on that subject. Luckily JaNae is awesome and picked songs related to the correct topic that I could play. The pop practice hymn would have gone badly very quickly had I attempted it, so she was kind enough to play that for me. Whew!

I'm setting up my appointment with the bishop for my temple recommend, with the appointment with President Grow to follow soon afterward. I'm so excited!!!! Can you tell?!?!?!? Hehe! I'm all giddy about it. I didn't realize that going for the first time was such a bid deal. I mean, I knew it would be for me personally, but people are crawling out of the wood work to go and support me, and I wasn't expecting that. Now I'm also kind of nervous that I'm going to royally mess up, but I'm glad that there will be people I know and love there with me. I'm hoping to go the Saturday after my baptismal anniversary, so I guess that is September 18th. I'm still working on the details. After that I have to work on my temple dress for the sealing. More on that later!

The McIntyre clan (and extended members) was invited to Mrs. B's house for a BBQ. My sisters and I went to school with her daughter Ashley. The food was excellent, and the company was even better! I got to see friends from MHS that I hadn't seen in forever! Some more than 10 years. I didn't realize how much I missed seeing them until we spent the length of the party catching up. Some things were the same, others different, but all around a good time sharing war stories and memories.

I think that's enough for now... I'm looking forward to a semi-quiet weekend this week! I think the only thing on the calendar is a date night while the kiddos work on their Primary Program Saturday night.

Click, click, click... click......click............AAAHHHHHHH!!!

I must say that yesterday was EXCITING!!! The kiddos seemed to have a blast!

We started the 2.5 hour trek to Lakemont Part in Altoona, PA at 9:30am. Once in Altoona, we stopped for lunch at Friendly's which has phenomenal ice cream, BTW. The kiddos each got a balloon, and we headed for the park.

Tim and I have resigned ourselves to the fact that any road trip we take will turn into a GPS adventure (i.e. the Pentagon, 4 left turns/double U, HOV lane to name a few). This time he missed the turn for Lake road that would taken us right to the park, so I (as the naviguessor) had to do some creative finagling to get us there. 4 right turns later, and we're at the park, laughing all the way. Now in my defense, the was a left turn where Hazel Road turned into something else by another name. The best part is, we got to do it twice!

We started the kiddos in "Kiddie Land" with all of the smaller rides. They seemed to really enjoy some of them. The park has a pint-sized roller coaster for the younger adventurists. All 3 got on and were excited and smiling, but after the first small drop, Chloie and Dougie got really serious. The ride makes 3 loops, and on the second and third, Dougie was waving at the attendant begging him to stop and for no more! I felt so bad for him, but I couldn't stop laughing. After that they got to try the mini-Indy. I'm grateful for patient attendants that stood on the back of Dougie's cart and held the throttle because he couldn't figure out that you have to hold the pedal down. They had fun!

We spent some time in the water park during the afternoon. The water was a little cool, but it was fun. They did a lot of sliding on the pirate ship and splashing around before we went over to the big pool so that Audie could show us his underwater skills. We had a slight scare thinking we lost Chloie's pants somewhere at the pool, but we found them and all was well. On the way back over the bridge, we bought some food and let the kiddos feed the catfish. Personally, I think the swirling mass of fish bodies and gaping mouths is gross in a cool kind of way, but the kids liked it.

I took Audie on the Skyliner with me twice. Out of all the kiddos, he's the most adventurous, and I attribute that to his age. While Tim took him on the full-sized go karts, Chloie, Dougie, and I went on the scrambler and the tilt-a-whirl. They did OK with the scrambler, but my poor little dude didn't like the tilt-a-whirl. He screamed the entire time! I think, however, it was because we had a particularly spinney seat.

We took 2 hours in the Altoona Wal-mart shopping for school clothes then headed home. We finally got there at 10:30 and promptly crashed. I think next time we go the the amusement park that we'll limit our exposure to 4 hours... six was entirely too much! Overall it was a good trip, and cheap when you consider that during the summer the park offers admission all day for $3.00 per person on Wednesdays.

This place is a ZOO... Part 2

I'm a little late posting this trip, only 6 weeks or so. This was our last family outing before our kiddos left for their father's house in AR. We thought this time we'd leave earlier for the zoo and arrive in time for them to open at 10AM. You know, get a decent parking spot, see the other half of the zoo...

Not quite. You see, the grounds open at 6am and the animals come out at 10am. We managed to park in one of the lots, but not nearly as close as last time. This time we drove past all the lots and found ourselves a nice spot in lot E (the last one). I'll spare you the sunscreen application pictures and just tell you that it took us 30 minutes just to get to where we left off last time. First order of business was, well, business, and here are the kiddos outside of the restrooms.We decided to look through the reptile house this time since there were no lines. Here are some pics of what we saw...

The American Alligator...The Anaconda... Tim did surprisingly well with these snakes. As long as they were behind Plexiglas, he was OK (it was the one the guy was holding to show the kids that freaked him out). This big guy just coiled up under the water and only poked his nose out every once in a while to get a fresh breath.Other four-legged reptiles... one is a Cuban Crocodile, but I'm not sure which.This isn't a giant floating mossy rock, this is a snapping turtle with his nose above water and his mouth gaping open waiting for his next unsuspecting meal to investigate the new cave. The biggest tortoise I've ever seen.Once out of the reptile house, we opted for the elephants. They were cleaning and refilling their water feature, but I can tell you that the new "Elephant Trails" that they are building is huge. It will have 4 different terrains, and it can support a small family of elephants. They'll be able to roam throughout this new exhibit so that the scientists can study their behavior more accurately.Our customary duck picture (with duckling)...And who doesn't love the pandas? This guy was a photo op just waiting to happen. He even came out and plopped on the rock for all to admire.The last place we got to see was the bird house. We didn't have time to go inside, but we did see all of the birds around the outside.I never knew that flamingos were so LOUD! It sounded like an unruly cocktail party.And finally the kiddos by the giant stone bird. Dougie was a little pouty, but that's OK.

Oh, Deer!

Through the window of the kitchen this morning, we saw this deer munching away at green leafy somethings growing in the rocks behind the wood pile."What's so special about a deer?" you might ask. Well, Audie's comment on the matter was, "I wish we could shoot it so we could eat it for dinner." I think he liked the bacon-wrapped tenderloin medallions we made out of the last one. The things kids say these days!

This place is a ZOO... Part 1

I've been told that my father-in-law is a very organized man. He plans everything down to the detail including times and places. It is nice to see that the genes passed down to his children, or at least my husband, because we had an itinerary for our trip this past weekend. Amy met us at the house, and we left at 9am for Washington D.C.


Our first stop was the temple. Obviously we couldn't go in, but we could definitely take the kids to see it, visit the visitor's center, and walk the grounds. Of course I would be remiss if I didn't take lots of pictures. For this one, however, Tim had the camera and thought is rather comical to see the "fair-skinned" folks putting SPF 50 sunscreen on. Something about not needing any made it all the funnier to him. Once the kids and 2 of the 3 adults were sufficiently greased, we started our tour of the temple grounds. Here, the kids are posing by the fountain in front of the temple.And in front of one of the pairs of doors on the east end of the temple. We spent a few minutes trying to figure out what the symbols meant, only managing to pick out the big dipper and north star, sun, moon, something resembling an eclipse, and the globe. I last visited the temple in March of 2008 with Amy, the Thorton family, and the elders. I didn't get too close then, but this time I got to touch it. The marble was surprisingly warm, and looking up the side of the temple at the spines and spires made me feel kind of small.We also took a walk through the nature trails on the grounds. As we were walking through, I saw this and just had to take a picture. I've only ever seen pictures like this, and I got to take one. This was so cool!We walked the path to the end, ended up cutting through some grass behind the visitor's center, and loaded everyone into the Trailblazer. Once off the temple grounds, we found a nice semi-shady spot alone the bike paths for our picnic of cold cuts and tuna salad (sorry, no pictures of us eating).

On our way through D.C. to the zoo, we stopped for traffic and I had to take a picture of the balls. Don't know why, but they were cool... and huge. We were actually ahead of schedule and thought we could spend a little extra time at the zoo once we found a parking spot. We'd already budgeted the money for parking, so why not? Ha! fooled you! Parking was a nightmare. We circled the zoo twice and found nothing but "full" parking lots. I say "full" because we must have seen half a dozen empty spots, but the attendants were too busy in the shade on their cell phones to move the "lot full" signs. We finally roused one from his conversation so he could let us in. We started in the middle and made rounds on the east side of the zoo. Time ran out before we could see the pandas and elephants on the west side, but we've made plans to see them this Saturday. Here are some pictures of our trip...

The Bald Eagle. They had two of them, but I'm happy with the pictures I got of the one. Tim said he'd never seen one except in pictures. Beautiful birds!

These next few were in the section of the zoo called "Amazonia". This the a freshwater ray.

... and probably the biggest cat fish I've ever seen. It just hovered there by the glass, gently swishing its tail. It must have been 4 feet long!

Tim's favorite pictures of the big fish, not cat fish, but still big!

And turtles. Who doesn't love turtles? The little guys move pretty quickly in the water, so this is the best picture I got.

Out of the humidity in the "climate controlled" section of the exhibit, we saw the beetle mosaic to end all mosaics. The actual size of the beetle is about 3 inches long, as seen over Chloie's left shoulder, but good grief! I hope to never see this again!

On the first floor, they had this wicked-looking globe that was essentially a white spherical projection screen with 4 projectors in the four corners of the room covering the globe. I took pictures because it was cool how they did it. This first one was of ocean temperature currents.This one is of the Earth and it's moving cloud cover. The images moved! Later they had one of the sun, but I didn't get a picture of that one.Nice kitty, these are pictures of the big cats... lions, tigers, and kids, oh my!
These are the lemurs. We watched them jump in their funny way, but I kept hearing, "I like to move it, move it!"

This must be the laziest pair at the zoo. They just laid there, and every once in a while, the one on the right would raise his flipper and put it back down. That's it.

I know ducks aren't technically part of the exhibit, but I have a picture somewhere of ducks at Hershey Park from my 8th grade trip. Don't ask me why... I just like taking pictures of ducks.

Here, the kids are posing across from Lemur Island with a dinosaur that starred in a movie (who's name escapes me).

At the lizard viewing, we got to see the Komodo Dragon, the largest lizard in the world. He (or she) came out of hiding just so we could take pictures.

Amy best likes the primates, I think. We got to see the small primates, and the large ones. Yes, I was shocked, too, to find out that there was a difference. I got a cute picture of one playing with a burlap sack...

And this little guy was having fits over the attention he was getting. I think this one was a golden lion tamerine.And finally, cute little mammals along the way...

Prairie dogs are just cute!

We've decided that when the kids come home from Arkansas for the summer, and before school starts, we're making a trip to the Baltimore Aquarium, but for now, we're still working on the other half of the zoo.