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.

First Fruit

Nothing tastes better than fresh-picked, sun-ripened strawberries. True, there are blueberries and raspberries and elderberries, but strawberries by far are the tastiest. Perhaps it is because they are the first fruit to ripen. I'm still not sure. So far, we've gone out and picked every day and gotten at least 1/2 a basket like this: We didn't pick on Saturday and ended up with a full basket on Sunday.

Today we worked in the garden. While Tim weeded the elderberry bushes and tried to figure out if the other gigantic bush was a weed or something important, the kids and I planted corn in the first two beds of the garden. My seedlings didn't last the potting phase, so I'm hoping that the in-ground will do better. I'm still trying to harden off the tomatoes in the hopes that I still might get some viable plants. I'm down to about 10 or so. Grrr! Weather permitting this week, in the afternoons I'd like to work more beds, maybe get the squash and peas into the ground and get some lettuce started. Next year I'm getting one of those calenders that tells you when to plant everything so I don't fall behind again. Oh, and I confirmed the gigantic bush(s) was/were the raspberry bush(s) later by finding pictures of the leaves online.

On a not-quite-gardening note but still related to the family, we're planning a trip to Washington D.C. this Saturday. First stop, the Temple at about 11am or so for a picnic lunch, a visit to the visitors' center, and a walk around the grounds. I can't wait until I can go inside. Next stop, the National Zoo for the afternoon to look at the animals. It's been a long time since I've been to the zoo, and I know the kids will enjoy it. This is the last two weeks of school, and this will also be the last weekend we will have the kids until they return from Arkansas with their father, so we're trying to fit some fun stuff in there before they go.

Twice baked cheesy 'taters

On the way home from the Coles wedding on Saturday, Tim and I were talking about the recent increase in cake activity. He told me that he was happy that I was busy doing something I like doing, that I really enjoy, but that it was putting more pressure on him because he had to help with laundry, dishes, cooking, etc. His biggest gripe (I think) was that he hadn't had a good home cooked meal in a couple weeks because we had to settle for something quick and easy most nights. Hmmm...

We had power problems at church on Sunday (something about a blown fuse and a three-phase something that had 1/3 of the building's power down). We finished Sacrament, but they cancelled the remaining meetings for the rest of the day. No Relief Society, no Primary, nothing. I went home feeling a little bummed because I had really practiced the hymns for RS. Any way, Tim had stayed home instead of going with us because he had worked the night before and was working that evening. We got home and put the kids down for a nap as well, and then I got to work. Most of the laundry was done, the dishes were done, and Audie helped me make bread and rolls for dinner. Our menu consisted of pan-fried chicken, rolls, mixed veggies, and twice baked cheesy 'taters. Audie helped me with those, too.So here's what we did for the 'taters:

First, we scrubbed one 'tater for each person at dinner and baked them in the oven until they were soft all the way through. Then, we cut the tops off of them (save these for later) and scooped out the inside, leaving no more than 1/4" on the skin. We added (for 5 'taters) 1 cup of sour cream, salt and pepper to taste, 1/2 tsp. each garlic and onion powder, and 1 cup of cheddar cheese. We then mashed everything together until it resembled slightly lumpy mashed 'taters. Last, we filled the empty skins and a little more so it mounded over the top with the cheesy innards and sprinkled with oregano, salt, pepper, cheese, and paprika. Then we baked it in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes or until the cheese on top was melted and slightly browned.

The lids we cut off of the 'taters we spread with butter and seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika, onion and garlic powder, and cheese and baked on the same pan as the 'taters until they were melty and brown as well. Mmmm, tasty!

If you're wondering about the plate... I picked that pattern out at the outlet store when I was very young. 2 or 3 maybe? My parents had been using that set for over 20 years before they decided to get a blank white set from the same company/store. Guess who got the old ones? :-) I still like the flowers and butterflies!

Just because...

I forget now what it was that I had for Tim when he got home earlier this week. Something I'd gotten him while I was out or something I'd been working on that I wanted to show him. We met at the door saying to each other, "I have something for you."

This was his something for me. How sweet!!! Everyone wanted a sniff, though Dougie's idea of a sniff is more like a short snort. Cute nonetheless. I tell you, I am one lucky lady!