Where the Wild People Are

Our trip to the Safari was a great time. I am so glad that we went as a group! Jessica, Amy, Marci and I all took our kids and had a blast together. I think that I got at least one picture of everyone (except for the Amy's baby... he was either nursing, crying or hiding in mama's front pouch -  he is sort of in the last picture with the moms!), so I will share them... it was a riot!

This was a great group of kids!

Jessica's Family

"Captain"

"Rascal"

"Twinkle Toes"

"Chiquita"

"Snuggles"

Amy's Family

Isabel & Becca

Mary 

(sorry about the focus... this little girl was elusive!)

Liam

Lucy

Marci's Son

"Munco"

Every last blessed picture I have of this youngster is from behind! 

Well, except the group shot below! What are the odds of that!?!

My Bunch

"Bud"

"Branch"

"Blossom"

The "boys' van"

Another Rabid Photographer

(She claims to have taken 257 photos. Amateur! I discovered that I took 449! 

Aren't you glad that I can whittle them down for you!)

What a nice lookin' bunch of kids!!

And the mom's of those great kids! I think that we needed a "field trip" on this gorgeous spring day as much as if not more than the kids!

I hope that we can all go again... when we have all recuperated!!

On Safari

We joined some other homeschooling families for a trip to that drive-through zoo park near here. We split into two cars - one for girls and one for boys and a couple moms! I was happy to be with the girl group! It looked wild and crazy in the boy van!  For now, I will just share the animal photos.  I will post pictures with people in them later! We are off on another "field trip" today for bowling with a local group. Watch out pins, these kids are looking for strikes and spares!

This regal eagle sits out on an island.

I wonder when the kids will ask why he is always sitting there and never flies away!

These turtles were out sunning on some logs in the pond that the eagle's island is in.

I feel for the guy out there alone. "Hey, guys! Wait for me!"

We meet again. The Bison and I.

Did you know this is a Bison and not a Buffalo? Buffalo are not native to North America!

This frisky bear hopped in and enjoyed the water.

Branch insisted that the barrel was his "huny pot" - all bears have one!

I couldn't resist... CHECK OUT that TONGUE!! 

Doesn't it look like a fish?! I am certain there were no fish in the trees, though.

This big ol' hippo wandered out of his little mud hole for a bit.

It was kind of fun to see how his body moved. The girls giggled about the jiggly tummy and how cute he was. CUTE? Then why aren't all my little jiggles called cute? Mine are far closer to cute baby chubs than this hippo's portly paunch! Hmmm... not fair.

Camels, lying down? Well, I'll be...

We can stop to see them without risk of spitting in the windows!!

This is a White Handed Gibbon.

Apparently, wheat bread crusts are not a part of the diet for a White Handed Gibbon and neither are they for the "special ducks" and "special koi" in the pond. 

Leave the wheat bread crusts to the (real) wild ducks and geese at other ponds! 

Just doin' my part to spread the word...

Wishing...

So, I was thinking last night and most of this morning... I wish I still had that butler from Cancun. I am thinking of so many good things that a butler could do around here. 

For starters, he (or she - I won't be picky!) could have made me my cup of tea last night so that I wouldn't be suffering from this big old scald across the top of my left hand. I was not being careful enough and was holding the cup when I was pouring the boiling water over my tea bag and splenda... Perhaps that wasn't my finest hour in the kitchen. It hurts, but it feels better than last night. I think that a butler could have helped, though. I mean, think of it... your OWN personal butler!! 

I imagine that my own personal butler might help to prepare meals, help with keeping the laundry going, help with basic cleaning, keep us up to date on the goings-on in our area so that we can take advantage of some of the fun. Ah, well... I must be dreaming. I think I am, yes. Back to reality! Oh, one thing though. I have one regret (minor though it is) from our recent trip to Cancun. Pops and I never hopped into the beautiful cat's eye shaped hot-tub - right next to the beach. I guess we'll have to go back after all. Or just dream about it being marvelous...

I've been sewing...

My girl, Branch, loves tea parties. She says that when she grows up she is going to be a "tea girl" and have her own tea house where she will pour tea for all the ladies.  The dads can have coffee and the kids will drink lemonade... probably.

I ran across a blog that had a "Tea for Two" apron swap for youngsters on it and it was the last day to sign up. So, I signed Branch up for the fun! I have finished sewing the apron and gathering the other little goodies to add to the package. It was fun to do. Frustrating at times, as I think I over-extended myself a wee bit. (I hate hand sewing on beads and buttons... grrrrrrr.)  But, here it is. The whole "package" and then a bit of a close up of each little bit. 

We did receive a little bit of information about the child who would be receiving the package and I tried to accommodate some of her wishes... the small chocolate cupcake is a lip gloss, she likes little tins of mints or candies, pink is one of the colors that she likes, she likes ruffles and all things sparkly and diva-ish. We added some tea supplies such as plates, cups, napkins and a couple serving spoons, cards to use for invitations (plus a cupcake rubber stamp for the envelope!). OH, and I found the most adorable cupcake socks for her to wear... toooooo cute! I was wishing they would have been in my size! I hope that she LOVES her package!!!

And the "for sure" three (Jessica, you are currently my #4 just for fun, because no one else has commented - unless I throw all the names in a hat and one of the other ladies receives 2 nicely homemade items from me!!) of you who I am going to be making a lovely little "something" for from the pay it forward challenge - H, Angela and Lena? You are on my minds... are there any requests from the three of you?!? Drop me a hint at something you would like and I will email you to get your addresses so that they can be sent out sometime before my time line is UP!

Normalcy...

What's that?!

Well, it is hard to have a normal anything when you have continual chaos with 3 kids at home with you everyday!! But, our normal chaos is what we are now trying to get back to.

Geemah hopped on her plane yesterday and flew back to Illinois. She had to fly through Seattle and we instructed her on the fine art of airport eating... in Seattle! You see, there is a restaurant in the commons area in the SEA-TAC airport. I will never again fly through there without stopping at their walk up counter. I would be willing to let the people at the gate call "Last call for passenger, Mrs. E.L.M. We are closing the gate doors in 2 minutes. Last call for passenger, Mrs. E.L.M." Yes, I would let that happen and be the running fool to the gate with my small plate of deliciousness to go.

So, what is this place, you are now dying to know!?! It is "Anthony's" and they serve fish. I don't like fish. I know I know. You probably already know that about me... well, some of you do. Most fish will give me a bellyache like nobody's business! Nausea. Lots of nausea. Anyway, that is the case for most white fish. But, I don't order white fish there. What is the menu item that is calling my name from Cancun, Oregon, Nebraska, Illinois, Minneapolis, Denver and any other airport that I have been in on my way through Seattle? Oh, my heavens... I can hardly bear it. I am now salivating. Oh... my goodness. If I tell you, and you are ever there at SEA-TAC (or if this restaurant is in Seattle outside of the airport... I'm not sure about that) you have to make a pinky swear promise that you will seek out the restaurant and order the dish. Got it? If you don't plan to follow through, then quit reading. I can NOT bear to know that someone had the option of this yum and skipped out on it. So... now is your chance. Leave, go visit my friend Regina in Seattle, or my blogger friend, who strangely turns out to be much less than six degrees of separation, Aubrey who is in Nebraska but is about to go visit Seattle (I have a feeling you'll be through SEA-TAC, Aubrey!!), or visit Jessica, she and I will be driving up to Seattle in May, maybe I'll look into Anthony's outside of the airport... Anyway, the point is - go away if you are planning to read and forget. This is not something to take lightly. This is important eating information. OK - now that is all under control...

You MUST order the "Salmon and Chips." Yes. SALMON and Chips. It is divine. It is a great meal for under $10 so it won't break the bank. (Unlike our terrible Mexican dishes at the Cancun airport and had to be tossed and Domino's pizzas was purchased in their place.) So, what is it. Well, think fish 'n' chips - nice beer battered fish hunks with a side of french fries (I prefer to skip the fires these days and request a salad which works sometimes and sometimes not). A beautiful non-greasy battered piece of salmon! WHO would have thought to prepare salmon in that way? I have no idea, but I think that they must be in the World Record Book for most amazing preparation of fried fish!! Seriously. Anthony's. Salmon and Chips.

Thanks for coming and visiting Geemah. We enjoyed having you here. Glad that you tried and enjoyed the Salmon and Chips. Happy that you made it home safe and sound. Now, I am running a detox program for the kids for the sugar, spoiling and extra loving that they are missing. Have fun getting back to your normal... it will be a while for us!

Some Beach

It was a struggle to get a great picture of the sunrise that we actually got up, dressed and wandered down to the beach to see at 5:50 AM.

The trouble was the clouds. But, the cool thing was the clouds. Clouds can really make for interesting sunrise and sunset photos. But, I was wanting a cool "this is a warm sunny paradise" type of picture. This was our last day in Cancun and I didn't have any more days of sunrise and sunset left!! So, I had to "settle" on some rather cool photos, but not so overly sunny. Bud called this picture "Heaven." I will not disagree... the rays of sunshine shooting up over the clouds was quite majestic!

This was the storm rolling in. The "storm" was sort of wimpy, especially in light of the icky weather gracing the central portion of our country today. It sprinkled and drizzled and even offered a nice soft mist. Then it was gone as fast as it arrived.

I loved the brilliant blue of the water and the crashing of the waves. It was so calming. I can still hear that annoying spa music that was playing throughout the hotel in my head as I sit here typing.

Oh, wait... that is the Weather Channel's happy and calming Weather on the 8s tune. Strange that they sound so similar. Hmmmmm...

Because I am now through with boring everyone with my vacation photos of Cancun, I will show one last photo taken from our sliding glass door showing our view.

Enjoy vicariously through the knothole on my treehouse!! Or, better yet - go visit it yourself and share your photos with me!!! It would be fun to compare notes! Oh, but before you go... the Holistic Massage is excellent. But, if you have the time and extra coin I would recommend that you also go for a head and neck massage. The little bit of massage that was going on for my neck and head was leaving my head aching for more. I keep trying to replicate the motion on my upper neck and low part of the back of my skull and I just am missing the mark. Relax and enjoy!!

Snake Pit

Home Sweet Home... but a few bits of sharing our trip to Cancun - "snake pit" in Mayan. I am kind of surprised at myself, as I didn't take as many pictures along this trip as I normally do, but I spent plenty of time looking at the water, sunrises, the backs of my eyelids and the start of another margarita to occupy my time instead.

One day, we left the hopping tourist snake pit and went on a long day trip to one of the Seven Modern Wonders of the World. Chichen Itza is truly amazing. If you get the opportunity to visit the Mayan World, enjoy! On our way to visit the Mayan ruins, we stopped at a souvenir shop and I was able to get a few pictures of the roof. I was just astounded by the stick buildings with the grass or banana leaf roofs.

I don't recall all that the tour guide said about all the buildings. There were lots of tourist groups around and it was easy to hear everything and not anything all at once. This is the largest structure there and it was used as a calendar. I wish I could recall more to tell it all. I think I will do some research in hopes of reclaiming what I heard. Again - Chichen Itza... kind of sounds like Chicken Pizza, but it really is a "ch" sound where there is a "ck" sound in chicken. And, just leave off the "p" in pizza!  Chichen Itza!!

Sort of off topic of this archaeologic wonder, this photo of Pops and I shows us in front of that big ol' structure. Please note that we did NOT pack together. I packed with great care and length of time. I spent over an hour trying on various outfits and such. Pops, 5 minutes of counting out shirts and shorts and such. We decide to go to these Mayan ruins and are told that it will be very hot. So, we both get the same bright idea - white shirt!! Well, we both brought gray bottoms to wear with our white shirts! Imagine our shock when I shut the closet door and Pops and I are now facing each other in nearly the same outfit! (OK, so the story is worse... the day before, he had to go to a meeting early. I stayed in bed and got up after he left. When we found each other right after his meeting, we discovered that we were both wearing khaki bottoms and he had on a pumpkin colored polo while I had on a white and pumpkin colored striped shirt. We appeared to be going for the matchy matchy look early on in our trip.)

Another structure that appeared to me to be a stairway to Heaven!! But, all the ruins were roped off, no climbing nowadays.

After touring the ruins, we went to a restaurant serving traditional Mayan food. We were entertained by dancers tapping, spinning, and clapping - all with bottles on their heads!!

And then, this young lady upped the ante and placed the whole tray on her head and spun and spun and when she would stop? The tray would keep spinning. I was impressed! I can usually balance things on my head as I have one nice flat spot on my head... but, I couldn't do all that dancing and spinning stuff!!

We had a great time. Our last day there, I took plenty of sunrise and beach photos. I'll work on posting them ASAP!!

*OUT*

Pops and I are on a fun adventure. Off to spend some time together soaking up the sun. You can find us if you want... we'll be on the beach in Cancun...

I'll take pictures and share them when we return!!!

Look for a new post the end of the week.

Happy Birthday Blossom!!

Our little bitty girl is FOUR today... Oh, no - definitely not a baby anymore!!

Remember that haircut Blossom gave herself and I told you I had a wig in the wings waiting for her birthday? Well, here it is!!!

Here she is admiring the Little Mermaid cake that I created for her. Blossom still loves all things princess and Ariel made it to the top of the list this year! I wish my doll pick had long hair... but, I guess it fits right in with another short haired princess!!

We all went out for supper for her special birthday meal. She was really wanting a surprise birthday where everyone jumps out and yells surprise at her. So, Pops took her to the post office and the store to pick up a bucket of ice cream so that we could hang streamers and hide in wait behind the sofa!! She was so pleased to have us jump out and holler "SURPRISE!!!"

Next up... birthday singing and posing!

The song was good and long and gave Blossom plenty of time to contemplate her wishes...

She huffed and she puffed...

And she had no problem getting four candles blown out with one very big puff of air!

That was some very tasty blue frosting!! Mmmmm...

Happy Birthday baby BIG Girl!!