Saturday Trip to the Zoo

These pictures uploaded all over the place, so randomly! Oh well.

We went to the Natural Bridge Zoo last Saturday and we brought Ellie. The zoo is small, but it really does have a nice collection of animals. If Charlie talks at all, it's usually about animals. And Ellie is so smart -- I actually did a practicum in her classroom this year at the very time they presented animal projects. Her favorite animal is the cheetah, which she knew a ton of information about-- and although she and I saw one earlier this year at the National Zoo, the Natural Bridge zoo had no cheetah. I think everyone had a good time!

They have lots of cute little animals running around-- like exotic chickens that jump into the trees!

There are some photographs of me at the zoo in 1985 or 86, and most are of me petting a baby elephant. I found out that the zoo has had this elephant since around that time, and it being their only elephant, she's all grown up! I wish she had a buddy.Moments before the rain came. A moment I want to remember.But wish I had painted my toenails.
Charlie wouldn't feed the animals so I dropped some food on the base of his stroller. The llamas loved it! Charlie-- not so much.
Giraffes have looooong tongues! Feels funny!
Ellie is so pretty, huh! She ran out of purchased food at one point and ran over to an animals trough and took some food out to share with the other animals! I sure hope Leslie writes down some Ellie stories!
Cute little goats!

Watching the monkeys while it rained....
We discovered Charlie had a fever soon after this.... which is why he looks sooo over it!
Wish I could've gotten just a little closer!

Everybody is Moving Away!!!

So, Sam's getting married (and moving wherever the Marine {Ben} takes her!) AND Leslie, Paul and Ellie are moving to Charleston, SC AND Jeremy's parents are also moving to Tennessee. All this in the span of the next 2 weeks or 2 months. Kinda crazy and I know we are really going to miss everybody!

So, me being who I am, I feel like we should have a few more get-togethers before everybody drives off into the sunset. We will hopefully do something for Memorial Day, and we are also thinking of going to Pearisburg to help Jeremy's folks pack up (and maybe slip up to Cascades or something, too.)

We had a little picnic in Jordan's Point Park. I realized after I looked at all the pictures that I never took a picture of Ellie, who was with us. After we ate, she found a big branch and wanted everyone to go down to the Min-each (for Mini-beach); no one took her up on the offer because we just wanted to hang out in the grassy area. Good times.

Here are the siblings:

Playing in the grass! We don't have any grass at home so this was super exciting for him! :)
He really loves his aunts and cousin!
Samantha and Buster
Chillaxing.

A Little More Fall...

These are from my parent's home-- they have some really gorgeous trees on thier beautiful property tucked away pretty much from it all!

Fall

I really feel for the folks in California right now, I cannot imagine what it must be like lose your home to a fire. I'm keeping them in my thoughts and prayers.

We were beginning to worry here, since we had no recorded rain since June, but fortunately, it finally rained here a little last week. For the past 3 days, it's rained continuously. It hasn't been a very pretty fall here, mostly due to the drought I guess, but before the rain began days ago, the trees looked their best. I, of course, forgot to take photos, but wanted to share these snapshots from a drive we took 3 weeks ago. Sorry they're not in focus.


In just a few days, we'll have Halloween! I've gone a little overboard with decorating-- will have to share some photos.

Proof That I Actually Do Stuff Outside

We'd originally hoped to go to Ohiopyle State Park (near Pittsburgh) this weekend for a weekend of biking, Fallingwater, and camping with my parents, but plans fell through. Feeling guilty because I hardly ever go biking with Jeremy, I asked him if he wanted to take me somewhere nearby for a day of "fun."



He (kindly) picked a very easy ride near a neat old town of Buchanan in Arcadia. I know he really loves mountain biking, but I'm just not the kind of girl who loves to jump over logs or get stuck in deep mud puddles for fun. Give me a nice flat road with a pretty view and I'm pretty happy.



At one point, we stopped and put our feet in the stream. We were just kind of walking around in it... This very young deer started walking towards us, she was actually walking in the stream, too. If the dog hadn't started barking, I think she would've come even closer. I wasn't fast enough with the camera for a photo.





We even took the dog in her little carrier. No photos of that. And no photos of me crashing either. Yes, we've made a note that next time, he's to take the dog carrier on his bike. It really makes the bike front heavy and harder to handle; on top of that, if she saw anything on the side of the road that she wanted to chase, she attempted to jump off the bike! So, I'd try to rein her in, steer the bike, stay on the bike... oh, that's another thing. My dad put those pedals on the bike that make it great when you're trying to climb up hills-- shoe cages is what I'd call 'em- but that's not their name.



Anyway, so I'm trying to make it up this steep hill, Jeremy's off exploring somewhere, the dog sees something-- I grab the dog as she tries to jump, I lose control, the bike falls over, my foot is stuck in the "shoe cage", the bike falls to the road, the dog's freaking out, the carrier falls off the bike, the dog breaks loose, runs away, I chase after her, leaving the bike in the road.... Yes, there's a reason I'm inside most of the time.



Well, lucky for me, the dog and bike were just fine, and I was pretty much ok. Just done. Done biking for the day. Deserved my reward. (Side story- my parents must've started some kind of thing where if I went biking or hiking with them, I'd be rewarded with some kind of food or shopping... strange, maybe, but now I sort of expect donuts or a cash prize after a workout :) !?? hmmm .... )



So we headed down to the cute town of Buchanan. It's one of my favorite little towns around here. We sat outside on the deck of a pizzeria then walked around. Almost every building had a historical marker on it, and most sold antiques or books. Lucky for Jeremy, I was just too hot to really shop, but this really is a great stop for anyone who loves to look for the cheaper end of antiques (some might call it junk, but not me!)...


This is how we all felt on the drive home!



Hope you had a great weekend!