Zoo Trip: SkyLark Ridge

Back in May, when we signed up for the Zoo Membership, we saw the ropes course, but we were there to see the animals, so we told the kids that the next time Billy came, they could do the course.  Well, each time we went this summer, William kept remarking about how he really wanted to go do it, and each time, I told him we needed to wait for Daddy.  Well, the day finally came on Labor Day weekend.

The weather was absolutely beautiful, and despite an intentionally late start, there was still a lengthy line to get in!  As members, our line was way shorter, and it was the only visit that we actually got to use that perk!

Alice didn't want to join us, since we'd just gone a week or two before, so we took those who wanted to come!

Our membership also got us a discount at the skylark course, which was an unexpected surprise.

Billy and I found a spot half in the shade and half in the sun, to wait while the kids explored the enormous course.

They lasted around an hour, which seemed short, but they all said they had their fill!

Since Daddy was there, they also got to do the Merry-go-round and got ice cream.

We headed to the tram to go see the giraffes and lions, but they were shorthanded and had a reduced number of trams running, which meant, obviously, a long line!  We decided to go check out the wolves instead.

I swear, these prairie dogs don't like me.  I think I have better pictures (or at least negatives) of the prairie dogs taken from the car outside of the Walmart in Lubbock. 

Once one person takes a picture on the butterfly, everyone wants one!

Grace made a rainbow, using three colors!

The snow leopard saw something to capture his attention!

The wolves were really close this time, but still pretty far from the fence.

Our last hurrah was going to see the dinosaur area.  They had changed and added some things!

The T-Rex was roaring.

The twins had to share an egg.

This installation, a Dilophosaurus, was moving and spitting and roaring at passersby!

No opportunity to take a picture with the blue-tonged skink, so they had to settle for the placard. 

But this snake also had a blueish tongue, and did say hi!  Since we were there late, I think we must have been close to feeding time again, since the animals all seemed really interested in us too!

None of us felt like Chinese food, since we'd just had it, so we opted to go to Pizza Hut in Charlotte instead.  Our kids are old enough that it wasn't an awful wait, and I helped Emily, William, and Grace color their pages while we waited for our pizzas.  Juliet didn't want my help. = (

It was a fun way to spend the final weekend of 'summer.'  Alice has the date of a Christmas event marked down, but weather dependent, this might have been our final trip for this membership!  I do feel like we got our money's worth though, even if we only used it for three months.

later days

edit 9-23-25: backdated for continuity.

Summer Sleepovers

 Looking back at these pictures, I'm realizing that summer sleepovers at our house might not be the most fun thing ever.

If Daddy goes to work, we do our summer schedule, which means that our friends have to read and do Latin and whatever activity the child is on that day: math? German? geography?  Sorry, we do our best to avoid summer slide in this house.

But, of course, they do get to play a little bit!

I don't think their friends complained much, and chores are always more fun with friends!  

The summer was so fast, I don't think we fit in nearly as many playdates and sleepovers as I thought we would!  We'll try to keep it going into the school year.

later days

A Summer of Fun!

A few pictures that show all the little things that don't fit anywhere else!

In Poznan, I found these cute little bee hair ties, so I bought Juliet all the colors.  Her favorite is the blue!

Grace was really into tic tac before we left, so when I saw interesting tic tac sizes, I bought them for her.  She was quite excited and put them all in order.

I read that if you lay white towels out on the lawn, the peroxide released by the plants will help to whiten them.  While I was skeptical, and did not research the science behind it, I did take a before and after picture.  I attempted to take it at the same time of day as well, but didn't notice much in the way of improvement.  It actually kind of looked dirtier, which is not much of a surprise, since it had been outside for several days.  My personal conclusion: lawn bleaching is ineffective.

I've been to Leslie more in the past month than I have been since Billy and I were house hunting!  Emily's new friend Emma lives there, so I foresee many more trips!  I saw this cool historical flag in their downtown, and sent a picture to Billy because it reminded me of Fallout.

Grace cleaned her bed, and I thought this was a cool shot!

Have I already shared the single Haribo in the bag? Well, here it is again.  Billy found it on our camping trip.  He found it remarkable, because most of the packs had 4+ in them.  But not this one!

Grace and I went to the library to claim our prizes for summer reading, while Emily helped Avia with some cleaning.  She found this huge popper!

We walked down the center a few store fronts and found some egg plants, that actually looked like eggs!!!  We didn't get much, just a little cookie snack.

Scooby Doo day felt so forced this year.  I think I moved it three or four times, and finally had it, just to get it off the calendar, and get the box out of our house!  If next summer feels the same, our Scooby Doo celebrations might be at an end.

Kristy was selling these adorable honey packs at the girl scout yard sale, and the girls and I couldn't get over how adorable they were!  We finished the honey in just a couple of days. = )

We got to celebrate Avia a second time, in St. Louis and on her actual birthday this year!!!

Avia bought Aunt Janet a special shirt to wear on her birthday!  It says "Aunt of the Birthday Girl!" Perfect, right?

Grace loved having Aunt Janet here!  

On the Fourth of July, we were able to see some fireworks from our porch again this year!

Since I had a smore fail on our camping trip, I promised Grace backyard smores once all the camping stuff was cleaned and put away.  She was very patient, and the day did eventually come!

With Emily gone with Abby's family, I think William was the only other one who came to cook with us!

The sunset made the trees look like they were on fire!

Once day, I opened up the back of my car and found the car toy holder back there.  When I asked the kids about it, they casually said that they no longer needed the toys in the car and that I could get rid of it.  ::sniff:: ::sniff:: = (  I remember buying this, new, at a friend's Thirty-one party in Houston, just a couple of years ago.   So sad.  I hope someone new can use it and love it as much as we did!

We went to this ice cream shop so many times this summer, that I could have sworn that I'd already written about this (and maybe I have, I didn't actually go back and look.)  But, Grace won the ice cream creating contest from her school last year.  The ice cream shop will donate $1 for each one that they sell to the PTO of that child's school.  It took 4 trips, but we finally saw her creation in the window, and spent her gift card, all in one foul swoop.  There's no such thing as free ice cream!

The fireflies were extra this summer, for at least a few weeks!  Grace even 'caught' one.

We did our best to keep up on our Latin, but it was a busy summer, so we didn't fit much in.  However, this is one of our Latin days.  It totally makes me miss homeschooling!

Emily's end of Summer trip up North with Emma!

Emily's Fourth of July trip with Abby's family!  I told her that she needs to make some dedicated posts, because I wasn't there, but she's kind of busy to make that happen, I suppose.

I snagged this photo from Jennifer.  The girls class went out for ice cream at the local ice cream shop at the end of the year. I can't imagine what I was doing that day that I didn't go and take my own pictures, but here is a picture of Juliet, Kennedy, and Natalie!

It's day 2 of school for my dear ones, and I'm still not quite ready to let go of summer!  We have some fun plans for this weekend and Labor Day and most of September, so I guess I'll get over it soon.

later days