Powwow

It was a beautiful day. A perfect day to experience a new culture. A culture that, while once a common site in these parts, has since been pushed away, hidden from sight until such a day as this.

A day for a Powwow.

This weekend in Richmond was a Native American Powwow. It was less to educate about a certain tribe than it was a celebration of a past way of life.

We saw examples of beautiful artwork...






And then it was time for the dancing. The Grand Entry was considered sacred, so no pictures were allowed. The dancers went around the circle several times, then stood while the drummers sang the flag song. Since Native Americans hold their warriors in such respect, they honor them with the veterans dance. They invited all veterans in attendance to join them. Hesistantly at first, the veterans joined in the dancing, starting with slow steps until they let the beat of the drums move their feet. One of the most moving sights was when an elderly gentleman with a long white beard and wide suspenders, looking for all the world like a Civil War veteran, stumbled into the circle with the help of a younger woman and then shuffled around with the other dancers. He only made it one go around, but what heart!

After the veterans dance, the tribal dancers entered the circle again and pictures were allowed. The dancers wore costumes representative of their tribes, and I assume positions in the tribes. Some were ornate and beautiful, others simple. They demonstrated many different dances, with men and women, intertribal, the "sneak up" dance, and a snowball like dance where they picked members of the audience to participate. Of course, that is when I took the opportunity to pack up my tired kids and go look for food!

Enjoy the photos!

Milk, it Does a Body Good (and I'm not talking about calcium)

I have discovered the most awesome hygiene product known to man. To think it comes from farm animals that I have always found mildly creepy (sorry, farming people) doesn't bother me one bit. I'm obsessed. I can't get enough of it!

What is it you ask?

It's goat milk soap!

It's amazing!

It doesn't make Libby break out!

It smells.....wow....words can not describe how GOOOOOD this stuff smells!

http://www.goatmilkstuff.com/

The Jonas family in nearby Indiana makes this wonderfully awesome soap. The blocks seem pricey at first, but they last much, much longer than your average bar of Zest. And you just can't beat the fact that they are made of all natural, wholesome ingredients. (And the smell, did I mention that?)

So run! Hurry! GO to their website and buy yourself some soap. And go for the lotions, too. You might as well throw in the bath fizzies. Oh, and you can't forget some lip balm.

Yeah. I LOVE this stuff, can you tell?

I would have taken a picture of the bars, but, well....they just don't hang around outside of the bathtub long enough to capture!

A Day at the Zoo

In an effort to get out of the house and make new memories and encourage exploration for the girls, I bought season passes to the Louisville Zoo. We packed the kidlets up this past Sunday and spent the morning (skipping church - yeah, I know) enjoying God's creatures. Anna had a good time, but Libby....Libby was in her element! She would have stayed for hours at just about every exhibit if we had let her. Even the bugs were a hit with her, she carefully examined each one. Her favorite, of course, was....well...I'll let you decide what you think my little monkey would most closely identify with...

I had to get a picture of these rhinos. It's a tradition, every time I go I pay them a visit - and this is the side I see. So, I have a picture of the business end of these rhinos from every zoo trip. I think they do it on purpose...

We were happy to meet little Oliver, one of Louisville Zoo's newest additions!


After our circus trip last week Libby was all about the elephants! We were able to see the zookeepers put them through their daily exercises, and let me tell you, if you have a dog you should be ashamed if your canine friend can't do tricks like these pachyderms...

They "shaked"...

They "sat"...

They "laid down"...

They even fetched!

And the tail holding is just the sweetest thing ever!

Did I mention the TerrorTot was spell-bound?

Anna sized herself up to a gorilla...


And Libby had a bonding moment with one...

Another big hit with the short crowd was getting to "meet" Sasha the Amur Tiger. What a big kitty! Sasha's trainer explained that they train the tigers to be able to accept health checks and veternarian visits without having to be anesthesized.

We were able to get up close and personal with him...

..by bribing him with horse meat!

Cheese!


Say hi!

The size of this cat was astounding!

Can you guess what animal was Libby's favorite?

A Day in the Wilderness

A few weeks ago, in honor of a break in the "hot-as-Hades" summer we've been suffering through, we decided to take a trip to visit Cove Springs Park in Frankfort. I highly recommend checking it out! Especially in the spring...since it's been so hot and dry alot of the little streams and waterfalls were dried up, but I'm sure it's spectacularly beautiful when everything is fresh and green!

We got to bring our Borrowed Boy, Cameron, and Earl was thrilled to introduce him to the world of GeoCaching, to which he caught on surprisingly fast and is now a huge fan! ;-)

We began our hike at this lovely waterfall, just yards from the parking lot. We figured if this was a taste of things to come we were definitely in the right place! Unfortunately, this was also the most impressive sight we saw. (not counting the multitude of many-legged critters...)

Speaking of....there's one now! We saw tons of these flying beauties!


Cameron totally got into the "hunt for treasure"!


All three kids enjoyed the Great Outdoors for the afternoon...


...until that is, we met....THIS

I spotted this creepy crawly and pointed it out to the kids. Libby was very intrigued, to the point that after I returned it to its grassy home she decided to pay it another visit. It was not so impressed with her and let it be known by a sharp poke...bite...something. In any case, Libby got a nasty welt, her hand swelled up, and after that she greeted each bug with a, "BITE!" and promptly smashed it with a stick.

But, back to the hike. The kids "tracked deer" through this dry river bed...


And we all marvelled at the beauty of nature...


At the very end of the trail sat this cozy little bench that Double Double Toil and Trouble took a rest on. I guess this was the spring, but alas, the water was gone and all that was left was some muck. And more caterpillars.

I also spotted this graffiti...it's so nice someone took the time to paint my initials in the wood for me! (No, it was not Earl, and yes it was there when we arrived!)

A Day at the Lake

Okay, so this did happen a month ago. I've been super busy and haven't had time to post like I want to.

Earl's parents rented a cabin in eastern Kentucky in early August and we spent the afternoon visiting, paddle-boating, fishing, canoeing, exploring, cooking out, s'moring, and having a grand ol' time in the wilderness!

Too bad I discovered we brought some nasty hitchhikers home in the way of ticks *shudder*....I HATE ticks!!!