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!!!

The Greatest Show on Earth

This week the circus rolled into town. Not just any circus - Ringling Bros. Circus! I've always wanted to take the girls to the circus, and I just couldn't pass up the Ringling Bros. So I bought some tickets and away we went!

Lexington is one of the few cities that offers a "behind the scenes" animal display. We were able to get up close and personal with the horses, zebras, elephants, and tigers. Of course, the pachyderms were the biggest hit! While we were there they used a leaf blower to clean the dirt off the elephants' backs and then began strapping their circus goodies on their heads!




Inside Rupp Arena, we got to walk the floor and meet performers and see Asia the elephant paint a few pictures.

The actual circus was....amazing! They definitely do put on "the greatest show on Earth" - or at the very least, something close to it! Anna was completely spellbound and Libby sat completely still for the first hour (then we got cotton candy which inspired much wiggling and squirming).

We saw high jumping tumbling...

...and also jumping through the flaming hoop!

Lots of elephants standing on stools...
...and a few sitting on stools...
Even some elephants dancing on stools!
A Tiger Tamer teaching tigers some tricks...

...and I wonder what the fire extinguisher is for. There was no fire in this routine. Hmmmm.... =)
The ending show was also impressive (although not nearly as much as the beginning). Notice the wheel in the background. The performer on the wheel kept slipping while attempting to jump rope and run around the outside of the wheel. I thought for sure we'd have a flattened circus man before the end of the show. Fortunately, we did not!
If you get a chance, don't miss the circus! I'm already looking forward to the next time the Ringling Bros. Circus descends on Lexington!

Drumroll, please.......

...Introducing...

...the newest set of wheels in the Smith family...

A Toyota Camry!

Yeah, I know. Not the most exciting choice by a long shot. But, a good, solid, dependable car that's comfortable and welcoming, and most notably - practically made in my backyard, by my neighbors. Can't beat that!


A backstory for those who didn't hear - my old, beloved blue Camry started leaking oil and after taking it to a few mechanics, the insurance adjuster came to pay it a visit and decided that the leak was due to a cracked engine - a result of my accident last fall. So, our Camry is no more...

Then the hunt began.

I researched, and test drove, and talked with salesmen, and read reviews, had more test drives, bought a Mazda CX-7, returned a Mazda CX-7, talked with more ssalesmen, test drove some more, then landed on this pretty Barcelona Red Metallic Camry and couldn't pass it up. As a fun bonus, it comes equipped with a fancy stereo, alloy wheels (I don't get them?), and what I'm most excited about - a sun roof!


I love it!