Still in the summer (I haven’t given up hope of catching up yet!).

So glad our kids still love the zoo:)

Seeing if they can jump as far as a kangaroo . . .

some animals . . .

the capybara, a most interesting animal, like a guinea pig on steriods!

the prairie dog tunnels are always a hit!

The new croc . . .

The flowers were just beautiful all over, so wanted this shot of all of us in front of them.  And, bonus, we’re all looking!

Again, a while back . . . i LOVe the Olympics, the athleticism of every one of those competitors amaze me, and I happy to watch everything from swimming to gymnastics to equestrian to badminton to ping pong and everything in between.  Ezra, of course, watched each event with great interest and always knew which athlete was from the US and was rooting them on.  He was actually sincerely sad when Phelps didn’t win one of his races.  One day, they decided to set up some events, I am once again amazed and grateful at our kids imagination, and their ability to be perfectly happy to improvise any equipment (as seen in the following pictures)

The hurdles . . .

Either pole vault or high jump

Long jump or maybe the triple jump

So blessed to be their mom:)

We had a great visit with some dear friends (in August) who moved away 2 years ago now. I can’t believe it’s been that long!  It’s fun to see the kids just start playing again like it was only yesterday that they had seen each other last.  Thanks Mary for fitting us in to your busy visits back here:)

Lauren was so little when they moved, and just look at her now . . .

And, the group shots that I always force on them!

Mary, I think next year we might need to visit you!  And, we need to get us in the picture too:)

One of our last MOPS park days of the summer, Mari & I went and hung out for a bit and then went for a hike.

Everett looking for a snack 🙂

We identified another butterfly, a Gorgone Checkerspot (at least that’s what I think it is)

And, every time we go to Heritage, we see a deer-can you see it?  We actually saw three:)

Back in August . . .

we spent the day with my friend Karen & her kids, my boys were still at Trisha’s house.  We headed to our favorite old fashioned village

where I soon learned all the things I’ve been missing out on!  Everywhere we went, “have you . . . heard the Little House story?”

“Have you watered the plants in the garden at the farm house?”

“Have you heard the Underground railroad story”  I was amazed at all the new discoveries.  We had lots of fun and Karen is going to have to come with us from now on!

We stopped at the Candy shop (we definitely knew about that)

And, then we went to the pool

The girls were practicing synchronized swimming

the former cheerleader in me goes crazy with her un-pointed toes (she seriously NEVER points them for anything!), no matter they had loads of fun anyway:)

Thanks Karen, for a fun day:)