Happy Zoo Year!

Today we spent some time at the zoo. We like to go there, but today we went because we knew they had a special Christmas display going on. Since I decided to do some fun Christmas stuff this week, this was today's event. Here's the boys climbing on top of a fake crocodile.


This is an orangutan that was carrying a branch to his resting place. We thought it was pretty funny.

I took this really cool picture of a hummingbird. I couldn't believe I managed to get it in mid-flight, and so clear, too!

This is a cropped version of the picture above. Pretty cool, huh??

A little later we got a really close view of this real crocodile. We were just on the other side of the glass. A little too close for comfort as far as I'm concerned. Levi was nearly fact to face with him and after a few minutes the croc went down to the bottom and Levi said, "Yeah, I thought so." Like a challenge! It was so funny! Glass sure does make people brave, doesn't it?? lol

We were inside a building and Levi sat up in a window and these two little birds came right over and sat in the window on the other side. It was so cute!

Next, we happened to arrive at the stingray tank just before the keepers were going to feed them and for a dollar, I could get a cup of fish for the kids to feed them, too. So, being as "frugal" as I am, I decided one dollar and one cup was enough and they could share. But, since they were the only ones there, and the keepers were really enjoying telling them all about the rays and how to feed them, they just kept giving the boys fish to feed them. We must have spent 15 or 20 minutes there. But, the boys sure had fun. This is Indy.

Levi was a little more unsure about them, but he did stick the fish in...until they came close and then tossed it. lol

And, of course, being that it was about 85 degrees today, we had to play in the water play area. Here's Indy running through.

And, here's Levi playing with the water.

Then we moved into the bat area. Indy pretended to be a sleeping bat, hanging upside down.

Even Savannah enjoyed the water play area!

Savannah's friend, Alex, went with us.

Near the end of the zoo, they had this set up, with lights for nighttime viewing. See the "Zoo"?It actually said "Happy Zoo Year." Too funny.

As you leave the zoo, there's the typical display of tourist brochures and the boys always stop to choose some to take home. Indy picked three main Florida theme parks....

...and not surprisingly, Levi picked three, yes three, of the SAME exact golf ones. Why? I have no idea, but that's Levi.

We had a lot of fun at the zoo and enjoyed the Christmas display and the other areas we visited. I'm glad we went. The zoo is so nice when the weather's nice. :-)

Pirates! Argh!

Last week in our environmental class, we talked about pirates and finding treasures. There were two teams and each team had to pick the lead pirate, in this case Indy. In the background, you can see our big map. It was a lot of fun following the map around the property.

Once we got to the end of the map, we got to dig for buried treasure. They loved that!

Next week is our last environmental class and we're sure going to miss them! We have really enjoyed the teachers, property, and classes. Next semester we head over to the zoo for the rest of the classes.

These are some more pictures of Mamo's trip. Apparently I only used the pictures from her camera and forgot to even include my own pictures! lol

This was a cute one I took of Mamo and Levi walking down the street after the play, back toward the car. They were just walking and talking away. Too cute.

Here's Mamo with the kids in front of the theater where the play was. Funny enough, Mamo actually grew up in this area and this was a movie theater when she was growing up. She used to come to this very theater when she was little with her parents. And, when she was dating my dad, they came here a couple times to see movies. Pretty cool, huh, that she's here with her grandkids? I thought it was pretty cool.

More leaf pictures!

Our Thanksgiving table with the bread basket.

Close up of the basket stand.

Close up of the bread basket. She did a great job, huh??

This is the gingerbread house the kids made on Thanksgiving evening. We do that every year. Usually though, the kids all have their own houses, but the store wasn't selling them...bummer. So, we had to get a big one for everyone to share.

Here's Savannah, Indy, and Levi working on the house.

Mamo's Visit, Part 2

At the same mall as yesterday's post, with the snow, there's an Outdoor World. During December, the Outdoor World sets up a whole wintery play area with model trains, remote control trucks, video games, shooting games, fake deer, a real Santa, snacks, snow, and bunches of stuff for sale. It's basically a big display area, but the kids love it because the themeing is so much fun. Here the boys are playing one of the shooting games.


Levi shooting at a different game.

Mamo with both boys and a snowman. Too cute!

Indy playing a fishing game. They had so much fun! Mamo and I just sat in some big chairs while the boys played for nearly an hour! And, since it was the middle of a weekday, there was no one there competing for the games. They had the run of the place and we had a nice visit. :-)

And, of course, Mamo brought us some fall leaves from NC. They sat for days in their boxes because it was raining all during Thanksgiving. Ugh. And, then the ground and all of outside was wet for days. Yuck! Finally, it was dry enough to play with the leaves! Yay!

And, somehow when we play with our fall leaves each year, neighborhood kids come out of the woodwork to come play, too! lol These poor FL kids don't get to play with fall leaves except when Mamo sends them! Here's one of the neighbor boys playing with Levi and a little later his sister showed up with his mom and then two other kids from a different family! It was funny. We love to share, though, so we're glad they got to come play.

A couple days before Mamo left to go back home, we had our environmental class, which we took her to. Levi had a hard time sitting still during this particular class, so Mamo took him out and walked around the property with him. And, of course, took pictures! :-)

Levi found a snail and we made him put it back before we went home. Here he's putting it in a safe place.

During this class, we were learning about old cultures so the kids' assignment was to create an old culture and make a museum of artifacts they "found" (made) about this (made-up) culture. Indy was in charge of the weapons display...big surprise there, eh?? lol Here he's showing off the weapons he "found".

This was so cute. It was a sign he made to tell the "museum patrons/visitors" not to touch the artifacts. During the tour of the museum, he told all about each weapon and it's purpose. He did a great job! And found some very unique weapons, too! ;-)

As we were leaving, I took a quick picture of Mamo with the beautiful property in the background. Unfortunately, I forgot to tell her to smile, so it looks like she was caught off guard. But, that's ok, it's still a good picture. And she has proof she was there! :-)

The last day before she left, we went to see a play at the children's theater in town with our homeschool group. It was a pretty good play and the kids enjoyed it. It was nice that Mamo got to go with us.

Sadly, Ashton was in school, so she missed this play, but Savannah did get to go with us. Here the kids are in front of the board with the play's poster.

We had a very busy, yet fun, visit with Mamo. I think she always needs a vacation when she leaves us! lol We got some Christmas shopping done and got to go to dinner and have some nice time visiting. I wish we lived closer, but it makes the times we have more precious. Love you, Mom! :-)

Mamo's Visit, Part 1

Mamo (Mylinda's mom) came down to visit the week of Thanksgiving and we had a lot of fun! This fun picture of the girls was taken on the second day of her visit. Ta-dah!

A couple days later, we went to the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art to see a Norman Rockwell exhibit. It was really neat! Indy was just fascinated by all the artwork! I wish Levi had been, too, so I could have taken a little longer looking at some of the pieces. It was all I could do to keep him under control! lol But, we did have a really nice visit there. They have the coolest exhibits and we've seen several of them. I'm always checking to see what's coming next. I think since I've been studying artists with Indy (Monet last year and Van Gogh this year), it's given him a keener interest in artwork. I'm glad.

Ashton is in the culinary arts program at her high school. When they are freshmen, the fist semester, the teacher mainly focuses on kitchen safety and procedures.....kinda boring, but necessary. However, the do do two main projects the first semester, which are (1) a bread basket for Thanksgiving and (2) a really fancy gingerbread house for Christmas. A couple days before Thanksgiving, she brought her bread basket home and we used it on our Thanksgiving table. Here she is showing her work off. She did a great job, don't you think??

It even had a little stand to set it on made out of braided dough.

Here it is on our Thanksgiving table. And, yes, we did use it to hold our rolls for dinner!

The day after Thanksgiving, Mamo took Indy and Levi to the driving range and then to play miniature golf. They had a lot of fun....of course! Here's Levi on the driving range.

And, here's both boys on the mini golf course.

A couple days after that, we went to a nearby mall where their Santa display was themed around the Polar Express movie. It was really cool! And, man, the boys LOVED it! Here they are in front of the train with snow falling on them. It was so neat to play in the "snow" when it wasn't even cold! Great!

This was a tree in the display. Such a pretty setting. See the snow all over their shoulders??

Here they are on the back of the train. They did talk to Santa, but the people wouldn't let me take photos with my own camera, so there's no pictures of them with Santa.

I thought this was so cute with Levi looking up at the Polar Express train in the giant snowglobe. He thought that was really something!

In the same mall, at a certain time each night during December, they have a snowfall. It's really just tiny, tiny bubbles, but it sure seems like snow. We just have to use our imaginations. lol They have Santa handy and play Christmas music and it's a lot of fun watching the kids play in the snow. Here Indy is catching his snow.

I took this picture of the "snow" falling in front of the light so you could really see it well. Almost looks like real snow, eh?

The kids all were having so much fun that the girls started dancing to the Christmas music with the boys. Too cute! It was well worth fighting the crowd for!

Here's Indy and Mamo.

And, here's Mamo with all the Drury grandkids.

Stay tuned tomorrow for Part 2 of Mamo's visit and see what more exciting things we did! :-)