Mother's Day at the Zoo

Hello and Happy Mother's Day! 

After church on Mother's Day we went to Washington Park Zoo in Michigan City, Indiana.  The line to get into the zoo was long.

Really, really long!  The end of the line almost reached the shore of Lake Michigan.  Good thing it was a low tide day.  ;-)

The kids and I thought up ways they could make this situation better.  Perhaps, having more than one person at the front gate taking admission fees would be a good idea.  An even better idea would be to let everyone in for FREE and Have Folk's Pay to GET OUT.  My kiddo's are smart ones!

Once inside the zoo, Troy was our tour guide for the day!

The mountain lion was the first of the critters we watched.  She was busy chillin.

Gladys was into petting goats!

The kids were not going to be convinced that these sun bathers were giant rodents!

Peacocks have strutted around this zoo freely, ever since I can remember.

And of course, the peahens do too. 

I'm not sure why this cute little monkey reminds me of Sophie, but she does:

Good ole Monkey Island is still inhabited by a few residents.

Oh look, the Castle!  The outside is so grand, if only the inside were as well.  Hey speaking of castle, guess who's going to Disneyland in a few weeks?  Yup, ME!!!  I can hardly wait!  The vacation I was planning to Hawaii got changed to California instead.  It will be good to visit Hub (my son who lives in CA).

I like your hair-do bird, butcha can't eat my camera!

The weather was absolutely gorgeous out!  70+ degrees with a cool lake breeze.

Wow, an hour at the zoo, and the line is still long!

The tower is what the kids looked forward to the most!

It's on a hill, and up the stairs...

And up MORE stairs!  Hey just you wait till you reach the tower, than ya only have 6 more stories to climb up!  :-)  Ughh!

Hey--Someone's gotta rescue the princess!      

Fun times, fun times!  Now if only there was a slide from the top of the tower to the Lake, then no one would have to climb back down!  ;-)

There used to another path, but it's no longer supposed to be traveled.

These two look so serious; I wonder what they were thinking about.

The aviary is full of parakeets. 

If only I coulda had the eagles land on the popsicle stick!

These little birds were really nice though.

The bigger birds were all enclosed in other pens.

Here kitty, kitty....

Umm, tortoises, apparently are NOT bashful and it looks as if deer have no shame either!

And the emu was keeping beat by making drumming sounds.  True story!

We got outta there!  ;-)

Troy's 10th Birthday!

Here's the Birthday Boy!  Troy turned ten years old the other day!!!

His buddy David came over to help him celebrate with some X-Box fun.

Playing video games is Troy's favorite hobby lately.

Troy and his Grandma--  Birthday cake and Gifts--  Troy had a Great Day!

Speaking of gifts, Bandit, Mom's cat, brought everyone lunch.

He's sweet like that.  ;-)  Umm, the mouse might not have thought so.

Did anyone notice Mom's new hair color?  I think the strawberry blond suits her!

 

Hey-- check out how cute I was with red hair!  :-)

Turning into a Unicorn

 Hello SPRING!

 

Good news, Folk's-- Paris, the foster kitty, has a nice new home now!  I love this pic of her:

She wasn't thrilled with the car ride to meet her new family.

I still have France, and he is doing much better these days.  In fact, today I gave him a new sparkle manicure.  Check out his nails: 

He is a very cuddly cat.  The poor guy had to go to the vet again for his booster shot (distemper) and to see why he was going bald. 

The doc has deduced it to either stress or food allergies!  I assume it must be the later of the two, since it's not the least bit stressful here!!!  ;-)  Actually, he seems to be enjoying himself when he isn't hiding.  I got him some different food, so hopefully that will help.

Troy did some fishing with me the other day.

He likes to use the open spin ultra light.  We caught a bunch of catfish!

I got a bunch of little fish with a beaded nymph.

Jamie got her a crappie!

Jean caught a couple bass!  This was the bigger of the two!

And the gills kept us busy most of the time!

In other news, Sophie enjoyed Gladdie's soccer game.  Sophie is totally into a game where everyone chases a ball! 

Gladiator is number 19. 

She plays very aggressive!

Her games are rather interesting.  This last game, a girl from the other team came up to Gladiator and purposely stomped on her foot! 

When the rare occasion occurs that I have a minute or two to myself, I head for the woods.  There is just something magical about being surrounded by so many wildflowers!  I hear it's been known to turn folks into unicorns. ;-)

I have yet to find morals this year, but I have a feeling it will be the next time I get out there.

Jack in the Pulpit seems to be popping up like mad this year!

Don'tcha just LOVE spring?!? 

 

 I can't wait to get back out to the woods!!!  :-)