Elisabeth's 1st Dentist Visit

Patiently waiting

All done - look at those shiny white teeth!

Elisabeth made her first trip to the dentist a week or so ago. She was so excited to go! So opposite from Ansley. She made sure to tell all the people at the dentist's office that she wanted to be a dentist too when she grows up. They took x-rays of her mouth so she got to see all her teeth on the computer screen which she thought was very cool. She didn't have any cavities (neither did Ansley) so it was a good visit all around!

Jonas Brothers Concert

Riding the Lynx train to Uptown Charlotte
The line of people trying to get into the arena Posing for a quick picture before we went in The Jo Bros!!

Don't ask me which one is which...I can't keep them straight

Jordin Sparks

Jordin Sparks (and somebody's head)

Jonas Brothers

Ansley dancing and having fun

The arena before all the lights went off

Once the lights went off and the bright lights of the stage came on

I went with Ansley and her friend and friend's mom to the Jonas Brothers concert in uptown Charlotte last Friday night. We ate at Steak N Shake before the concert and then parked and took the train to the Time Warner Cable Arena. The girls were so excited and hyped up all the way there. We had nose bleed seats because neither I nor my friend Sharon were willing to pay anymore for tickets. But the view from the seats turned out to be pretty good. The stage was in the round so you could see the whole thing from where we were sitting. The only problem with being up that high is that the sound isn't that good. We couldn't always understand what they were saying. The amount of screaming in that arena was like nothing you have ever heard (or probably want to hear!). I thought I was going to go deaf! 3 bands played before the Jonas Brothers came out: Honor Society, The Wonder Girls and Jordin Sparks (from American Idol). Ansley got a little bored during all these bands because she really just wanted to see the Jonas Brothers. After about an hour or a little more they finally came on stage.......and wow was it loud in the arena then! They put on a 2 hour concert and it was great. Very entertaining and very clean! Their stage was really cool - it raised and lowered, they shot foam into the audience, they put a trampoline in the middle of the stage at one point in the concert, etc.

The bad part about the evening is that from all I read on the web and on my ticket I just wasn't sure if I could bring in a my big 35 mm camera with the extra heavy duty zoom lens. I was afraid if I brought it (cause there's no hiding it) and they said I couldn't bring it in then I would have been up the creek. Since we didn't drive I couldn't just take it back to the car. So I brought my little itty bitty camera and my phone. They did OK but on top of that I forgot to put an SD card in the camera (duh) so I could only take about 10 pictures before the memory filled up. Oh well....the best memories will just have to be in our heads instead.

By the time we got out of the concert and rode the train home it was about 11:45 pm. I was exhausted! Ansley said she wasn't tired (yeah right) but she fell asleep very quickly! All in all it was a fun concert. Wish we could go see Miley Cyrus in November but she has become slightly unpredictable so I don't want to take Ansley to go see her. Ansley definitely had fun and danced all night long. I'm sure this won't be our last concert. :-)

Worn Out

I forgot to post this picture the other day. This is what the kids looked like after spending all day at the zoo. They fell asleep in the car immediately. Ansley just doesn't look like she could be comfortable does she?

First day of 3rd grade

Ansley had a good 1st day of school. She likes her teacher and has several kids in her class that she knows. She says the kids in her class seem nice and she doesn't think there are any mean ones in her class this year. :-) I took her and Elisabeth out to get ice cream after school to celebrate the first day and then John brought flowers home for Ansley that evening. She has them in a vase beside her bed. She is so proud of them! Elisabeth starts pre-school the week after Labor Day so I'll be sure to post pictures of her first day too.

The last full day of summer vacation

The botanical garden area at the Columbia Zoo

Laughing because they ran under the sprinkler that was keeping all the plants wet on this very hot day

Sunflowers......one of my very favorite flowers

Deciding which way to go

I don't wanna swim where he swims

Koi......I love them.....they make me happy. One day I really want a koi pond in my backyard. Probably won't ever be able to do that though since I have Labs. They would just eat them.

The flamingos had laid eggs. Can you see the egg directly under this one? Ansley thought it was so cool!

Cooling off under the mist fan.......it felt so good

Scuffling........reminded us of the way our dogs play with each other

Jumping in to cool off

Always have to have a goofy picture

I tried to get a good picture of the dumpster diving squirrel but he came out so fast that he scared me and I jumped so I only got part of him in the picture. He came out of the trash with a very big french fry. Very entertaining to watch.

Beautiful giraffe skin.......pretty on a giraffe but I just can't get into giraffe print on a purse. (Sorry - I don't mean to offend anyone)

This baby giraffe ran all over the place. I've never seen a giraffe run....ever. They are very awkward animals.

Elisabeth feeding the giraffe. It took her a while to get up the courage to feed it. But now she says this was her favorite part of the day.

Ansley feeding the giraffe

How'd you like to have those teeth?

Getting the last bit of nectar out of the cup

Ansley feeding the Lorikeet. Elisabeth agreed to be in the picture but she definitely wasn't going to hold a bird. They made her nervous and she ended up dropping her cup of nectar when one flew near her.

Me feeding the Lorikeets. John and I did this at the Jacksonville zoo years ago.....it's pretty cool!

Cute Koala bears. We checked this exhibit several times during the day and they were always sleeping.

Ansley at the top of the rock climbing wall

Riding the carousel

Lovingly biting the tigers head.

Our little monkeys

Today was the last full day of summer vacation (I'm kind of sad but kind of excited). We all got up early this morning (around 6:45 am) in preparation and practice for getting up early tomorrow, the first day of school. We got ready and headed out around 8:15 am to Columbia, SC to spend the day at the zoo. It was 92 degrees today but the zoo is pretty shady and even though it was hot and a bit humid we still had a blast. Some of the highlights are as follows: feeding the Lorikeets, feeding the giraffe, watching the squirrels dumpster dive for french fries, riding the carousel, seeing the flamingos and their eggs (wish they had been hatching so we could have seen baby flamingos), watching the bears scuffle and jump in the water. We also had a fascinating time watching the naked mole rats. We've seen them before at another zoo but this exhibit was even better and we got to talk to the "naked mole rat expert" at the zoo who told us lots of fascinating things about them. For instance, did you know they are set up in a colony kind of like bees. There's a queen naked mole rat and all the others are workers. Who knew! But no matter how you look at these creatures they are just ugly. I never got a picture of them.......they were our last stop and by then I was just tired I guess. Sorry to disappoint you.

Ansley starts 3rd grade tomorrow. She's a little nervous but excited too. We can't believe she's in 3rd grade already. The years are going by too quickly! Next year will be terrible for me because Elisabeth will be starting kindergarten. I'm excited for her because she can't wait to be at the same school as Ansley but sad because once they get in school it seems like the years really fly by. I'll be posting pictures later this week of Ansley and the 1st day of school. I'll let you know how it goes!