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!

A Cruise for 2

The pictures below are just a small sample of the hundreds that we took on our 3 day cruise. For those of you that know us well you know we take WAY too many pictures. I posted as many as I could.....

Hangin' out on the top deck
Woo Hoo! We're on board and on our way!
Our room.....small but big enough for 2

The beautiful water of the Bahamas

Pulling into port in Nassau

On a ferry on the way to Paradise Island to spend a day at Atlantis

The beautiful waters of Atlantis

The Atlantis hotel

One of the beaches at Atlantis. I just love the turquoise water!

The Michael Jackson suite at Atlantis. Named after him because he was one of the first ones to stay in it. It goes for $25,000 a night. Maybe we'll book that one for next time ;-)

One of the many pools at Atlantis

A huge manta ray at the Atlantis aquarium. It was so graceful and gentle gliding through the water.

One of the many sharks at the Atlantis aquarium

John and I in front of the boat we found and decided we liked. It was named Black Hawk. It was really lovely. I'm sure the inside was just as lovely....I guess I'll never know....

Getting back on the boat after a long tiring day at the water park at the Atlantis.....fun but tiring.

Royal Caribbean's private island of Coco Cay. It was a nice relaxing place. We rode jet skis for an hour there and went way out to where it was shallow and saw starfish all over the bottom. Our guide let us jump off the jet skis and pick up the starfish. So cool!

Parasailing. Something I so wish I could do but am too scared to try.

The parasail boat. Such a cool color boat against the pretty blue water.

Coco Cay.......I could have stayed on this beach ALL day long!
Coco Cay -- lovely!

Coco Cay

Shopping in Coco Cay - I didn't buy anything but it was fun to look.

People watching at the pool. You see all kinds of interesting things :-)

Little did I know that John was above me people watching too.....watching me that is!

For our 17th anniversary this year (and for Father's and Mother's Day) we decided to give ourselves a trip away.....just the 2 of us. We haven't really done that since Ansley was born. I hate to fly but told John I would be willing to take a cruise. So, we found a 3 night cruise that was at the right time and the right price and the rest is history. We left Port Canaveral last Friday afternoon and returned on Monday morning. On Saturday we were in Nassau all day and then on Sunday we were on Royal Caribbean's island of Coco Cay all day. The weather was great....a little cloudy but we never got any rain. We could see it raining in the distance but it managed to avoid us. The whole trip was very relaxing but we missed not being able to talk to our kids on the phone each evening before they went to bed. I was ready to see them when we picked them up in Savannah on Monday afternoon. They were ready to see us too -- or so they say :-)

If you've never taken a cruise I highly recommend it. Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas was pretty good but we were on one of their smaller ships so I'm sure some of the bigger ones are even better. I probably wouldn't take the girls on the one we were on. The Disney Cruise line is definitely on the top of my list so far. They are excellent and everything is family oriented so you really don't have to worry much about what your kids are seeing or hearing. However, I would like to try Royal Caribbean's newest vessel, The Oasis of the Seas. Looks awesome. And Disney is coming out with 2 new ships in the next few years also. Those will be spectacular too I can assure you. This definitely won't be the last cruise for us!

Elisabeth's 4th Birthday Party

Enjoying the buttercream frosting
Elisabeth's birthday cake (I baked the cake but mom decorated it for me)

Finally sitting down and eating a hotdog and some mac and cheese

Elisabeth, Katherine, Emily and Caroline

Carrying out the cake -- I was so afraid I was going to drop it!

Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday

Blowing out the candle

Licking the icing off the candle and keeping a tight grip on the Sprite. She doesn't normally get a soft drinks so to have a whole can was a big deal. She didn't let that Sprite out of her sight!!

Caroline enjoying some panda cake

Sisters......Emily and Katherine

Little Annabelle

It's present time!

Sweet little Olivia

All the kids (May wouldn't get in the picture). Should have taken this at the beginning of the party when they were fresh and not so sweaty. The sun is in their eyes so we couldn't get them to look at the camera. Oh well......it is what it is.

We had a birthday party/cookout on Saturday evening for Elisabeth's 4th birthday. We rented a moonbounce, cooked hotdogs, sweated alot because of the extreme humidity and just hung out with friends for the evening. We prayed all week that it wouldn't rain and it ended up being a nice day even though it was raining on the other side of Fort Mill! I guess I can't complain too much about the humidity.......at least it didn't rain on us.

Elisabeth was so excited all day long and had fun playing with her friends in the moonbounce. She was very sad when the guy came later that evening to take the moonbounce away. She wanted to know why she couldn't keep it! We are glad May got to be here for the party and I think she had a good time playing with all the kids......but was very hot and worn out at the end of the day!

Happy 4th Birthday Elisabeth!!!