Cousins

Snapshots of a Saturday: Zoo Edition

<center><a href="http://www.lifeonthehayfarm.com"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2538/3712146438_74ae990414_o.jpg"/></a></center>

I'd love to have you join my new photo meme! Here's the rules (they're easy, I promise!):

*Any photos you post must be your own.

*Nothing vulgar or obscene, please.

*Mr. Linky will go live late Friday night and you'll have as long as you like to post your link.

*Try to post pictures of your Saturday adventures, but if you have another day you'd rather share, feel free.

*The photos don't have to be from the same day you post. They can be a recent adventure, or something from long ago.

*No subject is too mundane. If you'd like to share, we want to enjoy!

*Please link back to LOTHF by grabbing the header from above. Thanks!

That's about it. I hope this will inspire us to take our cameras EVERYWHERE (well, almost) in case of spontaneous adventure.

Last weekend Ron and I took the kiddos on a mini-vacation. We live just over an hour from Waco, TX, but had never visited there. The town has lots of museums and other kid-friendly things to do, some of which I wrote about in my previous posts.

On Saturday we started out at the Cameron Park Zoo. Cameron Park is large complex of fun stuff like a frisbee golf course, splash pad, etc...and the zoo, of course. I wish we could have explored more of it. I think a family could spend an entire day there!

As a little background before I show my photos: We used to read our kids Bill Peet books all the time when they were little. He wrote and illustrated wonderful stories about crazy animals and people. But one of our favorites was a true story that he wrote about his family. It was called Capyboppy, and it was about how his son raised a Capybara until it too big for their family to handle. Then they donated it to a local zoo. My older daughter, who is 12, has loved Capybaras since that time and has always wanted to see one in person. The Dallas Zoo used to have one, but it died of old age before we were able to visit it.

When we set out for the zoo last Saturday, she asked the familiar question, "Does this zoo have a capybara?" I had searched the zoo's website and didn't find any mention of one, so I told her that it didn't look like it. Well, I think you can guess where this is going. We hadn't been there long when I turned around and spotted this:

What a surprise! My daughter was so thrilled. We must have stood there for a good fifteen minutes just watching it. (And all it was doing was laying there.) I wish that it hadn't been behind that tight chain-link fence. It's so hard to get a good picture that way. Here's a pic I found on the web:

And how cute is this!!

Here's the sign from the zoo for those of you who might have never heard of a capybara:

I got some great pics on the rest of our visit, but frankly, we could have left right after the capybara and still say we had a great time!

Thanks for visiting the zoo with us! Hope you have a great weekend!

Father's Day mini-reunion

Our family went to San Angelo to attend a Father's Day bar-b-que. Ron's granddad smoked a brisket (or three) for about 75 of his closest friends and neighbors. Most everyone brought some sort of dish or dessert and we had ourselves a grand ol' time.

This is Granddad. He looks likes he been through some hard times doesn't he? He's going strong even though he's well into his eighth decade.

We got to visit with some family we hadn't seen in a while. Ron's brother Kevin was there with his family. Doesn't that red hair look like trouble? That's Grandmother on the left. She lives in a nursing home now and loves visits from her grandbabies.

This photo of Kevin's family was taken in front of a mural that's being painted in downtown San Angelo. Doesn't it look like you could almost walk right into it?

Here's our little family with Grandmother.
And here's a close-up of that red-headed terror. I kid, I kid! Sort of. Seriously, I love this boy. Reminds me of my own child of extremes, and she doesn't have the red hair to fall back on.
Speaking of children of extremes...here they are together. That's just a whole lot of disaster waiting to happen right there.
Last, but not least, is this cutie. I don't even know his name or who he belonged to but he captured my attention that afternoon. I think I have more pictures of him than anyone else!
We also got to see Ron's aunt Trish from New Mexico. It was a fast trip, but well worth it!

Snapshots of a Saturday

I'm so thankful to be able to say yesterday was just a "normal" Saturday around here. No sickness or other tragic things going on. We went to my step-mom's house to pick up an antique dressing table that used to be mine when I was a little girl. She was sweet enough to put it aside for me and Ron and I finally claimed it yesterday. And while we were there, we had a mini reunion.

Step-brother Kelly and me. I had not seen him in years. And for no good reason. I had missed him and it was great to do a little catching up.

 My wedding was not the last time I saw him, but it was probably the last time we had our picture taken together. (That was over 13 years ago, by the way.)

And then there's this guy. He's Kelly's youngest son. I used to babysit him and his two older brothers when they were just little guys. As you can see, he's outgrown me.

I hope everyone else had a great weekend!