Things that Swim and Fly

Way back at the beginning of summer, we made some visits to see all things that swim and fly.  First up was the aquarium.  

It was my sister Val's birthday, and she had never been there.  We volunteered to accompany her since we love Val, and we are seasoned aquarium pros, since we had been there once before.  We loved watching this HUGE river fish from the amazon that I can't remember the name of.  Pretty sure he could have swallowed our Corbiecakes in one bite.  

We saw every fish in the building...tropical fish, jelly fish, seahorses.  We petted the stingrays and the star fish.  We saw the other things like snakes, caimans, frogs, etc.  Why are there not more pictures, you wonder?  Well, my old (now-replaced) phone's camera was going out during this time period.   9 out of 10 times, I would push the picture button, then nothing would happen.  I would move the camera away from what ever I was trying to take a picture of to see what was wrong, and THEN it would take a picture, of my foot or something.  That is why I have only a handful of shots.  But here is a blurry one of Val and Dax and Cora in Dax's favorite place...the SHARK TUBE!

Dax was disappointed by the lack of 20-foot great whites, but at least they got to pose in the megalodon's jaws:

We also liked the 3-D movies that were included with the tickets...actually they were the 4-D ones that shoot water at you, which makes the kids all squeal,  Arden's favorite thing to do is walk across the rope bridge in the amazon section, but for some reason it really freaked Dax out, and I had to come across and save him.  A fear of heights developing?  Hmmmm...anyway, it was a really fun time and hope Val didn't mind us tagging along.

One thing Dax is not afraid of is BIRDS!  Have I told you about Dax's recent obsession with them?  It is kind of cool, kind of weird.  I think it all started with a library book about birds he checked out a few months back.  Now he wants me to print pictures of birds (especially cardinals and blue jays) for him to color, and he carries a book that I got him for his birthday around with him like ALL the time:

You know, just in case a blue heron or golden eagle flies by.  Actually, he correctly identified a goldfinch at the cabin last weekend, so he must be learning something!  We figured we would feed his addiction and take a trip to the aviary in June.

Again, we saw the pelicans, the vultures, the toucans, the flamingos (Arden's favorite), the eagles, the owls (my favorite) the cardinals (Dax's favorite...since they live in St. Louis where one of his favorite cousins Chase lives.  Although, as Dax pointed out, the cardinals at the aviary are Red Crested Cardinals with grey bodies.  They live in South America.  His favorite are the Northern Cardinals, which are all red, duh.)...but my camera was again not on its best behavior, so hardly any photographic evidence has survived.  I did manage to get this picture of the kids and one of the parrots (Cora's favorite) after a bird show.  As you can see, Dax can't even rip his eyes off the bird long enough to smile at the camera:

 I asked Dax why he likes birds so much now, and he said something like, "Because there are lots of different kinds, and they are pretty, and you can learn so much about them."  This is pretty much the only other picture from that day:

This picture is mildly disturbing to me, now that I look at it closely.  Maybe more than mildly.  Actually, this is the stuff of nightmares.  Let's move on.

Dax wanted to use some birthday money to get a bird toy from the aviary gift shop, but there weren't any in his price range.  When we got home we hit Amazon, and found a stuffed cardinal for just a few bucks.  Dax practically waited by the window during the two looong days until it came.  When the UPS girl arrived as we were all piling into the car to go somewhere, Dax ran up to her like she was Santa Claus and practically climbed up her leg to get his hands on the box.  He then happily yelled to her, "GUESS WHAT ITS MY NEW NORTHERN CARDINAL TOY AND NORTHERN CARDINALS LIVE IN ST. LOUIS AND THE FEMALES ARE ACTUALLY BROWN ONLY THE MALES ARE RED AND THEY WILL FIGHT WITH THEIR OWN REFLECTIONS BECAUSE THEY THINK IT IS ANOTHER MALE HAHA!"  The UPS girl handed over the box as fast as she could and ran for her truck before Dax could spew any more cardinal knowledge at her.

So, there you have it.  Birds and fish.   Someday I'll catch up.

Fight Like a Haun

This has been a crazy few months for my twin brother Dan and his family.  Last fall, their daughter Brynn was diagnosed with cancer, every parent's nightmare.  Specifically, she has a Ewing's sarcoma, a type of cancer that affects mostly children and teenagers.  The poor thing has been doing chemo for 9 months, and also had to do radiation, but she is almost done!  This is her last week of chemo.  She has been so brave through it all and inspired so many people, including me!  I wish we lived closer to them (they live near St. Louis, Missouri) so we could help more!

As the family looked forward to being done with the whole cancer crapfest, a few weeks ago my brother Dan was diagnosed with Stage III follicular lymphoma.  The cancers are completely unrelated, as they are not genetically linked, or caused by environmental factors or anything like that. As my brother Dan says, it is a "statistical anomaly," otherwise known as bad luck.  Really really craptastically bad luck.  I guess hard things are given to the strong people that can handle them.

Dan has now started his own chemotherapy and immunotherapy regimen, and he and Brynn actually were in the cancer center getting treatment on the same day a couple of weeks ago.

Dan tells us he will be doing chemo for about 6 months, and hopefully after that he will (hopefully) be in remission.  He must have learned a lot from Brynn because is attitude is amazing.  He's got this.

And wow, his wife Lori, she is SUPERWOMAN!  I would so be having the biggest pity party for myself if I was her, but she is handling it with so much grace and faith.

So, if any of you guys have some spare prayers, send them over to St. Louis to the Hauns.  #FightLikeAHaun

Love you guys.

The End of Kindergarten

Holy cow, it is July already?  I guess I really have to get going, or I am never going to catch up!

Next up, the END OF KINDERGARTEN!  I have no more kindergartners left now.  But a few weeks ago I still had one, and this is how it all ended.

Cora and her kindergarten class finally got to go on their long-awaited ZOO FIELD TRIP the week before school ended.  She knew that I went with Arden and Dax on their kinder zoo trips, so I was pretty much obligated to accompany her to the zoo as well.  Of course!  I wouldn't miss it!  Here we go:

The dinosaurs are back at the zoo!  Look at these cute faces:

 A trip to the zoo is not complete without a trip to the germiest, er...funnest drinking fountain EVER!!

 Little eagle babies:

 The polar bear was awake!

 So was the T-Rex!

The zoo was really fun, and I didn't lose anyone!  Mission accomplished! I will admit it is easier being in charge of 4 little girls than 4 little boys, much more hand holding and much less running in 4 different directions.  It was so fun hanging with these little cuties all over the zoo.  (I will not lie though, I am usually pretty ready to get off the bus after the 30-minute ride back to school with 50 hyped up kindergartners.)

The next week, it was kindergarten graduation!  Adorable!!  Cora is on the front row, 4th from the left.  She had such a fun class, I am gonna miss these cute kids:

 Here is Cora and her fun teacher, Miss McGary.  Cora adored her teacher, and she learned so much!

 Here is Cora and one of her bestest friends enjoying their favorite part of the graduation ceremony...the cookies:

Congratulations, my kindergarten graduate!  On to first grade! (**sniff**  **sniff**)