Starry Safari at the Zoo

Our friends invited us to join them for the first night of Starry Safari at the Zoo. They are zoo members and were able to get in free along with a few guests. This is something new that the zoo is offering weekend evenings thru the summer. It was fun. There were water slides, bounce houses, a rock climbing wall, the safari train ride, horse drawn carriage rides and of course food. The weather was perfect for getting wet & not too hot for the adults who did a lot of standing in line. We didn't get to go on the rides because the kids wanted to do the slides, bounce houses and rock wall. Thanks for inviting us Jill, Keara & Shaylin!

Doug & Ryan waiting in line for a water slide:Ryan is all hair as he flies down the water slides:

Shaylin & Keara after the first water slide - all smiles:

Gotta love that BIG grin on Ryan's face after going down a water slide:
Ryan on rock climbing wall:

Concrete - All Done

Finally, a project that Doug has been talking about for a couple years now - DONE! He's been wanting to pour concrete in an area behind our pool and under our pool covering. It's the very corner of the yard behind the waterfall & hot tub. Up until the middle of summer last year, or so, there was flagstone there. That has been removed, leveled, framed and ready for concrete. This past Wednesday, Ben & Kelly came over bright & early to help us haul it from the truck. Thanks again guys for the help! The truck showed up at 7:15. We were done hauling by 8:20 or so. It went a lot faster than I thought it would. All that was left after that was smoothing it out. It came out great. We just need to pick out our cool deck paint & we will be finished and ready for swim season.

3 Wheel Barrows ready to go:

The area to be filled with concrete:
Kelly & Ben talking while waiting for Doug to be ready for their loads to be poured in:

Doug smoothing it out as we added to it:
Ben about half way through hauling, still has a smile for the camera:
Kelly getting another load:

The truck in our driveway. Brought to us by King Concrete. If you need concrete give Greg a call at 480-234-7577:
I helped! It was pretty fun hauling that concrete from the driveway to the very farthest corner of our backyard. And . . . I was only slightly sore in my shoulders the next day. The weather was perfect since we started out so early, it hadn't gotten hot yet.
Ben bringing more in for Doug to smooth out:
Kelly bringing in more:

Doug smoothing it out:
Doug & Kelly getting it real smooth:

Finishing up those edges - still smiling after 2 hours of work:

Almost finished smoothing & edging:
All done:

Baby Bird

Ryan & a friend were swimming in the pool. I was sitting on the back patio to keep an eye on them. Usually, I read a book, but this time I was talking on the phone with my mom. I noticed something fall from one of our trees. It immediately hopped up. It was a very tiny, very young baby bird. It hopped up onto it's legs and proceeded to sit there staring at the tree. I watched it for about a half hour and then another baby bird fell from the tree. This one didn't land as well. Doug was able to prod it back up so that it was also on it's feet. Eventually, he scooped them both into a bin filled with foliage and placed it in the tree. At last check, both baby birds were still in the bin and appeared to be doing well.

Look in the bottom right corner, you can see the baby bird standing up at the edge of the shadow of the tree, look how tiny it is & just how far it fell from the tree:

The baby bird never really took it's eyes of the tree:
Stretching as far as it can, trying to get back to that tree & it's mom:

Treats for the boys

Fireball has survived almost two weeks in our house. He is doing well. Ryan decided he needed a "friend" and spent his allowance on a water frog - named Wibbet. The two are doing great, swimming around, sharing food. On our trip to buy Wibbet, we had to buy some treats for our good boys - the beagle brothers. Here's a couple of pics of Ranger & Sam enjoying their tasty treats.

Our newest edition - Fireball

I have had a ban on fish in our house for a couple years now. That was the first "pets" we ever had. That is, if you can call fish pets. Anyway, we just can't seem to keep them alive. I have often joked when we go to pet stores that the fish can hear us coming and they all swim to the back of the tank in hopes we won't see them and want to take them home. It's bad. So, we moved on to other pets - dogs, lizards, frogs, chickens. More animals than I care to count. Ryan's science class just finished up studying pets and they were allowed to bring them home from school if they had parents permission. So, we will give it a try again. Hopefully, the wide eyed looked on his face isn't because he had realized that he got moved into the Harper house. Poor guy.

Fireball:

A Little Cleaning

While in the middle of vacuuming, Doug decided Sam needed a good cleaning. So, he took the vacuum to him. He really didn't seem to mind being vacuumed. He's a funny dog. He just loves to be touched.

Now it's time for cuddling on the couch:
It's all better now!

Towel Fight

Don't ask me what started it, because it's hard to remember. Moments like these seem to break out in our house pretty often. Doug & Scott went at it with towels one day. The "fight" didn't last too long, but they sure were winded afterwards!

Doug & Scott getting ready for the strike. Check out Scott's expression - is he having fun or what?

Such concentration:
Winding up:
And the strike:

Playing on the Weekend

Ryan and a couple neighbor boys busy at play. They set up Ryan's bike ramp and raced Lego cars down it for hours. I could hear them laughing all the way in the house. What a great time!!!

Mother's Day Flowers

Some flowers from Mother's Day. We had a nice day. I even got to take a 2 hour nap before we went to my parent's house to spend the evening there. Some of my family was there also. We had dinner and visited for a long time. It was very nice.

Flowers in the kitchen:

These flowers are in the bathroom. I love purple (in case you didn't know that already). Our bathroom is all green and purple and these flowers look beautiful in that setting. I actually took these pics almost a week after Mother's Day and am amazed at how fresh and beautiful they still look: