My Childhood Friend and Geocaching!

Okay...I need to start out with the spore print we made!

Isn' t that NEATO???

My childhood friend from the time I was 4 years old came to visit me this weekend. She was in need of some time away from the mighty pressures of wifehood and motherhood. I was extremely blessed to be the place to chose to come to. :) I love you HEATHER!!!

We went geocaching in a small town about 30 minutes away.

We also came home to swim, but the baby in her belly made the water pressure feel strange. Hee hee...

That night we went to see Hancock. I loved the time to be right there with her with NO CHILDREN! :)

After she left on Sunday we went to Vicksburg, MS. What for? GEOCACHING!!! *laugh*

Word to the wise...do not attempt to find your coordinates on the site on a Sunday. It will NOT happen! I almost lost my mind waiting on that site to load. UGH! Heather can tell you all how crazy it was!

We got to Vicksburg late in the day because of it. But on the way we bought some figs! YUM-O! They are Remy's favorite food.

In this photo I am waiting for him to blow a bubble. I never did catch the bubbles but I did get what we call his secret smile. :)

We have to say that Vicksburg was a NEAT place to geocache! And old town with lots of charm and a deep old feeling that only a place so rich in history can give you. Matthew and I fell in love with this place.

Here is the first cache.

Remy found it!

We went to another one. And. We didn't find it. We will be back one day!

It was a micro cache that we should have been able to find. I went to the site and it looks like others are saying it is gone? Oops!

In Vicksburg they have this HUGE 16 mile loop drive through National Military Park where the main battlefield was. There were many statues. Just a pretty place. And VERY NEAT for a cache!

We saw a wild turkey while there!

They have the U.S.S Cairo preserved and a museum that was closed on a Sunday. Loved that old ship!

On the way to the next cache we snapped some photos...

Here is the Grand MS. river!

The next cache is an old church that took only $925 dollars to build in it's time. I know folks who pay that in gas per month! YIKES!

We didn't get to open this one...

Because a huge snake that looked like a boa constrictor was in the WAY! We will have to find it another day! I know I walked right by him. And Eli almost did as well to get to the cache! We are all very careful to look and be aware. This huge guy was as still as could be while he waited on those four big animals to leave his domain. Sorry big guy! Thanks for not striking at us!

Anyone know what this is? He has a light brownish red stripe down his back. Matthew thinks everything is a rattler...hee hee...cause he lived in Texas as a child. But this guy never made a sound! We would love to know and I am tired of searching!

I am 30 years old TODAY!

I had a neat birthday today! All of it was so unexpected and this made it even more of a treat!

We went to starbucks, yum! And then we went GEOCACHING! I wanted to go in a direction we had never went and so we went north to Arkansas. We ended up in a little town and a cache led us to the sweetest little zoo that is FREE and is run on the kindness of donations from guests. They had animals I didn't expect like tigers, wolves, etc. They were closing when we arrived and the man found out we were cachers and how much Remy and I love the animals that he gave us a tour after hours!

Here I am putting the cache back!

We loved these guys! They were NOT shy!

Of course Remy had to tell our friend Melissa that he saw the tortoise couple mating! Hee hee! Melissa just loved it and said that is one of the reasons she adores him! He tells it like it is and has no idea that it is anything but just the truth!

The staff worker there today is an AG professor and also cares for the animals at the zoo. The zoo started in the 40's when a traveling circus broke down and to pay for the repairs they left a bear and some other animals. This was the start of it all! Almost every animal is a rescue animal. The tiger was from a grocery store that showed it in the parking lot, one monkey was raised as a woman's baby and ate with spoons and forks. He came to live there because his "mommy" died of cancer. He had a hard time learning to be a monkey. If you were there you would see that EVERY animal is a baby doll! They all come to see you! They all have a sparkle in their eye! They are well tended to and loved. It was such and odd experience to be so close to every creature and for them to want me there. They welcome you into the zoo, and they make it your experience. This is just one of those out of the way little gems you can't believe you stumbled on!

They have a petting zoo!

Big mama loves to eat peppermints!

The farm animals are there because after being shown the children who raised them and showed them could not stand to see them meet with a bloody end. And so they live out a sweet life in a sanctuary they were blessed to find themselves in. It did this vegetarian animal lover's heart good!

Here is one of the monkeys that found his way there.

The HIGHLIGHT of the day was when the staff worker told me to follow him because he had something to show me! He brought out this little fella!

And I was able to pet a baby LEMUR! Can you believe it???

I almost cried as I told him that he had forever made a memory for me. I will always think of my 30th birthday as the day I was able to love on a baby Lemur!

This was taken of me right after the blissful event!

I want to set up a homeschool group day for the zoo and he gave me the number to call and said they would love to have us! I can't wait!

We found one more cache before we headed home. It was on the state lines of Arkansas and Louisiana.

Thanks for a wonderful day boys. And God thankyou for the sweet gift you gave me in setting up this sweet day. You know I love to pet and speak with animals! And you knew that man would see that joy and offer us that sweet tour where he told us the names of each animal and the history of this sweet place. He didn't have to give us that after hours...yet he did! Thanks to the professor's time! You made my day!

My childhood friend Heather is coming to visit me this weekend! I can't wait!

Full Summer Days with Friends!

On the 23rd:

We made butter and bread. Mikey was so cute rolling up his bread dough. :)

The butter was YUM-O!

The 24th:

Found us with a day off with Daddy! We headed to the art museum with everyone!

Monkey and Stitch came along!

<Matthew took the camera and shot this one of the little boys. :)

Running down the levy.

Sabrina and boys.

Look at Tucker all smiley!

We went to Target afterwards and the boys had a new kite. Daddy put it together even though the wind was no where to be found!

Alien Daddy!

The crab apples are growing.

Matthew took me on a date to see "The Happening" and I was able to dress up and feel womanly instead of just motherly. :) Remy gave me lots of kisses before I left. He wanted us to take him to see the KungFu Panda movie. *rolling eyes*

Does anyone see the gray streak in my hair?

On the 25th:

We had school and just hung out.

Eli drew this finger monkey. What do you think Aunt Erin?

Tucker has decided that he is a BIG BOY who should stand and walk before his time. He really enjoys Uncle Mattmos taking him for a few turns in the living room.

Today found us:

Having school and hanging out again. Mikey was sick yesterday and I haven't felt to well. But we did make our fruit pops.

Sherri, we will be at the bowling if everyone is well! And we have some mall time planned for tomorrow. And then it is Sabrina's little get together for my birthday. We are letting the kids swim and play. She will not be here for my real birthday on the 10th...but that is okay. Saturday will make up for it! :)