It was such a beautiful day yesterday we decided to go to the zoo for a little while - it turned out to be half the day. It wasn't too crowded when we arrived around 10, so in addition to the perfect weather, we didn't have to deal with any kind of crowds.The Little Rock Zoo has been making all kinds of changes and improvements, and for the first time in all the years we've been going, you can finally get a good look at the Rhinos.Laedyn would have been happy watching the Rhino indefinately - Nick, not so much. When the Rhino turned her back to us, we moved on to the next exhibit.The new viewing areas for the rhinos also give a different perspective on the giraffes. These two were all tangled up together every time we looked over at them, bumping each other and leaning on one another. We kept expecting them to twine their necks together.Next stop was the bear area. Too bad most of the bears were hiding in their dens. We saw a Malayan Sun Bear way at the back of his exhibit, a sloth bear taking a nap and a grizzly bear lounging next to the viewing window with her back to us. Not the best day for bear viewing. I did learn a few bits of trivia however. Sloth bears have no front teeth because they eat insects and teeth would get in the way of suction necessary for slurping up termites and the like. And the sun bears are named for the white patch of fur on their chest that resembles a rising sun.Before heading out, we took a quick turn around the small cats/carnivores area - the only active cat was a caracal who had lovely black pointy ears. He hissed at us. We also saw a red fox napping in his enclosure, and learned a little trivia about what foxes like to eat. Ready for this? They like to eat earthworms! Who would ever guess that???

This carousel, known as the Arkansas Carousel, is a fairly recent addition to the zoo. It made its first appearance at the State Fair in 1924. It's not just any old carousel either, it's an "over the jumps" carousel and this is the only remaining fully operational one in the world! The manufacterer of this carousel only ever made four of them. It used to be used at the fair as a midway ride, and was fully transportable. Now it's permanently ensconced at the Little Rock Zoo and has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. When it was on the midway, it cost five cents to ride. Now it costs two dollars! Laedyn loves the horsies ... when the ride came to an end she screeched, yelled "no no no - I ride horsey" then proceeded to cry. I told Nick he was lucky she wasn't kicking. Last time I took her on it the end of ride tantrum was much worse!

Brandon is officially a big boy now that he's gone off to Kindergarten. We took pictures on the way out the door his first day (Wednesday). He was really excited. His school requires uniforms - blue, black, red, or white polos with blue, black, or tan shorts/pants. They are required to wear a belt if the pants have loops. I was advised that you can avoid this rule by cutting off the belt loops! Brandon doesn't seem to have trouble with the belt however, so the loops remain. I thought he looked very handsome for his first day.Laedyn is also growing up, and she graduated into the preschool room on Wednesday. She'll be starting to learn all the things you need to know before starting Kindergarten these days. It has been an exciting week for everyone!Nick astually ASKED to be in a picture:-)Brandon had a great first week of school. In fact, when I went to pick him up he didn't want to leave - all three days! We had homework Wednesday and Thursday nights, but have the weekend off. Looks like we're all going to making some adjustments to this new schedule. Laedyn had an excellent start in her preschool room as well, and has been singing the ABCs endlessly. She gets about half way through before it get muddled.

Jennifer married Damon Willis at Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs on June 21. It was a lovely ceremony in a unique location. We were honored to be included, as it was a very small gathering - mostly family.In order to get to the chapel, you have to drive up a wooded mountain and then walk a forest path to the entrance. It was a lovely location & a beautiful day for a wedding.Nobody seemd to be in the mood for a family shot despite my best efforts. Luckily Laedyn behaved during the ceremony!Couldn't help but include this one! Audrey bought her this dress last year. It was too cute!The wedding cake decorated in Tiffany blue. It was very tasty.Just before they left the reception, we got a quick picture of Jennifer with the kids. She made a lovely bride.
I'll post more pictures of our trip to Eureka Springs soon!

Nick and I hosted a Coming of Age Anniversary Party at US Pizza in honor of our first date which was 21 years ago (1988)- we can now legally drink as a couple! With the input and instigation of some friends (you know who you are), we went all out with an 80's theme. It was great fun hunting down outfits for everyone. Well - not quite everyone. Nick is wearing his own original t-shirt & jeans from the day. Crazy! I put single-use cameras out for everyone to use, but I think mostly the kids used them. It will be interesting to see what the party looked like from the point of view of the youngest generation. At one point Brandon dropped a camera off the balcony. He said it flashed when it hit the ground, and it still worked when we retreived it. I can't wait to see that one! Took a lickin' ... Jamie and Fran were, like, totally, fabulously 80's

I ordered a special cake from The Blue Cake Company for the occassion. They did a wonderful job - it looked great and tasted amazing. The top two layers were white cake with raspberry filling (just like our wedding cake in 1995) and the bottom layer was chocolate with chocolate filling. The pictures on the wires are from our 80's days (junior & senior prom, homecoming, twirp dance), along with the cover of a Guns & Roses album, the Who Framed Roger Rabbit movie, and the Bye-Bye Birdie musical. For a quick history lesson on Val & Nick ... Sweet Child O' Mine was our song, we saw Roger Rabbit on our first date, and we met doing the pit orchestra for Bye-Bye Birdie at the Straw Hat Theater (Ashtabulas Arts Center)
It was a shame to cut the cake - but we did it anyway... and everyone was glad we did. It was delicious!THANK YOU to everyone who came and made our celebration such a fun evening. Nick, Brandon, Laedyn & I all had a wonderful time & hope all of our guests did too.

Nova did some filming in Nick's lab a couple months ago. The show is airing on July 14th. Below is a link to a brief video called "Aiding Aging Muscles." Nick appears briefly. Check it out!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0403/03.html

We went for a hike at Cane Creek Lake at the end of May. It was an interesteing park, but the mosquitos were AWFUL!!! It was also very hot & muggy. Not the most comfortable day for a hike. I think I set a record pace just to get away from the bugs. The mosquitos were explained by the small slow creeks criss-crossing the trail. I think there were nine foot bridges to cross in the 2.5 mile trail.

See how far ahead of the family I was? They kept stopping to look at mushrooms, plants & bugs. I never slowed down except to take a couple pictures. Most of the trail looked like this:We finished our hike just ahead of the storm rolling in, & decided we had time to get a closer look at the lake from a little fishing pier. Cane Creek Lake is interesting to look at with all the dead trees sticking out of it.

There's a little cove on the other side of the pier. Not visible in this picture is a boat launch ramp and a pavilion with a sand volleyball court. The pavilions at this park are enclosed and have air conditioning! NICE! The park also has an RV camping area, including a permanent RV you can rent.Self-timer pic of the day... I should have set the flash to go off. In order to even see any features, I had to crop in close & radically change tinting, saturation and contrast... oh well.While we were enjoying the view from the pier and taking pictures, the storm arrived. It was a real frog strangler, and showed no signs of letting up. See that car off in the distance? Yep - that's ours.

Nick ran all the way over to get the car in the pouring rain & then came down to get Laedyn. Brandon and I made a run for it next. Luckily we had a couple towels in the car - I have no idea why. We don't usually have towels on hand but it sure was nice to have them that day! On the drive back to Little Rock, we saw a sign for a place called Tar Camp Park. It's an Army Corps campground, and according to the link above was voted one of the top 100 family campgrounds in the country! They sure did have a nice playground. When Brandon saw the rock wall he insisted that we stop so he could get out & play.Laedyn, who had been fast asleep in her carseat, must have sensed the fun to be had. She woke up and just had to check out the swings. We weren't there for more than 15 minute though before the rain we'd left behind at Cane Creek caught up to us and forced us to call it quits for the day.

Tar Camp Park is about 32 miles from our house in Little Rock - it takes about 45 minutes to get there.

My parents came for a visit in May and we took them to Petit Jean for a day. I got one self-time group shot that day. We rented a minivan rather than drive two cars. Brandon loved the minivan and was sad we couldn't keep it. It was nice to have space for everyone!

Our first stop (after the picnic which I took no pictures of...) was Cedar Falls.

Laedyn hitched a ride for a little while.

After we looked at Cader Falls, we went to look at Mather Lodge. There's a restaurant, gift shop, lodge rooms and cabins. This is view from behind Mather LodgeAfter Mather Lodge, we went to the Bear Cave trail. The rock crevices are pretty interesting.

Papa took over backpack duty for awhile.

With Papa on backpack duty, Nick got to climb the wall. He & Mark disappeared for quite awhile. I don't know how they got back down.

After Bear Cave Trail, we drove a scenic loop and stopped at a few overlooks. Mark the daredevil went out on a precipice. It was scarier than it appears in the picture.

All of the exploration, in addition to the kid's energy, wore Papa out and he snuck in a quick catnap. Brandon & Nick thought Papa's idea had merit, and made themselves comfortable on a rock ledge too.

Brandon spotted a pretty yellow butterfly in a parking lot. Unfortunately it had a broken wing.At the top of Petit Jean Mountain there is an old building that used to be used at a camp. We spent awhile climbing around in it exploring. Mom & I both took lots of pictures - I wonder how different her pictures are from my pictures??At the back of the structure, there was a deep hole with an exterior door opening but no obvious way to get down in. There was water trickling out from under the structure (a spring?). I wonder if it was a cold celler to store food? We saw a snake sitting down there, so no one went down to investigate further.

The view from the top of Petit Jean ... & Mark. I let Nick take Brandon off the trail to get a better view although all these heights make me extremely nervous about the kids.The last thing we saw on this trip was the gravesite of Petit Jean. After that we loaded back into the minivan for the drive back to Little Rock. Just in time too - the rain began just as we were looking at the gravesite!