strolling around the Caldwell Zoo...

Russell organized a friend's outing that was also kid friendly - we spent a day at the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, Tx! As we have so many little ones in our group, this was a perfect adventure and I was very proud of the turn out. I'm not sure if I took more pictures of babies or animals, but here's a look into our day at the zoo!

There is just something about the wonderment in someone's eyes when they see or learn something new. Probably my favorite part of the day was seeing all my friends teach their child (or children) about the animals we were there to see.

{Brown Bear is Parker's favorite book and Shelley was so excited to show him a real brown bear!}

{new friends or old friends, we all had fun!}

{It was a hot day, but there was a lot of shading for the visitors and the tenants.}

 {Ever heard of a Bongo? Hey, look! I just taught you something!}

{This venomous cottonmouth snake just stared at me...as if he were thinking "If only that glass weren't there little lady, I'd bite your FACE!}

 {Uncle Precious!}

{When it just got too hot I opted for a cherry snow cone! I went from sweating to goosebumps in seconds.}

{Leslie? We're coming to find you...}

{Did you know I used to collect elephants? That is until Mimi heard about it and all i got for Christmas and birthdays were elephant things!}

{I was most excited to see the giraffes. They are such funny looking creatures, no? With weird horns and hairy tails. Must be nice to have a built in fly swatter!}

It is such a short trip from Shreveport, I recommend it for all families as a nice day trip. Happy 4th of July! I hope you have a wonderful holiday :)

 

happy birthday america!

 The 3rd:

To begin the odd middle of the week holiday, Tison and I tried a new restaurant called Sabores. It is traditional Dominican cuisine. I ordered the Parcha, a passion fruit drink, to start and also ordered one to go. I really I liked it! I could be wrong, but I don't think they serve alcohol here. Our appetizer was the pastelito de pollo that comes with a green sauce. This reminded me of a chicken meat pie. The waitress warned me that the sauce was spicy, but I didn't think so. It was a good dipper.

For our entrees we ordered:

Tison really enjoyed the ox tail and I ate about half of my pepper steak with bell peppers and plantains. We enjoyed the newness, but I wouldn't call it our new favorite restaurant. 

 The 4th:

Well, sometimes you can make a plan, but it doesn't mean said plan will go accordingly. With no alarm set, I slept until 11:00 am, lazily drank coffee on the couch writing a list of museums I wanted to go to. When we finally left the house towards Norton Art Gallery we were in for a surprise.

It was closed! Duh, Lindsey- it's a national holiday. Probably all the museums I wanted to visit were closed. So instead we went to visit Tison's parents and drove Sonic for a hey batter batter blast. yummy! Then we went to see Lauren, David, and Hudson.

Cutest-kid-ever! He just amazes me. Every time I get to see him he has learned something new. I love watching his personality emerge from baby to toddler. After pool and slide time, we went to visit our friends Cory and Shelley for some hot dogs, beer, and fireworks - all American classics.

{see previous year's 4th of July activities here.}

intergalactic planetary...

Over the turkey holiday some friends and I went to Holiday Lanes to get our bowl on. Luckily it was intergalactic glow-in-the-dark bowling at the lanes AND I was wearing a white scarf so I glowed! Not only did I glow, but the pins, the carpet, the bowling balls, and the glow stick necklaces they gave us where neon! To rent a lane there is a two hour minimum, which awarded us time to play two games. The first game I was lucky if the ball stayed out of the gutter, but the second game? Watch out!

{music flashback}

"how old are you?"

"How old are you?" was a question I got from Tison when I told him I had joined a book club. I am never quick on my feet with immediate replies so I am pretty sure I said something resembling, " Oh yeah, well how old are you?!" I'm working on my ability have quick and clever rebuttals, I promise. So when I join a bridge club I will have something really snazzy to say...

Our most recent read was Pioneer Woman: From Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. If any of you read this and loved it, I do apologize for admitting I couldn't even finish the book. I am sure this woman is precious and her Marlboro Man is the definition of "Knight in Shining Armour," but I just couldn't get into it. However, the book club nights are always fun. I had no idea when we started this thing how much I would enjoy talking about the book (or part of the book) that I read. These girls have their opinions honey and I love getting to agree, disagree, or agree to disagree with them.

We all agreed that the recipes by Pioneer Woman were delicious! My mouth salivates every time I think about the sweet marinated tomatoes Diane made; the fig-prosciutto pizza with arugula by our host Laura was such an unusual coupling that I can't wait to make it at home.

I heart you book club!

Our next book is Pride & Prejudice. This will be my third time reading this Jane Austen masterpiece. I am ready to fall in love with Mr. Darcy all over again.

cheers for the chimps!

On Friday evening we found ourselves at the Randle T. Moore Center for a fundraiser benefiting Chimp Haven. The event was complete with a band, frightfully named finger foods, face painting, and belly dancers. My favorite part of the evening was when Shelley explained why I was pushing myself through the crowd to get a photo of the belly dancer stating, "Oh, she's a blogger!" to Maggie Martin. It was priceless.



reunited and it feels so good...

Yes, we are the Loyola Flyers not the Snoopys! In 1966 Loyola received permission from Charles M. Schulz to use Snoopy as our mascot. Loyola remains the only school with Snoopy as their mascot. We even have a dog house in front of the campus!

I can't believe how much the school has grown since I was a graduate. {They have their own stadium now!}Nor can I believe it has been 10 years since I walked down those halls. I cherished my time at LCP and remember it fondly. I find it so special that several of us keep in touch with our friends from high school, not only Loyola, but also Shreve, Byrd, and Magnet. Many classmates were missed this past weekend for our 10 year high school reunion, but I think we still had an exceptional turnout with such last minute plans to reunite. Thank you to everyone that came in from out of town - especially Melanie and her sweet family that flew in from Utah, as well as Leigh and her hubby that drove from Atlanta - y'all are awesome. I was happy to get to see everyone in one place at one time!

I also enjoyed getting to meet wives/husbands/kids of fellow graduates. Wow, we are getting old. Am I right? Thanks T for coming to my reunion with me instead going to yours. Even though everyone ended up at Stray Cats {because it was the coolest party of the night ;) }.