Sometimes I can be a real jerk — very stubborn and closed-minded.  I have a “chronic” back ache below my left shoulder and decided it was time to persue some relief.  As my friends know, I am not huge into medicine and doctors…  So, I decided to give Massage Therapy ad try.

A couple of years ago I gave Lisa a gift that included a 1-hour massage session and she seemed to enjoy it and benefit from the experience.  I have never really, until now, decided to give it a try myself.  But yesterday seemed like the right day to give it a go.

My appointment was for 3:45PM and at 2PM or so I started to get a bit anxious about it — strongly considering cancelling but compelled by my pain to follow-through.  So, I told myself to get over my fear of the upcoming experience and “Just Do It” — Nike style.

Lisa and I got the diaper bag ready and headed out to the Chiropractic clinic where the massage theripist works.  When we arrived I was asked to fill out some paperwork — which included asking for my personal info (name, address, etc) along with some “medical” questions…  Was I tired, stressed…  Did I suffer from any diagnosed diseases, etc…  I filled it out and waited (with Lisa and Beeber) for a little bit when the lady came out and said she was ready for me.  Ugh…  I instantly had the feeling of regret.  Now, I know a theraputic massage for most people would be a relaxing experience they would look forward to — but for me, this was the same as being called into the dentists chair.  I was really having strong second (or third) thoughts.

So, I follow the lady back into a dimly lit room.  In the room was a massage table, some candles and oils, and a clock-radio which was playing some “relaxing” music.  There was also what I would call a “Chinese Curtian”…  Nothing Chinese about it really, just a little area to change.  The massuse (is that spelled right?) told me to go behind the curtain and remove my clothing down to my underwear.  umm…

Clearly she saw the expression on my face and added “you can kee your shorts on if you’re more comfortable”.  I took a second and told her “I really prefer leave everything on”.  She seemed a bit thrown by the request (this can’t be the first time someone wanted to leave their shirt on!?) and said that I can do whatever I am comfortable with but that some of the massage uses oils/lotions and that it would be harder for her to feel the muscle strain and work the muscles with my shirt (actually shirts) on.  I said that I would be ok — not a big fan of oily stuff being rubbed into my skin anyhow.

After a little discussion of my pain I laid face-down in the massage table and the massage began.  She started massaging my shoulders and immediately asked “are you wearing another shirt under this shirt?” (which I thought was obvious)…  I told her I was and she expressed that it was going to be very difficult to give a good massage through two shirts because they would keep moving.  Me, getting more anxious, just stated “oh, ok”…  I wasn’t about to remove any shirts — I had intentionally put the 2nd shirt on as it is kind-of a security blanket for me.

Anyway, I glanced at the clock at this time and it was 3:47 – about 1 minute since the start of the massage.  The massuse (seriously — is that right!?) suggested I keep my head down and relax — relax my arms, etc.  She began to massage me again — my shoulders, my upper back…  As this point it seemed like I was in there FOREVER and I started to get worried about Lisa and the Beebs.  Were they ok in the waiting room?  Was he driving mommy crazy — gettting into everything?  I looked at the clock 3:49…  Ugh.  Only two minutes had gone by and I was really ready to get out of there!

She continued…  I was a bit amazed when she finds a point on my back and says “this muscle is really tight” — yes, she was RIGHT on the spot of my pain.  She started massaging the area below my left shoulder and it did feel like the pain was being “worked-out”.  I looked again at the clock… 3:50.  ONE MINUTE!  Time has stopped!

She once again very nicely reminded me that picking up my head to look at the clock is putting stress on my neck and that I should focus on relaxing.  At this point I felt the need to get up and stretch.  She says ok and I get up — ugh, 3:51…  At this point I tell her “I’m good” and she looks a bit puzzled.  I tell her I’ve had enough and am ready to go.  She says she will not charge me for the full 30-minutes because “You only had about 5 minutes of massage”.

I felt badly and told her I didn’t mind paying full since it was my choice — she just gave me a total (much discounted) and we were done.  Yea!

Here is the “I’m a jerk” part…  I didn’t really think about it at the time, but she is a Massage Theripist.  Being her career, I am sure that she, like everyone else, likes to feel/know that they did a good job.  I think I should have at least said something to let her know that it was just my personal issues — I am sure she was a fine MT.

I imagine it was like someone leaving in the middle of your show and that never feels good.  Once again, Lisa was right.  She KNEW I was going to have a problem and not want to take my shirt off and then not be able to relax for a massage.  She pleaded with me before the massage to go with what I was told and not to “act like yourself”.  Like the time the doctor told me to take the stress test and I said “I am NOT drinking a radioactive solution – sorry!”.  Anyhow…  So, I feel a bit badly about the whole thing.  Not to mention that my back still hurts — and, when I thought about it in hindsight (dang hindsight!) the massage was actually helping the pain.  Ugh!   I wish I wasn’t such a jerk some times.

But at least I made another blog post.  That is like 3 in a month — a record for me I am sure.

P.S.  Thank you Lisa for putting up with all my “quirks”.  I love you sooo much!

If you’ve read my first two blog posts about our trip to King’s Island, then you know that I’ve rambled and chronicled, and now I’m blue in the face and ready to move on.  I would like to rate most of their rides though for those who are curious and/or contemplating a visit to the theme park.  Somewhere there is a Discovery Channel show about the 10 Most Extreme Roller Coasters I’d like to see – I hear King’s Island has 3 or more on the list!  Going to hope that it’s on youtube…  If you haven’t read my previous post, here is my ride experience scale: 1♦ = not so good, while 5 ♦ = awesome!

The Racer – 3♦.  A wooden racing roller coaster that doesn’t really race.  According to our guide, people on the different racing trains would trash-talk each other so much that they built a wall to separate the two train colors.  When we rode, the first time the blue train was not operating, and the second time, the trains did not go at the same time.  Still a fun wooden coaster though!

Flight Deck – 1♦.  Formerly called Top Gun, but whatever you call it, we did not like it.  It’s a roller coaster whose car is suspended from the track above the car, which basically amounted to a lot of swinging.  Ok for me, not my favorite, but it made my husband sick.

Vortex – ¼♦ – This one only gets a quarter star to put it on the map –  my map key didn’t exactly contain a zero, so let’s give it a quarter star just because it’s a coaster.  But otherwise, yuck.  Jerky, but without any real thrills.  Reminds me of the Shockwave they used to have at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee Illinois.  Funny how I used to ride that over and over, especially near park closing when it would empty out.  We would just stay on Shockwave until they kicked us off!  But as an adult, the ride type doesn’t work for me.

Invertigo –  3♦.  I need to go back on this one when it isn’t lunch time!  I think the Flight Deck/Invertigo/haven’t had lunch yet combo did me in as I  felt a bit queasy after this one.  Basically, you go up and through a loop, and do the same thing backwards.  The cool thing about this one is that you face other riders, which I actually don’t know if that’s a cool thing or not – our guide recommended we try sitting on either the front or back of this one so we didn’t have to face strangers on the coaster.  I did enjoy how this one whizzed through the station though, and like I said, I will have to try it again on a full stomach.

Sponge Bob 3D Ride – 4½♦.  I really liked this one!  A lot of fun, and much more movement than its counterpart at Universal  Studios, the Jimmy Neutron ride.  It’s a 3D Sponge Bob movie where the seats move as you move about Sponge Bob’s world.  The scenery is great, and not only is it 3D, but the rider actually gets to move along with the movie.  As a bonus, the movie is very funny, and I loved the story!

Whitewater Canyon – 4½♦.  You know the type – a large round boat makes it way down a “river”, complete with rapids, drops, and waterfalls.  I always love this type of ride and much of the fun is riding it with your friends or even  strangers trying to see who is going to get the most wet!  The day we went, it was an unseasonal 70°, and getting wet wasn’t quite as enjoyable as usual.  This is actually one of the smaller versions of this type of ride that I’ve been on, and the boat seated 6 people instead of the usual 8, 10, or 12 as I’ve seen before.  But this version has an added element of fun – friends, family, and people who have ridden the ride can take revenge on riders by putting in a quarter for a chance to launch a water cannon at passing boats.  This part is lots of fun, although they need to get the change machine working so more people can squirt!  We went on with some kids who didn’t get wet enough in their opinion, so they rode again while we kept watch at the water cannons and succeeded in getting them SOAKED!

Backlot Stunt Coaster – 2♦.  Lameness.  But remember, I’m used to Universal Studios since we try to trek to Orlando yearly.  This has nothing on Universal.  But I suppose for younger kids, it could instill a feeling of bravery as they race past exploding police cars.  It goes kind of fast up a winding track, which is kind of different, but other than that, the excitement kind of fizzled, and the ride isn’t all that long.  The brightly colored cars you ride in are super-cute, but does that really matter?

Adventure Express – 1¾♦.  This is also kind of lame, which is alright, not every coaster has to be top thrill.  But this one is like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disney, but that is bigger and faster.  Adventure Express was going alright until the rider finds himself in a climatic tunnel, climbing a lift past moving robots and everything.  Then when you reach the top – nothing.  Nada.  Literally – the ride ends here.  What the ?

Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle – 4½♦.  You ride through scenes of Scooby Doo trying to shoot the bad guys with a laser gun attached to your car – cool!  Even better, I actually beat my husband on this one!  This ride is a lot like Buzz Lightyear at Disney, and I can never even get close to Hubby’s score on that one.  He must have had an off-ride though, cuz the second time we rode he beat me silly again.  Oh well, this ride is awesomely themed.  They remembered quite a few of the bad guys from the old Scooby Doo tv show, and there were sound bites galore.  The castle looks awesome from the outside,  and we even drove a Mystery Machine:

Other fun rides at this park that deserve at least an honorable mention are the railroad (just a standard train ride, but oh-so-relaxing after a huge day of coaster riding!), the Wild Thornberry’s River Adventure (kind of a lame log-flume type ride, but still lots of fun), the Eiffel tower (we didn’t ride it, but it was gorgeous to look at), and Dodgem (plain ole bumper cars, but when is the last time hubby and I got to ride ‘n bump kid-free?  I don’t even remember!).  Because we splurged and got the guided tour, we even had time to catch some shows – an ice show and an 80’s review.  The ice skaters were pretty good; especially one guy who even did a triple axle!  The 80’s show was fun, even though many of the performers were incapable of both singing and dancing at the same time.  There was a special  Michael Jackson tribute, even though he had passed away only a week before our visit.  But there were afros, mullets, big bangs, leg warmers, bright colors, even giant Rubik’s cubes, and it was fun to sing along to the rockin’ 80’s tunes.  One did get the feeling however, that not one member of the show had any idea of what the ’80’s was actually like…

So there you have it.  I’ve reviewed and rated the rides I rode and found worth a mention.  If you are thinking of visiting, you should know that King’s Island also has a huge kids area, and many more rides I didn’t mention.  We tried to stay away from any rides with a lot of spinning or anything that looked too crazy (especially this one called Delirium):

It looked a little too crazy/dizzy for me; maybe if you go to King’s Island, you can try it and let me know what it’s like in the comments!

Last night at around 11:00pm, I took my daughter to see the latest “Harry Potter” movie. No this is not a review (I found I don’t get that much out of 12:00am showings), more a reaction to the early morning movie experience.

This is the third late night movie I’ve seen in the past 5 years. I can’t remember going to any before that time. (Ok, I can remember going to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show late at night, but I was much younger then and it started before midnight.)

I find it interesting that so many people will come out in the wee hours to watch movies. This was in the middle of the week, and our small little theater sold out two of their screens. I’m sure if they had another copy of the film, they would have filled all three screens. Some turnout.

There were people in costumes of course. You had your witches and wizards in their ‘normal’ costumes. Wizards and witches trying to dress like ‘muggles’ (if you don’t know what that is, you are one). And even people in pajamas. They were all out to have a good time.

A little over 2.5 hours after midnight, the movie ended. The crowd made their way to the exit. Some half asleep, some excitedly discussing the show. Why did they do it this way? What were they thinking? Not enough. Too much. All differing opinions, but many excited folks. Me, I was tired. I failed to arrange the day off, so I knew I was going to have to be up and on my way in less than 3 hours. Hmmm, not much sleep. I’m sure there were others in the same boat.

Review when I see it again, and I probably will. I promised the youngest she could take a friend or two to the movies. I have a feeling this is what they will see.
I was just wondering, what kind of show would we have to put on to draw crowds like this? A wonderful thing to completely sell out. I’m not sure there is a stage show that would pull in that type of crowd. Fun to imagine.

I have been eagerly anticipating the premier of the newest Harry Potter film.  It was SUPPOSED  to be released last holiday season but for whatever the reason (most likely Daniel Radcliffe’s Broadway debut in a play about a boy and his horse… anyone for charades 😉 was postponed until today.  Last week when I learned that the movie would be showing at midnight at the nearest cinema I could find, I KNEW I would be there.  Sunday night, I asked Megan if she would like to come…Kwel she said.

So, I headed over and went to see what time the doors opened.  11.30 so we still had 45 minutes to get there.  There were about five young’uns in line so no big deal.  We left Megan’s about 11.20. The doors were open and the two screening rooms were nearly full.  When we found two seats, we were surrounded by some fellow thespians who seemed to be dressed to watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Before the movie began, I saw wands brandished with shouts of “Wingardium Leviosa,” “Viewus Potterius,” and other such whimsies.  FINALLY, 10 minutes  after it was supposed to begin, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince rolled.  I will not divulge too much only to say that the movie did not disappoint one bit!  Even the 2.5 hour length flew by.  I happened to glance at my watch and it read 2:15 (NO WAY).  Magical action, lots of humor, teenage angst aided by various love potions,  a few tears (especially if you are only acquainted with the movies and have not yet read the books), and QUIDDITCH (no matter how limited) helped make the young wizard and company’s return to the screen well worth the wait.  I have not read the sixth Potter novel in some time so I was surprised to find myself surprised by a few things I had forgotten… I Like that!  There was one scene in particular in which I knew something exciting was going to happen.  I kept waiting, and waiting.  I whispered to Megan: “Don’t jump.”  I let my guard down for  a millisecond and all of a sudden… “WHAM!”  I JUMPED! I love it when a director plays with his audience and at just the right moment gets you.  The adrenaline was palpable.

Like the book, the movie set up perfectly the climax of the series which will be divided into two films.  I don’t know that any singular book has ever been divided into two movies but I will definitely be there when the first half of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows opens.  I just cannot express the wonder and fun that both the books and movies bring.  Lots of fantasy, excitement, fun, the power of friendship and bravery in the face of mortal danger.  Life’s little lessons found in extraordinary places.  If you have never experienced either media form I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend doing so.  One minor quibble: on the Hogwart’s Express, Harry used something from Fred and George Weasley’s Joke Shop to turn himself invisible.  Did he not use his cloak in the book?  A minor detail.

Although getting to bed after 3AM and going to work from 12-9 made me a bit worn, it was worth every minute of sleep lost! I’m sure others had to be up earlier 😉

Here is a commercial I had not seen until a friend sent it to me in an email forward.  As I was sitting here chuckling over it, my two oldest daughters became curious and came over for a look.  They loved what they saw, and I had to play it 3 more times!  I don’t think it’s in regular circulation yet, but if it is, I haven’t seen it.  Of course, I never watch tv anymore!  Perhaps it’s waiting to be unveiled until the next round of infamous Superbowl commercials?  Enjoy!

Whew- what a scorcher this day was!  I am certain temperatures were in the 90s…  The kids certainly got no breaks at meals with drinks other than plain water.  Normally, they have to drink a glass or two of water at lunch or dinner, and then they can have punch or lemonade but for most of this week it was just water.  Of course they could get pop or Gatorade during canteen time, but for meals it was all water because it was so hot for most of the week.  It was so hot, they moved the normal Wednesday evening game to Thursday!

So today, the teaching was on the ears in the morning.  As for the ears, it is what we choose to hear: (1) What do we listen to, (2) Who do we listen to, and (3) How do we listen.  For (1) a big thing is music.  At their age it hasn’t become such a big deal yet, but we talked a little about it anyway. (2) involves what people they choose to listen to- besides their parents.  We will blissfully assume that they do listen to their parents. 😉 )Mostly this is about other kids or so-called role models who model inappropriate behavior- will they listen to such people or remember what the Bible says instead?  For (3), even if we listen to the right things, what do we do about it?  As the Bible teaches, we must be doers of the Word and not hearers only.  The evening message was about a crowded heart, one where Christ’s teachings are there, but crowded out by other things in our lives like TV, sports, internet (er- including this blog 😮 ), hanging out with friends, etc.  These things aren’t necessarily bad, but if there isn’t room for God then something has to go.  The memory verse was Proverbs 12:15: “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,  but a wise man listens to advice.” Speaking of verses, today we added all the key verses around the room- the five memory verses and Psalm 51:10, an all-encompassing verse for the week (I’ll let you look that one up- you don’t expect me to do all the work for you, do you? 😀 )Incidentally, we won cleanest (boys) cabin for the second time this week!

Of the two game times, I unfortunately have no pictures for you.  In the morning, we played our nemesis team, the Biohazards- nemesis because we were the top two teams all week, dukin’ it out for first place.  The game was the obstacle course.  I really didn’t get any pictures here because I was helping out our team at one of the stations.  The stations included going through a tire, swinging across a hole with water (and a “6-foot leech”), navigating balance beams (logs) and stumps, going across tall monkeybars, a “meat grinder” (old wire/cable reel), going over a couple of walls, and going across steel cables (my station).  The kids had to help one another, and many came back when they were finished to help Diego out.

The evening game was against the same team.  It was another course to navigate, this time in the game field.  I have a video of just the course- I suppose I could upload it to Youtube or something later but it’s really not as exciting as I had hoped.  This time I didn’t help out at a station, but I only took videos with my camera this time around- no pictures.  We won this game, but mostly because we had less people on our team.  I have no idea who won the obstacle course but I suspect the other team got the nod making the two games a wash.

Today the kids got to do the all-time favorite instructional- the zipline.  Now, you may be thinking, “what kind of crazy camp allows children to use a zipline?”  Well, aside from the obvious answer that our camp does, let me explain that this zipline is not the sort where you hold on to some sort of handles while sliding down the cable, letting go when near the bottom onto a net or something soft.  No, these kids are strapped in and attached to the cable- there is no way they can fall, short of the cable breaking, and I am sure by law the camp has to make regular checks of the zipline to prevent that from happening.  At the bottom they are stopped by two burly staff members- one slows them down, the other stops them entirely and unclips them from the cable.  There are two lines, so two kids can go at once.  They had time to go down about a dozen times each even though three cabins were there (normally there are only two cabins at an instructional- I’m not sure why they did it this way).  The other instructional was biking, though this year I think they got less instruction than previous years.  The biking, by the way, was at the top of that hill I talked about in a previous post.  I think it is only 40-45°, but it feels more like 60-70° when climbing it!  By the way, it’s named after a student who went down this hill on a bike when she was in junior high.  She got to the bottom, flipped, and broke multiple bones.  Needless to say, bicycling down the hill is no longer allowed…

Well, I think that covers all the main stuff.  The afternoon canteen was at the swim front as it was every day, but hot as the day was, would you believe that only one of my kids hit the water?  Unbelievable.  I even joined him for a short time- the first time in all my years I have gone in the water- I have always been paranoid about wearing contacts in the lake.  Even this year when I did go in I made sure to wear goggles to protect my eyes, which worked for the most part.  I’m thinking of combining the last two days into one post to get it over with- what do you think?

My son had his 12 month checkup at the pediatrician the other day, and all is well!  It was kind of strange though, when the doctor asked my husband if I snored a lot.  My husband admitted I do, and then the doctor proceeded to make me breathe for him.  What the heck – is this a normal part of how a one-year-old baby is examined, by exploring the mother’s snoring habits?  The doctor then started describing some of my behavior as of late – you are tired all the time, and you feel lazy.  Right on!  He said he could tell just by looking at my puffy eyes that I probably have allergy problems, which is inhibiting my sleep patterns – did I mention that our pediatrician is also the county’s medical sleep expert?  So he recommended that I start taking Claritin and some nose drops.  I tried the nose drops yesterday, and already I could breathe better through my nose better than I’ve been able to in months – funny how you don’t notice things like this, but I’ve been so busy, I thought I was just tired from all the busy-ness, and I didn’t really notice that I wasn’t able to breathe much through my nose.  I did notice that I’ve been itchy constantly – my eyes, behind my face, and now, I have this nasty spider bite on my knee I got on the 4th of July that will not go away – I itch constantly!  I’m really hoping the Claritin works, and I can be back to the energetic mom I so want to be!  Hey, maybe the allergy medicine will work SO well that I can get myself a pet cat 😉

So anyway, like I said, everything is going great with my son.  I just thought it was weird when the focus of the doctor’s appointment turned to me.  He is doing great; he is 30 inches long which is exactly average for his age.  He weighs 21 lbs, which makes him a little on the smaller side, weight-wise, so we have to try to fatten him up.  The doctor also said he should be standing more, but then again, I had scheduled his appointment for during his nap, so we had to wake him up to see the doctor.  I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t exactly be thrilled about standing up for someone in the middle of my nap either!

I recently started to catch up on some of my DVR viewing (hours and hours of programming, someday when I’m more free….).  I watched one of the tens of episodes of Batman: The Brave and the Bold that harkened back to the 60s series.  The pre-credits teaser found the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder up against a villain known as Crazy Quilt.  The villain was using a weapon that fired deadly multi-colored beams of light at the dynamic duo.  Robin uses a piece of reflective glass to throw the beams back at the baddie rendering him blind.

Years later, Crazy Quilt escapes from Arkham Asylum  and vows revenge on Robin.  Now, we are presented with an older, but not a lot wiser version of the crimefighter.  He no longer patrols Gotham City but is the guardian of a community known as Bludhaven.  The last thing he wants is his old mentor coming to town to swoop in and save the day.  He grew weary of the “Old chum” bit, felt he had nothing more to learn from the World’s Greatest Detective, and wanted to escape the Shadow of the Bat.  However, as Bats reminded him, Speedy (The Flash’s protege), Aqualad, and Red Arrow all served with older heroes before setting out on their own.  Once again, the team regrouped to battle an old foe.

Since there have been a total of three characters to assume the role, I was curious as to which Robin we were getting.

• Dick Grayson is the original and probably the most known.  Bruce Wayne’s youthful ward reached adulthood and became Nightwing.
• Jason Todd inherited the role and was murdered by the Joker (ironically, this came after a nationwide 900 number poll in which the public decided the fate of the hero).
• The most recent Robin is Tim Drake.  I know little about him apart from his name.
• In this episode, we have a pre-Nightwing Dick Grayson.

The look and feel of the cartoon very closely resembled the classic series. Several of the BEST devices of the show were there.  Notice I said BEST!  No bat shark repellent spray here and no exploding rubber shark for that matter.  But we had the classic bat traps and the obligatory “Holy delusions of grandeur, Batman!”

A very fun episode!

A comment on Taylhis’ blog gave me inspiration for post fodder.  My first time riding a coaster took place when I was 10.  My family spent a day at Cedar Point with my uncle, aunt, and two cousins.  I liked riding rides and had been on several smaller coasters.  I remember the Beastie at Kings Island (still there, Lis?).  I took my cousin Stacy to ride the Jr. Gemini.  However this year, I was too TALL to ride the smaller version.  Seeing this, my Uncle Bob challenged me to ride the REAL thing with him.  Why not?  The line for the double train, much like The Racer, was not long so I did not have to wait a great deal.  I still remember having my eyes shut tight after we made the turn and approached the first hill.  From what I understand, I also held onto my co-riders hand and squeezed it a little bit too hard.  But what a rush!  Red and blue racers going up and down hills and then the split at the end when the cars tilt to the side and finally return home.  There may be bigger, faster, longer coasters  (you can see the Magnum XL 200 which is 20 years old this summer… NO WAY! dwarfing the classic) but the good old Gemini is still one of my favorites.  That day in 1983, I discovered that I was growing up because I was no longer small enough to go on any of the kiddie rides.  No more Kid Arthur’s Court for me.  But I can ALWAYS ride the Cedar Downs racing horses.

Saturday morning, I had planned to sleep in a few hours especially following the late night (SO NOT COMPLAINING… others had it much worse) that is until Mother Nature had other plans.  So, I was up by 8AM and decided to make a small dent in my new book.  Later, I got a phone call asking if I would like to continue my birthday celebration at a site yet to be determined (either a Mud Hens game or a drive-in movie later).  Anything was great with me.  So, ah hour or so later, we decided on a return to the Toledo Zoo.

I have to say that my favorite animal this trip was the baby gibbon… well six month old “Quon.”  The little one was so adorable.  One minute he(?) was clutching onto his parent being carried around the exhibit on the ropes, etc.  then, he would attempt to grab onto a rope solo.  I loved watching Quon climb the fence with his little arms reaching.. adorable.

I also enjoyed the tigers.  To beat the heat, the kitties got into their pool of water and at times took turns and other times shared the relief.  The sloth bears were also out.  As expected, the social one came right up and sniffed.  I held out my Supes cap and sure enough was drawn to it… he must be a fan (but something tells me otherwise, but my post so I’m sticking to it).  TANGENT:  I must have left my cap somewhere along the way.

After the zoo, we went to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner and a point was made to announce that we were celebrating 2 birthdays… 35 years and one day apart!  Nothing exciting happened… no kazoo playing, cabaret singing, nor being led around the restaurant while wearing a sombrero (NOW THAT would be fun!).  But the big guy and I did get a dish of ice cream.

On the return trip, I got tracked down and informed that I was to be at work the next morning an hour early!  What a way to spoil a great day 🙁  So, after having some fun in B-town, and going to Sonic with the girls, I did manage to make it home by 10.  Everyone was tired and had to get up the next morning.  Once again, a funtastic day!