The ZOO, part 2

I couldn't get these photos uploaded on the other post.  Finally figured out why: John was signed in to his google email, which derailed my attempts.  So, anyways, here is the rest of the Zoo trip.

Luci and Kenzi on the carousel

Luci and Kenzi holding hands (yes, Kenzi's mom and I both took strollers...it's easier than listening to the girls whine...whine...whine about all the walking.  Now, if we could just get the mommies to quit whining....)

Kenzi, Luci and Mamie (and an unnamed boy) watching the Penguins as they eat their lunch.

The Three Amigos

Tiger watching.  These tigers just seemed too close for us mommies to feel comfortable.

On the way home...she was out like a light before we got to the Mississippi line!  163 miles home, and she slept for about 145 of them.

This is not from the field trip.  We had to make a milk run early Saturday.  So happy to go to Piggly Wiggly!  She has an outfit for every occasion.   (As a side note, that little Prius did very well in the gas department!  We had driven 100 miles before starting this trip.  Then 326 miles round-trip to the zoo, and we still had 75 miles left on the meter.  We got 8 gallons of gas after our trip to the Pig.  Happy with that!!)

I did not want to take my big camera on the zoo trip.  I'm glad I left it at home.  These photos (and those from ZOO part 1) were taken with my cell phone.  It's not a smart phone, has a little camera, but I think it did just fine for the daylight photos I took.  If you disagree, it's not necessary to let me know.  :)

The ZOO part 1

This week's Fun Friday activity with our homeschool group was a trip to the Memphis Zoo.  It is a gorgeous zoo.

On the way there, Luci made a "must-see" list.  A girl after my own pre-planning heart.

Hippos

Watching the monkeys

in China!

Ya Ya the female panda

Luci showing off her panda doll to Le Le, the male panda

One Thousand Four Hundred Thirty Four

That's the number of this post.  Wow!  That's a lot of posts about very few things that are truly important.

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Nearly every Friday, our homeschool group has something planned.  Some things are planned locally and may be as simple as a playdate (bring your own picnic) in a local park.  Some are more involved and require traveling and/or spending money on admissions to a zoo or science discovery center or historic location.

Last Friday, September 30th, we met at a local park that has a few rides for the kids.  We got a special rate of $3 for all the rides the kids wanted on a carousel, a train around the park, and a mini-teeny-tiny roller coaster.  Luci was excited about the carousel, asked a hundred questions about the train, and was adamant about staying off the roller coaster.

JT was my baby-sitter (I didn't really want to ride).  He was a good sport and was the best big brother that day! 

Here are some shots of the fun:

Somewhere Between

This is a documentary that will be shown at some film festivals around the country. I would love to see the whole movie. This took forever for my quick connection to download...but it was much faster after I right-clicked and then turned off HD. Luci's already expressed sentiments similar to Jenna from Newburyport, MA. (She shows up at the 2:00 mark.) Luci has some deep thoughts for a six year old!

TRAILER: Somewhere Between - A Feature Documentary from Linda Knowlton on Vimeo.

It is not for children under 13 due to sensitive subject matter.

What Was, and What Is

Tree-Hugger, I'm not.  (although I do care about the environment...I'm just not militant about it)

Cheap, I am.

So, it was with not too much sorrow that we traded in our Honda Odyssey (getting 20 mpg city, 24.8 highway--not bad for the 2007 model!) for a 2011 Prius.

What Was:

What Is:

What Was:

What Is:

Wow, now our garage looks so BIG!

On the way to the dealership to pick up the Prius, Luci waxed eloquent about the Odyssey: 

This car (van) has been lots of places!  Disney World, (took us to) the cruise, to Vero Beach, to Mt Rushmore, The Arch, to Idaho!  Lots of places.  It was a good car.

Yes, it was.  Now it's time to learn how to pack well because we can't take just everything.

On the way home, we got to listen to Radio Disney on the satellite radio!  Very happy little girl in the back seat, singing all the way.  Very happy mommy in the front seat, saving money on gas.

And, I knew it would happen as soon as we got a gas-sippin' kind of car:  The Upside of Economic Worries:  Lower Gas Prices.

At first, Luci was not happy with getting a new car.  She is very resistant to change.  Once I explained to her that we can go on more field trips, she was all for this little vehicle!  We already have two trips planned for next week:  the Memphis Zoo and a visit to Huntsville to see another family with a daughter from China.  YIPPEE!

JT's Weekend

Last Saturday JT had a Tang Soo Do Championship meet.  He had a good time! 

He's in there, somewhere.  Trust me.

Practicing his form.  Love the height!

As a time judge...JT is near the center of the photo, one of the two young men sitting together as this young lady gets ready to perform.

Handsome!

Friday

What did he drive?

And where did he drive it?  To Piggly Wiggly!  Yes, we live in the country!

We went on an field trip to Amish country, just north of us.  It was a wonderfully gorgeous day.  We were not allowed to take photos of the Amish folks we saw, so I snuck a couple of shots with my cell phone.  Here is a field of corn:

And Luci at the front of the wagon, as we rode around the county.

After a picnic lunch, we headed out to David Crockett State Park.  He is not Davy Crockett...Davy is a Disney creation.  And the residents of Lawrenceburg will will tell you so!

A lovely covered bridge in the park.

Guess who was my photographer?

Who is that in that tree??

It's Luci!  As soon as I snapped this one, she yelled, "Get me down!  NOW!"

Look what that sneaky boy did when he thought I wouldn't find out....

What David Crockett might have used.  His belongings were washed away in a flood, so these are re-creations.

Yes, this is a still.

Here's the recipe for those of you who are more adventurous:

(we had a special tour)

How do you make fried chicken?

That was the question from Luci last night.

We were eating leftovers from KFC (yes, Feingold friends, I know it's a no-no but my children don't react to KFC for some reason).  Luci had a piece of chicken with the accompanying grease (that's the finger-lickin' good part--you know, fat's where it's at) on her plate.

Mommy, how do you make chicken?

First, you have to catch a chicken, then....

No, Mom, after that part!

Well, you take the piece of chicken, and put flour on it.  Then you fry it and there you have it, it's fried chicken!  (See, I'm just like Julia Child.)

Do you use oil in it?

Yes, you fry it in the oil.

Oh good, she says, pointing at the yellowish grease on her plate.  I was afraid that was pee!

Hum if you don't know the words!

John has had a lot of fun watching our hummingbirds. We've had as many as seven at a time at our little feeder, and today I think there were more! We have to refill the feeder every day.

Yesterday John held the feeder to get the birds to come in close.

You can see one looking in the window, wondering where his feeder is!  He's looking in the usual spot and could not find it.

Five birds in this shot--

Moon Festival

Sunday night was lots of fun.  Zhang Lin (Linlin) ,Luci's Chinese teacher (we took a class in May and June at UNA) invited our family to UNA's Chinese Student Association's Moon Festival dinner.  Linlin is from Guizhou, just like Luci!

Moon Festival (Mid-Autumn Festival) can be compared to our Thanksgiving--lots of food, visiting family, and traditions.  It is the second-most important holiday in the Chinese calendar, with Chinese New Year being the first.

Traditional Moon Cakes were passed around.  Our table got these little treats to share...never fear, there was no bean paste in the middle of these!  There was a mixture of nuts in the middle.  We liked them better than the bean paste version, but Linlin did not; she prefers the bean paste.

Tren,  one of the students we've met at library functions.  He's lots of fun.

Two more lovelies from China...it was so nice to see Bridgyt's daughters again.

Luci was very shy most of the night, until...until they took a group photo!  She's there, right in the very middle.  Double click on the photo to enlarge it.  When we got home, I asked Luci what she thought about the dinner.  It was lots of fun!  There were tons of ME there!

Linlin and Luci

Luci's Description of Me....

I want to play with someone who is...

ninety-seven

and has

green eyes

make up

glasses

a beauty mark

freckles all over your face

and eyebrows that nobody can see

Never Forget

Ten years ago today.

We don't live any where near Ground Zero in New York City.

We are about 1,000 miles away from the Twin Towers site, and it is so different here in little-town America.

But September 11, 2001, touched us, too, in a profound way.

The morning started out lazily for me.  John went to work and I was hoping the boys would sleep in.  Homeschooling is nice that way, you can sleep in some days.  We had just gotten home from a big trip to Disney World two days before and I didn't want to get back into our routine yet.

As the boys slept, I kept the TV muted.  I had on a headset that let me listen to the television.  I'm a news junky, so I had the TV turned to NBC's morning program.  I can't even think what it's called now. The show that Katie Couric used to be on.  I was at the computer, on our slow dial-up, checking email, when I heard something odd on the headset.  I rushed to the TV in our bedroom to watch the horror unfold.

The boys stayed asleep until after the second tower collapsed, around 9:30 our time.  I remember very vividly thinking that I need to go give blood.  There will be an urgent need for blood.

After the first tower collapsed, I knew the second would, also.  I thought, I don't need to go give blood.  They are all dead.  Everyone of them.  They're all dead.

It was so arresting, thinking that.  I felt my heart would stop, it hurt so to think about what was going on.

Then the news unfolded over the day that yes, we were indeed under attack.

And the realization that I am married to a military man.  And he'd be needed somewhere.

I don't remember calling John, but I am sure I did.  We were both just stunned by what was going on, as was all of the United States.

The boys got the day off of school.  I was in no shape to teach.  They were 5 and 9 years old.  So innocent!  And their world just changed.  Did they even know it?

They would know it very soon.  The next afternoon, Bryan and JT played in our woods with their swords--they were knights in King Arthur's court, slaying dragons.  John and I watched them behaving like the little children they were.  It was a gorgeous day.  John told me that he had called his Army Reserve unit and asked to be put on the short list to go where needed.  He gestured towards the boys, who were running through the trees, and said, "That's what we're fighting for."

Sunday following 9/11 I went to Radio Shack and bought my first cell phone.  I knew that John would be called up and I wanted him to be able to reach me where ever he was, at any time.

The very next week, on Tuesday, September 18, John had a trip to Florida to work on something to do with Operation Enduring Freedom.  Whatever he did there was secret to me.  It was awful putting him on a plane that morning!  I took the boys to the commissary (the grocery store on the military post).  I was so upset, near tears the whole morning until John called and said he had landed.   I was very short with the boys in the commissary.  They were acting up and I was already at my breaking point. One of the retirees who was shopping there that day came up to me and patted me on the arm and said, "They're fine, Mama."  Reassuring me, and letting me know that I needed to hold it together for my children. 

Over the next eight years, John went on four separate missions as an engineer.    Building targets, he said.  Kuwait, DjiBouti, Qatar, Afghanistan.  Finally getting to put all he learned into practice.  We stayed home and prayed and managed.  We were all so happy when John's last deployment ended two days before Christmas, 2009.