All the Pretty Animals

Some of the animals we saw...💖

This little guy was loving the water! It was such a hot day.

He gave everyone a little show with going number two in the water. The kids were amazed that he just did that. Also, with the size...of course. 

She seemed to be loving the sunshine and heat. The other hippo was hanging out in the water. 

I love giraffes!! I think they are so beautiful! 

Not scary whatsoever...

So cute! The baby turtles were so tiny.

Will apparently was excited for the penguins! I had no idea! I thought they would be too stinky for him. He did say how he forgotten that part! I think afterwards he was leaning more towards panda bears. 

She was just adorable! Another one of my favorite animals. 

This is Velda. She was in animal time-out (in a sense) not that she was misbehaving but was not enjoying human touch as much lately. Totally understandable. 

                                                         ~ Love, Hugs &  Kisses ~
                                                                    The B Family

The Zoo & Old Friends

Friends

We took the kids to the Oregon Zoo yesterday. I have said this before, but I am torn about how I feel about zoos. I want to like them, but at the same time I feel for the animals. I am imagine they just want to run free.  But, what if they were in the wild and did not live long. I know some of the animals at the Oregon Zoo are rescued from their natural habitat. There is an elephant that had her eye shot from a farmer that took over her rain forest. The made me like it more. Colin was so distraught over that story.

Silly

My shadow

Anyways, we went to the zoo to meet up with some of Will's old friends. His fire academy buddy, Joel and his wife, Bobbie. For the past 12 years or so, I have heard stories about some of Will's favorite people. It took us this long to finally meet up. We had tried in DC, but it did not work out. I am so glad it did! What a sweet and lovely couple! Their kids are adorable too! It was nice seeing Will in his element and get a glimpse to him in his Air Force days.  We talked about a few other meet ups this summer... I hope it works. Fingers-crossed for Leavenworth and Seattle.

My babies

She loves this thing

Alligator

Puppet show

Owl

                                                          ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~
                                                                 The B Family

A Mama Break to Lincoln City

A few weekends ago, I was able to take a weekend mama break and head to Lincoln City with some of my longest and dearest friends from school years. Two I had met in 3rd grade and the other two in Jr. High. All except one, was able to make it from our group that went to Disneyland for our senior trip. It was so nice seeing everyone. I am not always the best at keeping in touch, but it was so much fun and I love being around everyone - so I need to be better. I am glad that we are able to meet up and just pick up where we left off. I really felt like I was back in high school!

We had a great time though. We stayed busy! We did a morning run (well three of us), then shopped, ate at some amazing restaurants (Side Door Cafe, Blackfish Cafe and Kyllo's -  I loved all three), hiked (Drift Creek), relaxed in the hot tub, and enjoyed late night drinks. To make it even feel more like high school we watch a little bit of Grease!

I am so thankful for great friends and a time to step away from the busy and just breathe.

                                                        ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~
                                                                The B Family

Let's find snow!!

It was cold!

My brother (Greggie) and I took the kids to Diamond Lake for a day in the snow. It was kind of a drive from where we live; since my brother works nights, we came to him. It was definitely worth the drive. I have always loved going to Diamond Lake. The last time is probably close to a decade ago. 

In her element

 The kids had so much fun! Meli is my fearless snow cub. We played for a few hours, then warmed up by the fireplace in the lodge. Before leaving we wanted to take pictures of the lake. It had an inch or so layer of ice over it. Not deep enough to do ice fishing, but it sure looked surreal. Getting to the lake took some effort. The wind was pretty strong and it was blowing snow dust at us. Meli could not walk because of the snow dust and the fact that the snow (at this spot) came up to her belly button. I was carrying her with her face hidden in my neck, while walking in snow up to my mid-thigh - and not able to see due to the snow dust! Took way too long to walk 40 feet, but it was an adventure for the kids. Plus, I got to take pictures. I will hopefully post a few from my SLR later.

Such a fun day

King of the hill

Siblings

Loving the snow

Her happy place

Melli is like me and prefers to be cold. I like tropical, warm places but I am not one who turns the heater on very often or needs to bundle up. I usually wear layers everywhere because I just run warm. I started wearing tank tops in the winter to most of my friends houses because I get to warm. Meli is the same way. She prefers to always be in just her underwear no matter the temperature. She hates wearing jackets and sweatshirts. The snow was perfect for her.

Trying to find the lake (right below the hill she is on)

The snow dust

No fear

Until next time...

Love & Kisses,
The B family

My Birthday Week

I have decided that I am not a fan of duplicate numbers. I could not figure out why I was not excited about turning thirty-three. I was dreading actually dreading it somewhat. Thirty-two did not bother me and the idea of thirty-four seemed fine. I thought at first it was odd numbers, but I liked thirty-one. I probably would be OK staying thirty-one for a few years. I may remember that for next year. I will just start at thirty-one again. Why not?!?  Finally, it dawned on me that I was not a fan of twenty-two either. Or eleven. I do not like the same number repeated. Odd yes, but I have a year of being irritated by 33. Oh well, I am healthy, happy (knock on wood) and so I will not complain about my age. Plus, how often do you actually have to say how old you are? Most of the time I think of myself as still being twenty-six anyways. Or even twenty-one. The kids kind of remind me (rather quickly) that one is definitely not true.

I was able to have a nice spread-out week of celebrating. I started off celebrating by having a lunch and movie date with my mom. We saw the newest James Bond movie (I loved it). On a different day in the week, I had lunch with my little brother (Olive Garden of course - his fave). I also had a date night with Will (more on that), a lunch date with my dad (and shopping!), a trip to the Oregon Zoo, drinks with friends on my birthday (then a day of recovery), a family hike, and a family dinner with my aunt and uncles. Oh my! Such a busy, crazy week. I had such a wonderful time! I am so blessed with my family and friends.

The only downside is that I suffered from two more hangovers then I have had in a very long time. That rarely happens to me (for one, I do not usually drink large quantities), these two (in one week - horrible) were due to lack of hydration and weird combinations. I did not drink much throughout the days on both occasions. I also switched around more than I like to. One of the nights I had beer, then margarita (which I realized I am not a fan), and then to a cider with ice cream float thing. So good but horrible all together.

My date night with Will was so nice. We went to the Bier Stein in Eugene for pre-dinner drinks. We both did the flight (create your own) which was awesome! I loved the place and really want to go back. Then we headed over to Tacovore for dinner. I had an eggplant torta...seriously so yummy! For dessert, we headed over to Vanilla Jill's, where I had a hard black cherry cider with ice cream. OMG!! It is delicious!! I may have ended up sick later on, but man it was so worth it. Technically, I would not call this one a hangover. Oh, so I have only had a margarita on one occasion before. The drink itself was OK, but I do not like salt. Like, I do not even cook with salt. So the salted rim was horrible.

I am so grateful for my friends and family. I really felt so much love this week. I am truly blessed to be surrounded by amazing people. 

Next up, Colin's Bday week...



~ Love, Hugs &; Kisses ~ The B Family

Renewed Inspiration

Taken with my iphone

Anyone that knows me fairly well, knows that I love taking photos. Since moving back to Oregon, I have put it on the back burner. I was focused on rekindling all sorts of old hobbies that I forgot of my new found ones. 

Last week, a friend of mine wanted to go take photos. I am so glad I went. It was exactly what I needed to awaken my inner creative goddess!

SLR

SLR

The top pictures were taken while hanging out with my friend at a place known as Turtle Pond. The pictures below are from my garden the next morning. 

SLR

SLR

SLR

SLR

Until next time...