Just WOW!

Today has been just WOW! Blake had a Friend's Birthday party today at Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Goddard Kansas. It was the best experience. The park itself is just beautiful and then being allowed to get so very close to the animals was so cool. We started out visiting the Giraffes. The kids all wanted to feed them, but we were all able to pet one and get close. The Giraffe seen the green birthday hat I hade hanging from my arm and leaned over trying to lick and eat the hat..hahaha..when he looked up he had his face right in my camera lense.. What a cutie.Definatley my favorite part of coming in contact with the animals. The funniest part had to be the turtle's pen. There were about 10 turtles running around snatching lettuce leafs from kids, they were so fast! The turtles were especially fond of my shoes and kept crawling under my legs and over my feet! The animals were soo friendly and I was amazed at how well they were around people! We also were able to walk into a huge bird cage and feed the Lorikeets, gorgeous birds! When we walked into the cage there was a woman feeding them and she had a lorikeet on her head, her arm, one on her shoulder and her other wrist as well. It was hilarious, I think she was kind of freaked out by how many landed on her. The birds were landing on people's heads left and right, it was just awesome!
We also watched the penguins be fed, people get Camel Rides,watched a Rhino wander around his little chunk of land, seen some baby ducks swimming and walked around with Kangaroos, and ended the day with some running around in the playground eating Dippin' Dots. I highly recommend if anyone ever visits Wichita Kansas, they should stop at this amazing place right on the outside of West Wichita.
I was kind of bummed because when we first arrived at the park, I took a total of 3 pictures and then my camera died, Luckily I had my cell phone (and it was actually fully charged!) so all the pictures I took were from my Droid, they actually turned out very nice. I knew the phone had a good camera but I never really took any outdoor pictures with it before. I had the perfect opportunity and it worked out great. The camera on the Droid is actually much better than the Blackberry and the memory available is greater. On my Blackberry Curve I could only store typically 10-15 pictures with an additional memory card, on my Droid I have a large assortment of pictures and videos with room to spare.
Well the rest of our day consisted of having dinner, which was also amazing, Chicken Stir-fry, and now the boys are watching a movie upstairs while I do my business on the computer.(Smile) Looking to go to Borders, possibly stop for Frappe from starbucks, although borders has Seattle's Best coffee and their JavaKula's are deliciousness, I am really liking the frappes from Starbucks (Cookies & Cream! Double Choclaty chip with white chocolate mocha sauce! YUMMAY). I am so addicted to buying books it's ridiculous, because I have a stack of in-progress reads on my nightstand that I read about 2-3 chapters of and then somehow manage to start another book. I'm slowly but surely making it through P.C. Cast's book 'Marked'.. Perhaps I will Invest in a cookbook this time, it's about time for a new one.. OH wait I dont even own ONE! With all the cooking I do and I don't own a cookbook.. shame..
I have had my eye on 'The Arthur Avenue Cookbook' recipes and memoirs from the Real Little Italy. Maybe it will be my special Mother's Day Present to myself! (Wink-Wink)




Anybody have anything special they are doing with their Mothers or loved ones for that Special day tomorrow? I hope to just spend the day with kids whether it be at the park, lounging on the couch, or going out for dinner, I just want to be with them. If I had the choice I would be back in Minnesota with my Mother, and Grandmother treating them to a Special treat.

Well Blog, Goodnight and I wish you all a Happy Mother's Day

Yikes!

I have been contemplating for a few weeks now about cutting my hair. Everything is changing and I was ready for something different. My hair from the nape of my neck to the longest tip was aprox. 18". I cut off about 14" and donated the hair to Locks of Love. I am excited about this new style and feel like a new person.

The After Picture

What a difference huh? I love it! I know I can always grow my hair and I didn't want to keep it long FOREVER.. so now was the best time.. I was thrilled that I had enough length to donate my chopped off ponytail to the Locks of Love organization that makes hair prosthetics for children that have developed long term medical hair loss. (awesome)

I would love some recommendations on Italian foods and cookbooks! A few years back I found a neat book 'I loved, I lost, I made Spaghetti' by Giulia Melucci. She writes about her romances and the food she makes to console her ever-failing relationships, seduce her men and smooth out the lumps. The memoir offers a look into her love life as well as her cooking abilities, which often time the recipes are thrown together by stray ingredients that haunt an otherwise empty fridge.. and best of all it's Italian food..pasta..yummay!!

Goodnight Blog!

Accomplished!

So I feel very accomplished, I have finished the book I previously blogged about; 'If I stay' What an amazing book, it was an easy read, and kept me interested, time is not on my side when I want to sit and finish anything, so it did take me a few days. The story was tragic and the characters were deep. The story had soo many elements- Tragedy; I cried like a baby throughout this book! Love; this story displayed love how it should be!(I really dont want to spoil the book for anyone, so please excuse the lack of detail) And I loved the description of the family- the closeness between them all, made the tragedy even harder to bear.
I always feel sad when I finish a book, because it's like the end of those characters you just spent hours or days reading about, you become engrossed in their lives and their world, and then its over. I remember when Harry Potter released the final book, and they had support groups for those who were depressed about the end of the story. I honestly thought it was a bit odd (I do not mean to offend anyone) but I believe I understand the idea of that. You go through a journey with the characters, and you just want it to continue and go on forever. When you feel this way does this mean you were especially moved by a book? By the character and what they were made of?
Well a young friend of mine from work suggested the 'House of Night' series by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast. So I think I will give it a go and start the series with the first book 'Marked'

My Reeboks finally arrived yesterday! Love them! I wore them today, everywhere I could.. I think I am more excited about the way they look, hahaha, I think any results as far as toning will just be an awesome bonus to the coolness of this shoe.. maybe a little silly but I am thrilled to have bought these!

On an even cooler note, me and my oldest son Blake, we share the same Birthday April 3rd. Well this year his Dad and I bought him a Nintendo DSI XL and I decided I wanted one as well- with the large screen, two cameras and brain age pre-installed- I was anxious to get one.. in a matter of days I recieved one as a present also! Well I was playing around with the camera and photo album the other day and realized you can upload your photos right to facebook, etc. AMAZING! I was excited to upload my goofy pictures with the boys.