Husband and the kids at the Zoo (post 5k)

So, I headed off and Husband and the kids continued their zoo adventure.

The fellas.

I have no idea why the elephant only has one tusk.

Husband said this was Son's favorite animal to see.

Daughter wanted to go jump with the wallabies.

Hello there, very bright colored bird that is extremely close to me.

The money shot of the day. love.love.love. Thank you, Train conductor for taking this picture!

Mindy and Daughter ringing the bell. teamwork.

Daughter's FAVORITE animal at the zoo. The night before she told us she wanted to bring her mommy zebra and baby zebra to the zoo so they could see where the other zebras live because "they are both painted black and white." (sadly, mommy zebra was MIA, but I did find baby zebra about 5 minutes before the left the house!)

comparing the zebras. "They match with baby zebra"

(notice she's holding baby zebra)

I'm so glad she got to see the zebras.

wow.

Son making a silly face while he was waiting for the sea lion show to start.

The kids only lasted about an hour and a half after I left. The were exhausted and gladly left without a fight. Luckily, it was their first trip to the Birmingham Zoo so they had no idea they missed the carousel and the petting zoo plus a lot more animals!

I really enjoyed listening to them go on and on and on about their zoo adventure. Husband said when they were on the train that Son kept waving at the animals they passed. (sigh) such a sweet little buddy.

The Birmingham Zoo 5k and a visit with the primates

The 5k at the Birmingham Zoo Saturday was pretty fun. I enjoyed it. Jessica and her kids came PLUS we also saw another Judson girl, The Doctor JF.

My official time was 38:46. (I finished 348 out of 457+) Not bad considering I had a set jog/walk schedule. I'm still working on couch25k and I am on week 5. So I just did week 5 and repeated it until I finished. jog 8 minutes, walk 5, until the finish line. I haven't decided on my next 5k. (but hopefully it'll be sometime in June and I would like my time to be around 34 minutes then)

Before the race. Jessica raced with her son and a non-jogging stroller. Which is probably heavier than our double jogging stroller (with kids). She did great with that extra weight.

(Note to self: Your boobs and torso are much bigger than they were in college. hide that shirt until it fits.)

that's me, behind a tree. hair whipping in the wind, caught running like a flamingo.

This was right at the end.

It was really fun jogging though the zoo. I liked seeing the animals (but I didn't really like smelling the "zoo smell" a couple of times. does not bode well for running!)

Daughter with the Cow.

As soon as I suggested that the Cow was probably friends with Big Owl and Aubie, she was all for meeting him. Son, on the other hand, shrieked every time he saw one of the 3 cows. I don't blame him. In his world, cows stand on four legs in a pasture and eat grass. They don't walk around on two legs, wearing hats and high fiving little kids.

post race with our race food swag. The best thing about 5k races is all the free stuff.

Son and Daughter with Mindy and the elephant who shot water mist out of his trunk.

All four kids, so excited to see the animals.

Son was in a primate coma. He was mesmerized as soon as this little buddy came and sat down right in front of him.

They were equally excited about the lemurs.

Next the mommies showed the boys a couple of guys eating breakfast ...

These guys.

Seriously, being at the zoo at 9:00am is fantastic. Breakfast time. I have never seen the primates so active. climbing, jumping, cleaning, playing, eating. It was a fun time.

I changed clothes and headed South after the primate house for some sewing. More on that on Thursday.

Tune in tomorrow for all the zoo fun Husband and the kids had after I left.

The Mary Ward Brown Trilogy

At J-Day this year, I had the amazing pleasure of meeting and listening to a reading by Mary Ward Brown. I had previous read her second book of short stories and was really interested in getting to meet her (and possibly buying her two other books - which I did.) I loved this lady before I met her and listening to her read and speak about her writing and life sealed the deal.

Mary Ward Brown has published two books of short stories and one memoir. Tongues of Flame, Is Wasn't All Dancing and Fanning the Spark (the memoir). She has an amazing way of crafting sentences and weaving amazing thought provoking stories about life, race relations and the black belt.

Plus, she's a Judson girl. That makes this 93 year old lady my sister. And as weird as it sounds, I love her. I'd like to put her in my pocket and carry her around or even better bring some pecan pie to her house and enjoy a chat for as long as she'd have me.

After reading her story "Amryllis"

My favorite story from Tongues of Flame is probably the first one: "New Dresses" It's about an aged Mother-in-Law and her young Daughter-in-Law. They have a strained distant relationship, but the DIL volunteers to drive the MIL (who is dying of cancer and needs a new dress(es) because she's lost so much weight) dress shopping. While there, the DIL sneaks away to a more stylish shop to look for a new fancy dress for herself for an upcoming dance. Both women make a purchase and on the way home the DIL is surprised is find the MIL picked a very fancy dress even though what she needs are every day dresses. (I think MIL bought the dress to be buried in)

My favorite story in It Wasn't All Dancing is "The House Asa Bulit." It's very much a "the grass is not always greener" story.

I loved MWB's memoir too, but I'm not going to lie, I wish she'd written much more about her time at The Judson. I love how raw and honest it is. And also so conversational. I could almost hear her saying the words as I read them.

I'll admit, I'm wasn't a fan of short stories in middle school, high school or even college. To the point that I only really liked "The Lady or the Tiger," "Gift of the Magi," and "A Rose for Emily" before I started reading Mary Ward Brown. Short Stories always left me wanting more. I always felt there was more story to tell. More of the characters to get to know. But the way she so painstakingly chooses words and lays out her stories, I always feel satisfied when her stories are over.

She signed Fanning the Spark "For Christy, a Judson sister. My Best, Mary Ward Brown 4/2/11" She asked if I was a student or an alum. I told her she just made my day by asking if I was a student because I'm 30 years old!

First 5k of the season AND sewing

I double booked myself for Saturday and I hope it means double fun -- I'm pretty sure it will, anyway.

I haven't been to the Birmingham Zoo in nearly a decade but on Saturday, I will be running [and walking] a 5k there. HURRAY. I had a high school friend and a college friend who signed up also, but then because of work conflicts, they can't run. I'm excited, but I'm not ready. I know I'll be walking a little. but I'm excited nonetheless. I have to start somewhere and starting at the zoo sounds like a fun fun thing to do. Plus, since I'm racing, I get in for free and Husband and kids get in for $5 each. Not too shabby. If fun is had by all, we may decide to get a family season pass.

So, after I get cooled down from the run, I'm headed to Prattville for our Second Saturday Sewing day. (a bag. I'm pretty excited.)

Husband and the kids are planning on staying at the zoo for as long as he can stand it. I'm excited for the anticipated fun they are going to have.

Wordless Wednesday: PEEK-A-BOO from the tent

"Let me take a picture of your wedding rings"

Let me set the scene for you. It's about 8 months ago and Daughter is going on a rampage of photography. Taking pictures of anything she can get lined up in the lens. She's already taken about 100 shots that day. Then she comes and sits in my lap and asks to take a picture of my wedding rings. She's a little obsessed with them.

When I'm putting lotion on and I've put the rings on a nearby table, that's her favorite time to swoop in and talk about the rings (ie ask to wear them for a moment) I always tell her that it's the "daddy loves mommy ring" that he gave me when we decided we were going to be a family forever.

(NOTICE: I'm actually wearing two wedding bands. The smaller yellow gold one was my Nanny's. She gave it to me along with her original engagement ring when I was in college. I wear her wedding ring more often than I wear my actual engagement ring. I love it. It definitely makes me feel like she's close.)

Turkey Creek Nature Preserve

I'm not into Mother's Day. I don't want breakfast in bed. um, crumbs much? I don't want home (or store bought) cards. I'm not interested in flowers or brunch or mani/pedis or special jewelry with my kids' birthstones in them or all the other stuff that Hallmark and other marketing conglomerates tell me I need. (that's fine if you do. I sincerely hope all your Mother's Day dreams come true) I just wanted to spend the day with my kids and the man who helped me make them. And that's all I want pretty much every Sunday.

We went to Turkey Creek Nature Preserve in Pinson. We've been talking about going since in opened in 2008 and we finally felt the kids were old enough for the "hiking" part.

The start of the "trail" we went on. I'm not sure if a paved walkway in the woods can count as a hiking trail under normal circumstances, but when you have a 2 and a 3.5 year old with you, it does! It ended up being exactly what we needed. One big hill that we all ran down and then huffed back up on the way out, the rest was pretty steady and easily manageable for us all.

Daughter wanted to take this home, cover it with peanut butter and bird seed so the birds would have something to eat. Say what you want about television, but a couple of hours of it a day gives my daughter some fabulous ideas that we haven't read to her in books.

(notice the chicken mcnuggets and fries we had for our picnic before we started? Mom of the day award right there. a lunch of tan/yellow)

Husband and Daughter starting out. Don't you LOVE her long shorts? I do. I would have gotten more than one pair if they were cheaper than $11!

Old Man Son and his walking stick. We laugh that he either acts like a baby or an old man. I also made sure his shorts had lots of pockets because he's a rock collector.

a scenery shot. It really was a nice walk. We heard lots of birds and saw a couple of lizards and I even spotted a couple of black berry bushes.

At the end. We stopped for a water break before we headed back to the car to get to another trail and the water.

walking back. It's nice when your kids want to hold your hands.

"Daddy, take my pitcher three times." This is one of them

Son and Husband getting into the water at the Eagle Scout trail. Daughter and I kept walking down the trail a little bit and met them later.

We met them at a faster part of the water and you can tell by the expression on his face, Son thought I was holding on entirely too tight. But I was in no mood to have to perform a heroic rescue.

Our view of The swimming Hole. We played on the upper shallow side.

Daughter checking it out.

I would suggest if you want to get in the water here to bring appropriate shoes! the kids didn't mind stepping on tons of little sharp rocks but I did. Husband said if I didn't spend so much time getting dead skin off my feet then I'd have a natural layer of protection. (I wore my socks and that helped a little but next time I'm going to bring my crocs and get water shoes for the kids)

digging through the rocks to find "meteors"

throwing rocks. seriously, my kids LOVE throwing rocks in the water.

Husband watching the kids play

splashing. I stayed out of this little bit of fun. Next time, I'll pack extra clothes for everyone and not just the kids.

Also, Daughter got her shorts soaked and asked me if she could get "butt wet" I think she meant "butt naked" because when I said yes she tried to take off her panties too! sorry, kid. no skinny dipping.

Son threw his fair share of rocks

Son and Husband playing. notice Son's hands full of rocks

climbing

another big view shot. lots of people came and went while we were there.

Daughter and Husband out in the "deep" I said, say cheese and to their right, Son did. So they looked

"ccchhhheeeeeeeeessssse"

Son also chose to take his pants off and play in just the diaper

out in the "deep" She was a little apprehensive about Husband taking her out there, but did great.

the finale of the day: ice cream

strawberry

cotton candy

Mother's Day win.