Zoo Field Trip

Cadence and I had so much fun today on her class's field trip to the Seneca Park Zoo. We were rather worried about how the day would turn out since it was supposed to be raining most of the day. Well, that is weather for you, ever changing. We dressed in our layers and had rain jackets prepared because the plan was to go, rain or shine. Hooray for shine. It ended up being a very nice clear day. We were so warm we had to shed some of our layers and we may have a tiny hint of pink on our cheeks. It wasn't the most amazing zoo I have been to, but all in all very fun. Some parts were better than other zoos I have been.

For the Birds

Having a park next door to the house sure is handy. It is definitely turning out to be one of the girls favorite things about living here. We are over at the park almost daily and some days more than once. It is an extension of our back yard, in a way. The merry-go-round still makes me nauseous even if I am just spinning them on it and not even on. The girls could stay on the swings all day and the teeter-totter too. Say that 5x fast.

It got too hot for the birds in the sun so the blankets made it harder to get great pictures.

This is Seymour.


Little blind screech owl. That is our house there in the back of this shot.

Barn Owl.


Big Horned Owl.


Today we got up after a little sleeping in and got ready and went over to the park for Palmyra's Bird Festival. It got into the mid 80s and was breezy. Very nice after such a long winter. There were booths about bird feeders and food to attract birds to your yard as well as plants and flowers for that purpose as well. There were birds from bird rescues, both for pet birds and wild birds that were injured at some point beyond being able to be put back in the wild after healed; like the cockatoo that used to be a performer at Busch Gardens until it attacked it's trainer or the little screech owl is almost completely blind after being hit by a car. We had a lot of fun and we learned a lot too. Serenity looked like she thought it was a little bit of heaven. All the birds were beautiful and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Happy Easter

It has been years, but I let Heidi talk me into sewing Easter dresses with her for the girls. I used to sew all the time in high school and a little bit after, but that last major sewing project I did was my bridesmaid dress and Serenity's flower girl dress for Hanna's wedding. I am sad to realize that I had let go that part of me so long that my girls had never really seen me sew anything more than pillows and blankets.

They didn't even know what a pattern looked like out of the envelope. It was fun to watch how excited and impressed they were by it all, even with my skills a little on the rusty side. They all wanted different colors, so we used the same pattern and their individual colors and they turned out pretty cute. You cannot really tell by the picture, but the dresses are two layers with a more sheer chiffon fabric on top. Both Serenity and Cadence have expressed the desire to learn so that with be fun to teach and share with them something that was very much a part of my growing up.





















Yesterday we also had fun at the town
Easter egg hunt in the park right next
to the house. You might have guessed
by the looks on their faces that it was
FREEZING but they still managed to
have fun























and that sneaky Easter Bunny
even got into the house while
the girls played at the park so
that their baskets were more
than overflowing.

Trying To Get Organized

I have had a few people ask me to post pictures of the house. Since most of you haven't been out here to see it, it might be nice to have a frame of reference when you think about us. Mind you, part of what we are here to do is to fix up the house, so even though our stuff is in them, these could be considered before pictures. We don't have everything up on the walls and everything unpacked and in it's proper place, but it is a start.

Getting Settled in Palmyra

I know I haven't posted in a month and that I really should post something now that we are in Palmyra, NY. There isn't really much to tell just yet. We are getting the house set up and organized which is time consuming for sure. I am looking for a job and updating my resume and things like that. I have also been trying to set up a network between my dad's computer and mine so that I can use his internet access, but so far it is a no go. I have been out of the computer loop for too long and I haven't figured out what isn't right so I can correct it. All I know is, it wasn't this hard when we networked my computer, my dad's, and Sheri's when we moved in there.

Other than that, it is a little weird to get used to the layout of these little towns and villages and country roads. It has also been so bitterly cold that I haven't taken the chance to get out and explore like I would like to do. It is supposed to warm up to the 40s this weekend so maybe I will do something then.

The girls are doing well. It took a week after we got here to get everything squared away for them to start school. So now they are back in school and they love it. The really seem quite happy. Serenity's paperwork from her teacher makes me feel like her class is very strict, but she has good things to say about it everyday when she comes home. She thrives in an intelligent, challenging environment. Cadence raves about how fun her class is. She loves that it is all day kindergarten here and that she gets to eat in the cafeteria. She had P.E. yesterday and described an obstacle course and climbing to the ceiling and what a "blast, blast" she had. That does seem just up her alley.

Well, hopefully I will have more great things to report very soon.