A DAY AT THE ZOO

Oh My Gosh!! Thank goodness there were NO PARENTS allowed on this day trip. With Great Uncles almost anything is okay, shoes, shirts, socks and all. Ah ha yep, yep, yep, thank goodness for Grand Uncles and Grand Parents. They can be so much fun!!

One thing about taking a 7-year old and a 2-year old to the zoo, it is not always about the animals. Aside from the Ice Creams and Lemonades there is the sprinklers and the fountains. Catch them if you can.

And of course dressing up as a starfish is just as fun as running through the fountains.

Even if one size does NOT always fit all!!

And though the Lions and the Tigers and the bears oh and the Belluga Whale were noticeably missing in the overcast and muggy weather. "The puppies", as Tayla shouted were an okay draw and worth a pose - well, maybe, if you note the ho hmm expression Tayla dispalyed.

And of course some of the wonderful things about spending the night away from home are kid's movies (especially Disney), staying up late, waking up late, and making car and truck pancakes

And then it is down to some serious painting of wall plaques for Dad and Mom. Such dedicated concentration.

Finishing up the minute details with a dot here and a dot there of sparkle before the finished product was ready to give to Dad and Mom. - Oh, did I mention that when it was time to go home it was a tearful event of "We don't wanta go home Uncle Ray" ;~> Dang do I have them spoiled!!!

I am including this picture, not because I took it - just in case there was a question - but because it reminded me of an experience I had sometime with my great niece Hailey.

I was holding her and she was looking at my face and she was asking me about my mustache and wrinkles and for a brief moment it made me realize how old I was.

That is until a second later I realized how much age difference there was between us and what a wonderful feeling it was to be as old as I was and holding this wonderfully dear child that unquestionably loved me. Her questions were in innocence and meant no judgement and I felt young again.

I sure love all my nieces and nephews because I share such special moments with each of them.

Yesterday a friend and I went to "The Great Wall", an Asian shopping mall, an old Home Base conversion, and enjoyed Dim Sun. It has been years since I had Dim Sun and I remember now why. Every cart that was rolled into my sight had a sign that said "pick me"! It is a good thing my friend is Asian because with her help I was able to be more selective rather than attempt every morsel and have her roll me out of there.
She ordered one dish before I realized, she speaks Chinese, it was TRIPE!!! I HATE TRIPE!!! It is one of the most horrifying dishes I remember. My Dad used to spend Sundays cooking up a big pot of Menuda and all of us kids except my youngest sister who has been diagnosed as DEMENTED, hated it. However, my Dad being from the old school unwaveringly insisted we would eat Menudo until THE POT WAS EMPTY!
This most likely was thebeginning of my theatrical career because I could convince God I loved that C*** as I choked down each tiny morsel. For those of you my firends who do not know what tripe is, it is cow's gut.
Back to the present, here is this bowl sitting in front of me, my friend licking her lips as she begins spooning it on her plate, and I reminiscing about Sunday in our house.
Okay so what does a man do I mean he is with his best friend and they are sharing a wonderful time - I PLUNGE! I dish some on my plate trepidly bring it to my lips and I LIKE IT. I am so crushed, so disappointed in myself another part of my past cast to the wind. I even brought the left overs home.

I'm BACK! I have decided to resurrect my blog site and I will attempt to reunite with so many of you my friends who encouraged me to get my butt back in gear and start blogging again. I hope I will become more regular than every six months.

I am hoping with the help of Tiffany to begin downloading some of my photos that you asked about. Don't blame me if I start overwhelming you. So with instructions I received from dear Tiffany here comes my first attempt. ------ WISH ME LUCK!!



This picture is from my file of last year when I was attending O.C. taking a photography class. It certainly showed my beginning steps of becoming a world class photographer. It is a picture of one of the fountains at the downtown Bremerton Conference Center.