21 Years!

This past weekend, The Man of the House and I celebrated our 21st anniversary. 
Our actual anniversary is on the 21st, so this was a special year.
21 years! 
I have to say, I feel rather proud of that accomplishment...particularly in this day and age.

Years ago, we dreamed of the future and what extravagant, adventurous  vacations we would take on our 20th or 21st or 25th anniversaries.  Hawaii?  Europe?  Australia? 

The reality of it is, our life in itself has been an adventure.  We've lived in five different states and have traveled throughout half of the US.   We've been raising our children, working hard and having lots of fun amidst the trials of life.  
We've really been living.

For this anniversary, we knew we wanted to take a few days for ourselves...alone, without children.    (Yes, in the past we have spent a few anniversaries on trips with the kiddos...and it was great!)


However, we recently had to pay for a new roof for our home:

 

 

So we needed to do something inexpensive. 

We opted for Colorado Springs,  which is only an hour or so from where we live.
I have to say, we had SUCH a great time.

We ate out, we slept in, we saw the sights ...and just enjoyed the freedom of no schedule.
Oh, how we enjoyed that!




Colorado Springs is a neat place- and there is plenty to see and do.  
Tons of history in a beautiful setting.

One fun thing we did was visit the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.
Now, I have been to many zoos in my life-  the zoos in Portland, OR, Albuquerque, NM, Boise, ID, San Diego, CA, and Denver, CO to name most of the larger ones.   Of those, I'd have to say that Albuquerque has always been my favorite.
However, I think Cheyenne Mountain has taken that spot.

The setting is beautiful and you could spend all day there just looking at the scenery and enjoying a picnic lunch.  

We loved that the animals were more accessible than the average zoo.   They even have the tigers and monkeys trained for demonstrations of their abilities/breed features. 
(Trained for treats, not like the circus!)


One of the highlights was feeding and petting giraffes.

We got a kick out of the baby nursing on his momma...

...and big brother or sister getting in on the share.

There's a tram you can ride up over the zoo.  The view is beautiful!

We stopped for a picture.  You do things like that on anniversary trips.

A few more pictures from the day at the zoo:

I'll post more later on another wonderful place we visited!

Summertime!

 Here, during the dog days of summer, are some reminders to get out and enjoy this wonderful season!  
You'll be wishing you did come winter....

                                                                    Photo by Catskills Grrl


"Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit.  A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world."  ~Ada Louise Huxtable

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time.  ~John Lubbock

Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.  ~Henry James

Then followed that beautiful season... Summer....
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Today

So here hath been dawning
Another blue day:
Think, wilt thou let it
Slip useless away?

Out of Eternity
This new day is born:
In to Eternity
At night will return.

Behold it aforetime
No eye ever did:
So soon it forever
From all eyes is hid.

Here hath been dawning
Another blue day:
Think, wilt thou let it
Slip useless away?

—Thomas Carlyle

Summer Wish

When I was a little girl, I would sometimes imagine what it would be like to have someone anonymously leave a baby on my doorstep.  

I could see the wicker basket (sometimes I just imagined the baby wrapped in a blanket, but my conscience would take over at the thought of the hard cement)  and I could feel the joy in knowing that baby was meant for me. 
  The note always said so.

It would still be such a great thing- except I now know about the legal red tape that would be involved in such a gift! 

For my children this summer, the wishing has been for a kitten.    We have put them off, knowing we will be moving out of state.  Have you ever moved out of state with a cat?  We have.  Which is why we were willing to wait.

However, Fate had a different plan.  
One day, we were out doing yard work and as we all came in, we noticed some sort of furry creature  huddled in the corner of our deck.
We realized it was a frightened kitten and tried to pick it up. 
It was terrified and what ensued was about 20 minutes of kids quietly trying to trap it behind various bushes around the house.   
It was funny to hear the conversation taking place while doing  so.  I heard things like:

"Be quiet, you'll scare it!"
"I am being quiet- hey do you think it's a boy or a girl?"
"I think it's a boy and if it is, maybe he can be mine!"
" No, Mom said I'm next to get an animal."
"Where do you think it came from?"
"I bet it's wild!"
"Do you think it has Rabies?"
"No, Stupid, and be QUIET!"

Finally, they were able to bring it in, where they soothed and fed it.
It was a he and he was skin and bones.  
It took two days to get him to completely trust us and now it's normal to see him in someone's arms, purring away.  

He's filled out now, bathed and content.

We named him Jasper, after a cat we had ten years ago.

And the kids got their wish after all.

The 4th.

The 3rd of July here was a beautiful day.

We celebrated with your typical Independence day food and fun and our local town held their fireworks display that evening.

It was perfect weather and a wonderful evening.
We came home and had even more fun with our own fireworks.

The next day, the 4th, it stormed.  Heavy rainfall and hail the size of golf balls in some areas.
Basically, the same weather we had last 4th of July. 

I'm so glad we did our celebrating the day before!

Here are some pictures from the weekend:
(Hope yours was fun, too!)

God Bless America!

Nothing inspires pride in American hearts quite like Independence Day. 

For me, the 4th of July brings forth similar feelings to those  I experience on Thanksgiving and Christmas.     Faith in God, love for family and mankind, gratitude.


I am SO very proud to be an American.


Below are some amazing American scenes set to amazing American music.


I've also included, in line with my 80's theme lately, some School House Rock videos.
So many of my childhood Saturday mornings were spent, learning and absorbing these wonderful, informational songs. 

"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action"

~George Washington

"Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience."

~George Washington




“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.”
~Abraham Lincoln




“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy”  ~ James Madison


“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.”  ~ Thomas Jefferson


“We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”  ~ Thomas Jefferson

“I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.”  ~ Thomas Jefferson

"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain."  ~ John Adams




One more thing:  I love this new commercial!



Happy Independence Day!!