Reptile Day and Retirement Dinner

This weekend, we went to Reptile Day out at the forest where I used to work! The totally under-used, under-appreciated forest. It's part of Metro Parks but is located pretty far outside the city. I hadn't been out there myself in about three years, so it was nice to be back and see familiar faces and places.

They had a handful of booths, a wildlife biology professor from U of L who spoke about tracking/monitoring turtles, a new (and amazing!) outdoor classroom for preschool programs, and the nature center that we walked through--Lewis seemed to enjoy the aquatic turtles the most. The snakes, frog, rabbit, and salamander didn't seem to delight him because they didn't move much. We had to skip out on the turtle races and a live snake feeding demonstration to get back to the house because we were having company over.

'See, there's a red-eared slider, a stinkpot, a beautiful (and big) softshell, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.' I hope Lewis likes nature so I have someone to blab to. :)

Next to the Black Kingsnake

There's that big softshell swimming by...

Intently listening to his first wildlife biology lecture

He luckily still fit in his 3-6 mo. Steve Irwin outfit that my sister sent him.

I couldn't resist.

The beautiful new outdoor classroom that kind of made me want to teach again, but not really, but kind of. In the woods, with maybe just ten kids at a time. Oh wait, that was the plan in 2004, too. :)

I also would like a wood burner kit so I can make cool things like these that they had posted throughout the classroom:

They did a really nice job with it. The 'leaves' on the arbor as you enter had words such as play, explore, listen, grow, wonder, believe, etc. Very sweet. The classroom has a few different stations: playing musical instruments, digging in the dirt, walking on stumps, climbing/playing in a tree house, and building towers out of natural materials.

Later in the afternoon, we had Kevin's parents and brothers over for dinner to celebrate Kevin's mom's retirement! The meal was great, but the power went out towards the end of the evening. Still, we had a nice time. Congrats, Sharon--happy retirement!

We have a few things coming up this month that I'm looking forward to: a trip to Newport Aquarium (and IKEA if we have time) with the Okrzesiks, going to see The Help with Kate in a few weeks, another round of my favorite baby consignment sale with the McKinley girls, and my first solo flight(s) with Lewis to Boise to see the Bergstroms!

It should be a busy month again, but I'm looking forward to it. My last-half-of-the-year resolution is to get out and do more, so this is a good start. I'm on a mission to find some free activities to do...so far all I have is story time at the library and going for walks, but I haven't really had time to look much yet. More to come, I'm sure.

Doctor's appointment and SIX MONTH post tomorrow...