A Trip To The Zoo, Part Six

While we were in Syracuse we decided to go to the zoo with M's sister, Jen. Walter loves his aunt and spent most of the day in her company.





While we were there, we saw iguanas,



Alligators,



Turtles,



Birds,



While Walter was fascinated by the dark nocturnal creature exhibits,



It nearly put Byron asleep.



Though he wasn't the only one.



One of Walter's must sees were the bats.



Walter spent some time taking pictures too.







And then there were lions.



Meercats...





Surly looking monkeys.



Leapin' lemurs,



Lawn decorations...



Actually, some pretty hardy flamingoes.



I mean, these tropical birds have gotten used to Syracuse winters... (or is this spring?)



Walter and Jennifer looking at the bird lady...



The bird lady with a barn owl.



Walter and Jennifer!



And there were goats!



I'm not sure if this sign applied to the goats...



...or the donkeys.



There was an elephant.



Lions...





...and penguins!







Some were larger than others...





And even the occasional woodchuck.







Walter got to ride a Siberian Tiger.







Somehow we were transported to Siberia...



But even the tigers thought that we were in Syracuse on a HOT early spring day.

Book Sale!

Man, its been a long time since we've gotten to a book sale... the Hollis Center Library had one on Saturday and we four have some good summer reads. I've never actually read "Fahrenheit 451" before and I was incredibly excited about finding "Blood Meridian."

The Knight and the Boy

Ha, I'm a knight,


and you're not...


So, Haha...


AND you can't touch me behind the helmet...


HEY!


You can't do that!


Now I'M the knight...


What a bummer...

Some Gardening

M and Walter have been working on re-planting the front garden beds. Walter, much to everyone's surprise has been very excited about planting.






Explaining what manure is...


Now you don't see it...


Now you do!

23 and 49 months!

So happy...


...such a great face... Yeah... I'm happy...


Me too!

Part Five, Syracuse

Day Two of our visit to Syracuse was spent with Melissa getting to see her friend, Tara and sons, Cyrus and Ethan. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the the four boys together. It was, naturally, a whirlwind of activity with four boys together. Ethan, however knew when the camera was aimed at him.




Some of the chaos...


...and there was a duck on tv.


Byron reflecting looking out the window.

Part Four, The Trip To Syracuse

And then it was time to leave New Paltz. We had a beautiful early spring day for it. Cool and windy, but not too cold. We chose to drive up Rte 28 through the mountains and into Oneonta the same way that I used to drive a bus over the river and through the woods. We found a picnic spot just outside of Big Indian after having stopped at our default stop at the Boiceville IGA for some picnic goods. The picnic spot was beneath a tree on a blanket at a pull off.

















This was at a pull off at the apex heading up the mountainside in between Maragaretville and the appropriately named town of Andes. Its a beautiful lookout after having driven up a curving road for miles. To think that I used to drive a bus up this in the winter as well!









I've always wondered about this road sign as well: FINLKLE, how do you pronounce that? Looks like it was a typo when the order for the sign was sent to the manufacturer.
Aha! Google Maps: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=enU&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=Finkel%20road%2C%20NY&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl
Yes, it IS FINKLE Road.

The De-Evolution of Four Boys' Portrait, Part 3

Thanks to Joe and Nicole for graciously letting us stay at their house even though the combination of adding two boys to two more was like adding gasoline to a fire. Thanks again, guys, hope that we can do it sometime soon again, maybe at our house.

Calm, bored, even...


Almost there...


Uh-oh, something is happening...


Waitaminute, have we got it?


Uh-oh...


All chaos breaks loose...