We’ve survived another summer vacation! We’re in the middle of the last weekend before school starts on Monday. I can hardly believe it’s already here! We made the best of the last week of vacation and scooted over to the zoo for one last mid-week visit. Some kids are already back in school, so it wasn’t crowded at all, which was great. Thursday, we had Meet the Teacher where we picked up the kids’ school supplies and dropped them off in their classrooms. We got to meet Joseph’s teacher, but the teacher they had originally assigned to Abigail’s class received another assignment at the last minute, so Abigail will start her first day with a sub. Hopefully they’ll get her situation figured out soon so that she can get settled in with one teacher soon. We also squeezed in a spontaneous trip to Buc-ee’s, which the kids were pretty excited about.
She used the Target bag to carry down the train tracks for her zoo train to drive on. She was not bothered in the least by the fact that the wheels didn’t fit on the tracks because the tracks still made it so that the train had to follow along them.This was a pretty cute sight to stumble upon.He conquered the Komodo dragon!My sweet butterfly.I don’t often take pictures of just animals, but I couldn’t help it with this anteater. He (or she) was just so cute all curled up asleep. I mean, look at those paws…The hippos were really active, which was fun for Abigail. She followed this one from one window to another.They even got to see each other really close up.It was a rare moment where nobody was on the lions (usually there are kids crawling all over them), so I had to snap a quick picture.She was really tired when we got to the train, so she was more than happy to snuggle up with her big brother.My new year-round door decoration. I wanted something that wasn’t going to block the peek-hole, but also wasn’t specific to any holiday or time of year. This wreath is perfect because it also matches the general decor of everything I have going on in the downstairs rooms.I love it when Paul brings home “just because it’s Thursday” flowers. 🙂She made herself a nest of couch pillows. 🙂I snapped a picture, saw that they were both looking at the camera (a feat in and of itself), and we went inside. After we got home and I looked at the picture, I realized they look…less than enthused. 😂 I promise they were excited to be there. 😄
It seems like I blinked once and half of August was gone. We haven’t been doing too much outside because the weather has finally started acting like August. 😉 The mornings have been relatively cool-ish (in the low 80s), so that’s when we really try to get out and do stuff (after dousing ourselves in bug spray, of course…because the mosquitoes are really bad in the mornings and evenings). This week, our outdoor outing was to the zoo. I had to get the annual car inspected so I could renew the registration, so I decided that since we were getting an early start with that, we might as well head over to the zoo afterward while it was still remotely cool. We got there about half an hour after they opened and it was not crowded at all, which was wonderful! We’ve also tried to squeeze in early morning back yard play. School starts a week from Monday, so we’re just soaking in the last bits of summer. 🙂
Wearing her brother’s old hat and old shirt. 😀Getting in some swing time.I love that they have a fun back yard to play in. I’m so grateful for Paul’s hard work that keeps the grass nice and for his skill in building things (like the swing set).Tickle attack!!Playing catch.All ready for church!Riding the Komodo dragon. 😉I think it was this picture that made me first realize just how big he’s getting. He’ll be ten in a couple of weeks!It would be interesting to go through my pictures and see just how many I have of her in front of this wall. She insists I take her picture every time. 🙂Of course the macaws started grooming each other right as I took a picture, haha. Their coloration is so beautiful! Abigail was calling them “rainbow parrots”. 😀The big one on the big hippo and the little one on the little hippo. 😉Checking out the emu.I think this was the first time I realized our zoo had three rhinos.Elephants!She was excited that the elephant was cool enough to climb on.This miniature mongoose was very curious……and so was this little girl. 😉The caracal was a little grumpy…it had its ears back and was showing everybody its teeth.He thought it was neat that the moon jellies’ tank lighting would change, making them stand out in the water.Zoo train fun! Guess who’s into making silly faces for the camera?I did get a normal picture afterward, though.My sweet boy. I also love the area that the zoo train travels through. It’s really beautiful! We love living in San Antonio. 🙂She took some of her play food to make me a “carrot cake”. The play soup was her “candle”. I love her imagination!
We’re coming to grips with the idea that school will be starting in…two weeks. Oiy! As a result, we tried to squeeze in some fun things this past week: a trip to the zoo…playing outside when the evenings allow…it’s going to go too fast! Monday’s weather was a little sketchy (we had a ton of rain fall out of the sky all at once), but the rest of the week was rather nice (other than the heat and humidity, but one can’t really escape that in August, haha).
Monday morning, we drove to the store. Halfway there, it started pouring. We waited about ten minutes once we got to the store to see if it would quit, but it didn’t, so we turned around to come home. I was at a stoplight and glanced over in shock. The lane next to me was completely covered in deep water. My lane had a little water in it, but not nearly as much as this lane did…so yeah, this is how much water fell in about twenty minutes or so! Later in the day, it stopped raining, so I headed back to the store. This same area was clear and almost dry. Crazy!Big puddles call for jeans and boots. I usually don’t wear long pants in the dead of summer, but that day I did!After a crazy busy day, I was so happy to realize it was taco salad dinner day. I love it when dinner comes together quickly!It hit the spot after a crazy Monday.I got a new fancy jar to hold some of the kids’ treats. It looks nice in my pantry, makes it easy to see how much we have left, and was only $10!D’you remember the fancy brownies I made with their fancy butterscotch sauce? I poured the leftover sauce into a jar and have kept it in the fridge for moments just like this. Yum!A zoo trip would be incomplete without a butterfly picture!The fossa was actually out (and chewing on a ball…so this large cat was acting rather like a dog, haha).The clouded leopard looked rather regal sitting on its perch.The caracal was just chilling. 🙂In front of one of several waterfalls at the zoo.Hippo time!This vulture is not an animal that is officially part of the zoo. There is just a bajillion of them that happen to hang out all over the zoo, haha.Abigail loves the pelicans…a lot. 🙂On the carousel. Joseph opted for the lion……while Abigail picked the seahorse. 🙂Last night, the weather was as perfect as can be for August. It was still a little warm, but there was a hint of a cool breeze that drove away some of the humidity and all of the mosquitoes. It actually felt a little refreshing!They were enjoying playing with the bubble gun.She made a “campfire”. She was trying to stand up the biggest weed so that it looked like flames. The sunshine coming through the trees made it feel a bit magical outside.She was using a blade of grass (that had a bushy end) like a paintbrush and was painting the leaves. 🙂This weekend was a tax-free weekend (meaning that a lot of things won’t have tax added to them), so I went to grab clothes and shoes for the kids for school. Abigail asked for boots and well…I couldn’t help but comply.11:30 at night and it’s still in the 80s. 🥵It wouldn’t be so bad except for the humidity and dew point. Those make the air feel heavy and sticky. The toads love it, though. We have so many in our yard this year! This guy is about a medium sized one (I’ve seen bigger and smaller) and kind of cute! I think he’s about 3-4 inches big.
