Perry Wildlife Zoo

We were going to take the kids to the National Zoo today but the combination of potential rains and tiredness changed our minds.

Instead we took them to the Perry Wildlife Zoo in Perry, WVa.

They say an interesting blog has good photographs....

I would love to show photographs of the kids squealing with delight, as they fed the bear. The deer shedding its velvet would have also been a great pic. Or how about the porcupines, that also would have been a neat photo.

Alas, I brought the camera, but the batteries were totally dead. Ugh.

I hadn't been to Perry Zoo in probably 15 years. It is a perfect outing for small children--low key, relatively inexpensive, and a good variety of animals. I am not a veterinarian, but all of the enclosures appeared to be clean, and the animals well cared for.

I always have mixed feelings about zoos. On the one hand, I like seeing and learning about different kinds of animals, and the kids certainly enjoy it. It is sad though to see a cougar or lion all caged up though when you know they are accustomed to roaming large areas. In many cases though, zoos take animals that would otherwise die or be treated poorly by individuals. As with most things in life, there is more gray than black and white.

Baltimore-Traveling with Kids

Despite, the wicked heat, we had a great time in Baltimore visiting the Maryland Science Center and Port Discovery!

Three adults and six kids (2 six-year-olds, 1 four-year-old, 1 three-year old, 1 one-year-old, and 1 three-week-old)

Things we did well:

• Had printed directions for various routes
• Got a late checkout of 2:30
• Saved the food from the night before for lunch
• Minimalized walking to and from activities
• Brought an extra stroller
• Brought plenty of snacks
• Stayed in a hotel with a microwave and refrigerator
• Focused on a couple of activities rather than rushing to a whole lot of things

Things may want to do for next trip:

• Research local eating options prior to arrival
• Printed reverse directions for getting home (especially in a town that is full of one way streets)
• Pack hats and spray-on sun screen in the stroller

Day Seven: Miniature Golf and a Waterfall

The trail was rated easy and was paved, but was steeper than we anticipated.

Laurel Falls

Day Six: Dollywood

Getting Soaked!

We rode these little cars three times.

Day Five: Shopping and Swimming

No pics for this day:

Did a little bit of shopping at the outlets and the the Arts Community. The guys got haircuts and swam in the indoor pool.

Day Four: Great Smoky Mountains

We saw SIX bears, many deer, several turkeys, and a fox!

We all loved exploring the cabins on the trails.

Day Three: Petting Zoo and The Diner

Yeah, we ate it ALL

Very Slobbery!

Day Two: Gatlinburg and the Aquarium

National Arboretum

If you have not been to the National Arboretum, I would strongly suggest that you go. We had a wonderful afternoon there a couple of weekends ago.

Plenty of space for kids to run, place to have a picnic, and wonderful photography opportunities. It's FREE as well.

High Hill Farm

High Hill Farm is a working farm in Frederick County, Virginia, where we spent several hours this afternoon. It is best known for its pumpkin patch and haunted house--neither of which we visited, but the kids had fun, petting the animals (chickens, calves, rabbits, a horse, sheep), running through the hay maze, and picking out a pumpkin.

Sorry no pics though. Didn't feel like lugging around the camera today.

Trip to the Apple Orchard

Two adults plus two five-years-old, one four-year-old, one three-year-old, and one three-month-old took a trip to an apple orchard on a beautiful fall day. Played, had a snack, rode the "cow train," and even took a ride on the wagon around the orchard.

By the looks on people's faces, I'm sure they thought all of those kids were ours.



Perfect day and a wonderful way to spend our anniversary. Yes, six years ago today, we married. Doesn't seem like that long ago at all.

Sun, Good Food, and the Biggest Grasshopper

We had an awesome weekend at the Outer Banks, NC. Here are a few of my favorite photos.

Beautiful sunset

The biggest grasshopper I have ever seen

Fun catching crabs in the sound

Boat ride around the canal

Park, Zoo, and Hail!

What a weekend!

Saturday's weather was absolutely gorgeous, so we took the kids to the park after eating lunch outside at Sonic--cherry limeade, yum. Everyone got along great, and we had a wonderful time together. For supper, we had homegrown corn, tomatoes, and cucumbers with hamburgers. I even drug the card table outside, so we could eat on the patio.

Then today we went to Wilson's Wild Animal Park. Very low key environment where the owners care for animals that were abused or otherwise would be killed if they were not taken in there.

THEN, when we got home it started to HAIL. Yes, hail in the middle of August without any warning.

The rain and hail came down so quickly that the drains and gutters just could not handle it all, so some water came in the basement door. It could have been a lot worse though.

To the Zoo....

...and Ikea, JoAnn Fabrics, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Dave's Barbecue. Wow! What a day. No wonder my two guys are sound asleep. I'm on my crazy work schedule even on the weekends, so I am wide awake. Good for blogging, I guess, but hard to get up early the next morning.

We had a great day going "to the city"--even drove by the old house. Not sure what I expected, but everything looks about the same.

While seeing the animals at the National Zoo is always fun, I was struck by how much more interested we were in all the other things at the zoo--the people, the construction, the food. I think LM (little man) spent more time looking at the bulldozers at the elephant house renovations than he did anything. I was fascinated with all of the people.

There is some awesome people watching to be done at the zoo--quite the variety of body shapes, sizes, hair color, clothing, family composition, and tattoos to be seen. I'm all for looking respectable when going out in public, but I was surprised at how many women had on designer little (the emphasis on little) sundresses with totally impractical sandals, sunglasses, and hair beauty-salon perfect. I was quite the opposite in my ball cap, tennis shoes, and sweaty shirt. (Of course we went on the hottest day of the summer so far!)

We did get a table at Ikea for the office/sewing room. Now maybe I can move all of my sewing projects out of the dining room.

Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia

We recently visited the Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia (FCMV) outside of Staunton, and I would highly recommend it if you are in the area. Here is one of the pics I took, and there are more on my Flickr page.



I do have to say that we almost did not go though. I had picked up a brochure and checked the web site, but really could not tell what it was going to be like. Our two-year-old is quite flexible, but I had images of tromping around in the boiling sun with no access to restrooms, shade, or water. The museum had all of these things and more. I think the web site for FCMV does the place a disservice. Unless I missed it (which is possible), this is all the site said about food/lodging:

Vending snacks and drinks available on patio area and Museum Store.
Picnic tables are available.

What would have been extremely helpful would have been a map of the grounds. The farmhouses are actually located quite close to each other, and it is a nice walk around the paths to each one of them. There are costumed people in each of the houses, who were all super nice, informative, and knowledgeable. There are small red wagons available for rental as well as scooters and even larger golf-cart-type vehicles if there are people in your party unable to walk short distances.

There was a water fountain, water cooler, and two different restrooms available along the trail. (Yes, one of the "restrooms" was a Johnny Blue, so I am not sure if that counts; I think it does in this case.)

We had been to Colonial Williamsburg earlier this year and had a great time. If Williamsburg is living history on steroids though then FCMV is living history on camomile tea (in a calm, nice not boring way). There were very few people there the day we were there (Thursday), so you really got to talk and ask questions about what the people were doing and why.

The lady in the English house was cleaning wool that day, for example, and her fire had gone out. So my husband and son helped bring her some firewood and get the fire going again.

There was no crush of visitors at the museum store--just a yummy sample of homemade fudge, air conditioning, and a small, but interesting collection of books for sale.

It was the perfect outing for us on that day.