Noah's Ark, Water Bottle Ninjas, and Magic Pills

Today was a full day. I guess you could call it Thrifty Thursday. My goal was to get out of the house and do something different but not spend a ton (any) money. Even going to the lake costs the $4 park fee! Annie has wanted to go to the zoo and I've been trying desperately since May to get the free pass from the library but it's always checked out. SO, I started looking at other petting zoos in the area. Are you kidding me? The petting zoo in Canton would have cost more than actually going to the zoo! Hmmmm.... mini donkeys and goats OR lions, tigers, and bears? I chose neither one of those options because of the prices. Anyway, I found a rescue center called Noah's Ark that houses all sorts of different animals. The push back was that it was in Locust Grove - at least an hour from Woodstock! The admission was donation based and the whole thing was supposedly shaded and paved. Basically, I was going to be out a picnic lunch, a donation, and gas money. I can live with that.

So, we piled in the van and headed out. The drive wasn't bad at all. Turns out that the center is right behind the Tanger Outlets. Oh, how I was tempted!

The first animal in the line up was an emu. This stupid bird was really taken with Annie. Annie wasn't quite sure what to think. Something about this creepy little bird reminded me of the raptor in Jurassic Park that cooed and then attacked! But, it followed Annie around the perimeter of the fence and when the fence ended, it just stood there like it was really confused. (I about peed my pants as Grant commentated for the bird! He was using a British accent and was making the bird "say" that there was an imaginary force field that had just been put into place and he couldn't figure out how to escape to peck the juicy bow off of the little emu's head)! Just beyond this area was a pen of ostriches. One of those nutty things also took to Annie! It actually chased after Annie down the length of the fence. Thankfully, she thought it was all a game. When she would run, it would run. When she stopped, it stopped. It was like she was the bird whisperer. I was just really thrilled to move on to some more sophisticated animals - like hogs and ducks!

There were also peacocks roaming around everywhere too. Annie was terrified of them. I'm not sure if it was the noises they kept making or simply how stealthy they were. One second, there was nothing there and then POOF! There was a sly looking peacock next to you! Grant called them "creepers." They never even puffed up their tail feathers to show their size in front of Annie but something definitely freaked her out about them and I really didn't blame her. I got rather tired of having them sneak up behind you and suddenly make that screaming noise! (There were a couple of day care kids that kept chasing some of the peacocks. At first, I felt bad for the animals but I very quickly learned that I'd like to do more than just chase them! They're sort of a foot ball shape anyway so maybe drop kicking might be in order! Did I mention that these weren't my favorites)?

I was surprised at how big the center was. There were day cares there from all over the place. That was a real draw back, though! What is the kid to teacher ratio for summer camps? Some of the groups seemed to have 30 little kids and only one grumpy leader. I kid you not! In one group, there were at least 20 first or second graders and there was one little old lady that was at least 200 years old in charge of them! At every exhibit, she'd be leaned up against the fence yelling at the kids to hold hands and stay still for a minute. I kept waiting for some animal to see her butt pressed through the fence and have a little peck at it! More than once, we just had to ditch the sidewalk and wait for the caravans of kids to move by, though. The other draw back was the heat. Because it was over 90 degrees, some of the animals were being housed elsewhere or were staying in their shelters.

Oh my! All I could think of was Dora and Boots! I just hoped Swiper wasn't hiding in those woods!

However, keeping it all in perspective, it was a neat place. There were monkeys, llamas, buffalo, birds, pigs, ducks, snakes, tigers, lions, emus, and ostriches. It was quite an assortment and the grounds were beautiful. It would be a nice place to just leisurely stroll through in the fall or spring when the temperature isn't at char-broil!

Over the last few months, I've learned that my time in the car is a great place to think. Even when I've just got the girls, I can get quite a bit of thinking done if I put on some crazy Disney music to distract them. The ride south to Locust Grove was great. Grant had his headphones on listening to "his" music. Dasha played her Nintendo and Annie just dozed. However, the ride home was nothing like that! Annie immediately fell asleep and Dasha played her Nintendo but Grant, um, well, he didn't go to sleep OR listen to his music. He started the drive by complaining that his drawers were sliding off and proceeded to do some crazy squirmy dance in his seat to get everything back in the right place. Paired with his huffing and puffing, it was aggravating. At one point, I do believe that I suggested that he just strip and go commando for the ride home. This was not received well. :) Then, he decided to play ninja boy on the fly that had somehow stowed away with us. Every time that darn fly came near him, he started swining his water bottle like it was a light saber and he was trying to protect the world. I think the fly was also amused with Grant's skills and enjoyed seeing him swinging wildly! Then, he started in with the random facts! This is something that he and his Daddy have in common! (Remember the scene from Jerry Maguire where the little kids says, "Did you know the human head weighs eight pounds? That's kind of how this feels). They can tell you crazy statistics and facts about insanely random things. For some reason, Grant decided that this afternoon while I was held as his hostage speeding along at 80 miles an hour, he would impress me with his knowledge. I learned that ostriches don't have tongues, the smell of rain is actually the smell of grass releasing chlorophyll (really?), and that professional hot dog eaters learn to expand their stomachs to four times their normal size. Whew! In retrospect, he had no idea that I just wanted to ride along with MY music playing and be quiet. I guess that's what sleep is supposed to be for!

We finally made it home and avoided the bulk of Atlanta traffic. But then, the question is always, "What's for dinner?" I've tried so hard to plan ahead and make sure that I have menus planned for the week so I'm not wasting food but tonight, I didn't have any desire to cook. The pizza joint up the street has been advertising $5 pizzas to compete with Little Caesars. I figured we'd give it a try. Hey, $10 of pizza will feed us dinner and lunch!

The kids sure ate like it was their last meal! And, I have to admit that it was a heck of a lot better than Little Caesars!

After getting the kids down (sans Grant), I started working on Annie's outfit for tomorrow's Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A. The big kids weren't interested in making a costume this year so I just had to figure out what Annie would wear. I dug out an old scrap of cow print fabric and pieced together a frilly cow. We'll see how it works.

Now, as I wrap things up for the night, I'm realizing that I'm pooped! Most nights before I start writing, I read a chapter or two from a devotional book. Tonight's topic, once again, was on anger. Yep. Anger. I really started to skip that chapter for tonight but then realized that because each chapter builds on the next that I'd be lost and would simply have to quit reading the book. That sounded like a good option, too! :) Anyway, I did read it and, as usual, something really spoke to me. As the author spoke about the dangers of not addressing anger, he said,

"You don't get angry when folks are kind, pleasant, or understanding. Anger shows up when someone has rejected you or is being uncooperative, or when a person is being critical, harsh, or difficult to get along with. When anger appears on the scene, it arouses your sense of self-preservation.

You want to preserve one of three things. You want to preserve your worth as a human being; your anger can be your way of wishing to say, 'Please, show me some respect, will you?' Anger can be your way of preserving your basic needs: 'Recognize that I have needs, and acknowledge them, please.' Or anger can be a way that you stand up for your deepest convictions. It is your way of saying, 'I believe in things, and I don't want to back away from them."

To you, that might not be helpful. To me, it gives me a way to discern the root of my anger and make sure I'm dealing with what I need to. It makes complete sense. I feel like this is just another filter I can use to sift through what's swirling around in the open prairies of my mind and deal with it.

Last night, I took some melatonin before I went to bed. I frequently give this to Dasha to help her sleep but I'd never attempted to take it for fear I wouldn't hear one of the kids if they needed me during the night. I left Annie's door open so she could come get me if she woke up and for some reason and I didn't hear her and then I gated the hallway off so her only option was to stay in her room or come into my room. That melatonin stuff was like a magic pill! Not only did I fall asleep, but I didn't wake up in the middle of the night! Wow! I have to say that I did feel a little woozy this morning after sleeping so hard but I think it was probably a little shocking to my system to get seven whole hours of sleep! (And, as far as I know, no one got up in the middle of the night and didn't get my attention)! Tonight, I'll take some more of that stuff! Wow! A week of sleeping like that and I might be able to be dangerous!

Good night!