Amsterdam Zoo (Day 13, Part 2 of 3)

 

We had plans to visit the Anne Frank house for our final evening in Amsterdam, but nothing for the afternoon.  We tossed around going to a Holocaust museum, but since we were going to the Anne Frank house we decided that might be a bit too heavy for the same day.  We decided to walk to the Amsterdam Zoo instead.  It was a beautiful Spring day and we enjoyed the zoo for a few hours. 

 

There was Lemur Land:

 

Lots of giraffes:

 

The elephants have a beautiful home, but most of them were hiding.  I was able to zoom in on this little guy:

 

A giant tortoise:

 

A wallaby:

 

The gorillas were the most active:

 

We were keeping an eye on the time because we had a specific entry time to the Anne Frank house.   We were going to get a snack, but all food options had closed.  We got these delightful ice creams bars:

 

 

Anne Frank House coming next... 

Pigs on the Porch and Other Tennessee Sites

 

I miss blogging!  Our year has been so busy, but I still miss sitting down and writing about our latest adventures.  We've spent a lot of time in Tennessee this year and we know it's where we need to be.  So far I've run in heat and high humidity, along with frigid temperatures (twice last month it was in the low 30s.)

 

A little frost on the grass

We were there for three weeks last month and the leaves changed before our eyes!

 

 

In spite of the weather, I have been getting out and running.  The hills are endless, but I'm pushing through.  I've seen quite a few cows, but the highlight was two pigs on a porch!  This is not a one time occurrence, I've seen them there quite regularly. 

 

We went on a little vacation in September - my good friend, Lori Long, retired this year so we took a cruise (with our husbands, of course) to celebrate!  I'll try to blog about that soon.

What Happened to May and June?

It seems like at least once a year I take a break from blogging.  It's never planned, I just get busy with enjoying life and don't write about it!  I still have a draft post about our trip to the San Diego Zoo for my birthday, maybe I'll get it posted this week or maybe not!  I don't get paid to blog, so when I lack motivation, I just let it go.

 

Let me try to catch up!  We didn't do much in May.  Les had one trip for work.  We celebrated our 33rd anniversary on May 25th.  We took Amtrak to Santa Barbara and enjoyed a lovely day, with very few pictures.

I found these cute mugs on Amazon and they were the perfect anniversary gift!

Our church celebrated Sis. White's 70th birthday on May 26th.  We love her so much!

Elder Tom Johnson made her a special guitar.  Now we're all waiting to hear her play it!

Early June saw wonderful running weather with lots of cool mornings.

I don't mind seeing snakes, as long as they're dead like this one!

We spent 10 days in Tennessee in June.  Our plan was to be there for Father's Day.  When we found out Les' sister, Lisa, and her family were going to Utah for vacation, we decided to stay a little longer.  Pops is still very independent, but it gives our family peace of mind to have someone close by.  We enjoyed Lisa's home, including early mornings on the back porch.

We visited the cemetery.  This was the first time we had seen Dolly's marker.

Father's Day at church:

And lunch at Crawdaddy's afterwards!

We both enjoyed riding in the Tennessee hills.  It is tough, though!  The hills aren't super steep, but they never stop.  The heat and humidity were both high as well.

I also did some running.  At the end of the Wearing's street is quite a collection of farm animals.  As soon as the goats see me, they come running!

The ponies also decided to come meet me!

While we were in Tennessee, we filled our social calendar.  On Monday night Les had dinner with a friend he has known since elementary school.  On Tuesday, our dear friends, Doug and Lori Long, came and spent the day with us.  You know you're having the best time when you don't take a single picture together!  We never run out of things to talk about!  Lance came down from Indiana and on Thursday, cousin Jonathan came over!

We came home to more heat, but that's what air conditioning and our swimming pool are for.  Next up - Fourth of July - I'll be making homemade ice cream and we've got ribs to throw on the grill.

Photo Dump

I have a lot of pictures, this and that from here and there, so I thought I'd just post them with a few words. This is from a couple weeks ago on our way to church.  Snow on the Southern California hills!

All the rain we've received means an abundance of green...

Seen at Cracker Barrel...

I love running in my sister-in-law's neighborhood.  The goats always have a little something to say.

A large herd of deer crossed in front of us.  I couldn't get my phone out in time to catch a picture.

But I did get a picture of my favorite dear!

 

Members of the McElhaney clan after the memorial service.  We were so blessed by all who came!

A visit to Cookeville isn't complete without a trip to the Lazy Cow Creamery!  You can get a double scoop in a waffle cone when you're 90.  Isn't Pops dapper?

A few shots from a trail run last week.  So much mud!

And finally ~ a boy and his dog!