First, a shout-out to my homey....Please go here Blogette Contest and vote for Echo's Blog, echoleigh.com/blog. She is trying to win this contest, and is doing rather well, considering some of the competition. She needs the $1000, and I'm sure if she wins, I'll get some sort of hook-up (wink, wink!), so don't walk, RUN to vote!

Also, I just wanted to tell you that I am an aunt again. On Monday, sometime around noon-thirtyish, Trey's bro. Todd and his wife, Jennifer, had a little boy. His name is Michael Todd Pitchford II, and he weighed 8 lbs., 6 oz., a far cry from the 5 lbs. 13 oz. his older sister weighed! (Jennifer is about 5 feet tall, and 90 lbs. soaking wet!) I hope that you will pray for this family, b/c they are not exactly down with the whole common sense or parenting thing yet, and they don't exactly always have the best luck in life. I'm going to see him tomorrow, hopefully, so maybe I'll have some pics to show when I return!

Today I met up with Julia and her kids, Andrew and Alison, at the zoo. It was so much fun! We stayed for FOUR HOURS (so it must have been somewhat fun, right!)!!! I was so excited, b/c Andrew was so excited about all of the animals there, and his excitement carried over onto me. Alison liked it, too, but, like TJ, was at times much more interested in the stroller and where she was going to sit in it! TJ cared about the stroller and the spray bottle that Andrew let him play with! He learned so much... Yesterday, while we were playing, he started talking about the croc-O-diles and truttles that he was seeing. So, naturally, I told him he would get to see them today. He did actually look at them for a second, but quickly became obsessed with the idea of getting into the water with them! It kinda freaked me out, though. I didn't realize that the turtles and crocodiles were kept together in a tank. The only place that I can think of that TJ would have ever seen a crocodile was there, which leads me to believe that all those times I've tried to get him to look at them, he actually has been! That's the only reason I can guess that he would have associated them and remembered them together. Who knows! I will say, though, that nothing is as much fun as it could be anymore, b/c it's always four thousand degrees outside. Today was no different, and I thank Julia from the bottom of my heart for having the foresight to pack bottles of water (I brought a hot Dr. Pepper!), and to let us drink one. I can only hope that one day I'm a prepared mom like that. We saw the whole zoo, though, so that was pretty cool, and something I haven't ever done in one day. Oh, I even fed a goat! That doesn't seem like anything, really, but it was. I do NOT like touching dirty animals, and especially don't like them LICKING ME! However, I bought Alison and TJ some little pellets to give the goats (Andrew didn't want to do it), and TJ would not give them to the goat after it licked his hand and slobbered on him (like Mommy like son!). So, I gave up and did it myself! That goat left a big ol' slobber string on my hand! EWWWWWWWWWW! It was the grossest thing! Thankfully, though, they had a place we could wash our hands. Not so thankfully was the fact that a first grade class pushed us out of the way when we got to the sink, and took their sweet time while I silently freaked out about my hand being covered in goat goo! Oh, and score one for homeschooling! Not only did Andrew read a sign about alligators that completely astounded me (words like visible and other big words!), his reading that is, but some high school-looking boys really made me sure I'm not behind public schooling! While we were feeding the goats, a boy came up and said, "Hey, I want to feed the horses!" Yeah, that was enough for me! Oh, and we saw some kind of people in matching homely dresses with Little House on the Prairie-type hats on, and wondered what they practice. Julia thinks perhaps Messonites. I'll have to do some research....Oh, and if you want to see some pics from today, check out Julia's Page, where she posted some and put her own twist on the day. Happily, TJ only had one major melt-down today, when I wouldn't pick him up while I was getting food. Not bad for a two year old in four hours out of the house, if you ask me!

Anyway, afterwards, they stopped by for a bit to kind of wind down and cool off before the long trek home. I was thrilled b/c I cleaned yesterday in the hopes that they would stop by! We played some games and stuff, and it was fun. Alison has such a wild imagination, and Andrew has such a focused and intuitive brain! TJ was just being a toddler, although he seemed to play well, overall, with them. He and Alison could easily be brother and sister (what with the constant annoying he couldn't resist doing to Alison!). Overall, although I'm TOTALLY POOPED now, it was a great day! I even managed to struggle through dinner at church later!

Oh, and here's the kicker! One of the reasons I have been inviting them to come is b/c I have six guest passes to the zoo that came with our season pass, that expire in July. When we got there, we couldn't find Julia, and she freaked out so much that the guy let her in for free! Sooooo, now I STILL have six passes left! I just can't get rid of these things!

Okie dokie, well, I guess that's enough for today. Trey just got home, and demanded that I give him attention....like I have the energy for that! I'll see you guys soon, and I hope you have a great day!