Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve

 The last time we visited the Henderson Bird Preserve had been in the heat of the summer. I have been wanting to go back since then, so when the kids had a day off in October we went.

I will start off by saying it was still HOT (almost 90 degrees), there is much less shade there than you would imagine, and I will even admit (hope the kids don't read this) it was slightly boring.



They have 9 different ponds to visit. Last time we were there we visited only 3, but this time we (meaning me) were determined to see them all.



Jackson quickly became our route navigator:



We eventually came to a gorgeous shade and tree filled pond that we all agreed we would make our home if we were birds:



We pretty much just saw a bunch of ducks.



And a bunny.



More pics:



At 70 degrees this activity would have improved at least tenfold.

Hawks

Two Things

1) I am so far behind in blogging, and have EIGHTEEN posts in draft form.

2) Our computer got a virus a few weeks ago and was unable to be fixed. And then to add insult to injury they were unable to recover ANYTHING off of it. Including every single picture I have taken since Sadie's birth.

HOWEVER....

Because I have been blogging diligently since that time, and those pictures were thereby stored virtually, I was able recover every single picture I have ever blogged! Hallelujah!

Except for the ones from our trip to Arizona. (And I had such good ones! Crap!). But happily I did take a few phone pics.

So without further ado....Our trip to Arizona.

Our first order of business while in Arizona was to attend the Seahawks/Cardinals game. It was both mine and the kids very first professional football game.





We were slightly worried that we would be surround by Cardinals fans, but we ended up being almost completely surrounded by rows and rows of Seahawks fans! In fact, we estimated that at least 30% of the crowd was cheering for the Hawks. Who would have guessed it?



This flag unfurling before the game started was awesome!



The team taking the field (I had much better pictures of this on my nice camera!):



There were tons and tons of men there (predictably), a fair amount of women, but relatively few children. Our Sade was definitely one of the youngest:



Megan and I had the BEST photobomber ever behind us:





Eric and Jackson discussing the game:




We cheered, ate game food, and enjoyed at 34-22 Seahawks victory!





Go HAWKS!

(I like to use the shortened version of the name, because it makes me sound cool. Right?)

World Wildlife Zoo

Again I only have a few phone pics.

While in Arizona we visited the World Wildlife Zoo. It is quite big, and quite fun, but not quite worth the steep price to get in. In my opinion!

They have a large aquarium area, along with a really large zoo area. Plus...a fairly awesome petting zoo (which is where I took the majority of my phone pictures):




Sade made it a point to pet every single animal in the petting zoo. The deer loved her skirt and tried to eat it multiple times:








It was fairly picturesque:




They have a number of different extra activities that you can pay for including this sky ride:

Eric and Megan:



Me and the littles:





It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

We finished off the evening by eating at The Golden Corral (the kids and Eric's choice), and then driving home.

Quick, but great trip.

Eric's 43rd Birthday!

We have been hit with major computer woes (!!!) and consequently all aspects of my life have suffered, including (and especially) my blog. But in an effort to get back on track, I now present Eric's 43rd birthday celebration!

Some background: A bit before his birthday I discovered that the Seahawks would be playing in Arizona the day after his birthday. I determined that this would be the perfect gift and came up with an elaborate ruse that would get Eric off of work and still keep the secret of the game tickets. So, after getting confirmation that Eric could indeed go out of town for the needed days I ordered the tickets.

And then.......

10 minutes later the credit card company called him to verify the charge! Oh the humanity!! All of the lies I had told had been for naught. It was depressing. For me. I hate a ruined surprise.

Anyway...Eric was a good sport about it and pretended he didn't know.

We had him open the tickets before we went out to dinner so we could discuss the upcoming trip.

Acting surprised:




After arriving back home he opened the rest of the gifts, which included things like mouthwash, shoes and gum:



After present opening the lucky duck went to Young Men's. And I am not even using the term lucky duck sarcastically. I always LOVED going to Young Women's and Eric may love Young Men's ALMOST as much.

Upon arriving home it was cake time:



Happy Birthday Eric!