Penelope, the great gator wrestler!
Jonathan and Rosie, friends of giant lizards!
Megan, ace photographer, caught on film by Penelope
I love going to the zoo, especially when nobody else is there. Actually, that’s the only time I like going. 
No crowds to worry about losing the kids in, sitting in front of the gorillas forever because we don’t have to give anybody else a turn, watching the bears frolic for as long as we want because we don’t have to give anybody else a turn, no trouble finding a picnic table for lunch because nobody is there to eat… It sounds a little like I might not be a people person, but I am. I just don’t want to have to hurry and worry because of them. Going to the zoo when nobody else is there. It’s one of the perks of homeschooling.
I hear ya! We love our local zoo, and we’re there when no one else is. We’re members, so we treat it like we would any park in the area. We’re lucky to live just minutes from it.
Yes you are! I’d love to live next door to the zoo, and said so yesterday.
We’d go all the time. I like our zoo, but it’s an hour away, and since we only really go in the off season, we only make it three or four times a year.
I’m hoping we can make it back there sometime soon. Maybe Spring Break… you know, when all the people are there
You must be a public schooler.
You know what? I say just take all the kids out of school for one gorgeous day, and go before everybody else gets there!
Oh, Jennie. I can’t believe how big the kids are! Although they look so much alike that if I squint a teeny bit, I can pretend they haven’t gotten bigger at all. There are just extras at the end.
And, okay, it doesn’t work for Jonny.
Miss Brenna is going to be sixteen next week, and my baby – my baby! – is three. A good number of them are taller than I am, too. Two are preparing for Confirmation this fall, and one is going to receive her First Holy Communion next month. Penelope can read a little and nobody is wearing diapers and we’re starting to feel a little bit grown up. I thought I’d be sadder about that than I am, but it’s all good and I really like these people.
Haha, yes we are
. I was Catholic schooled for my elementary years, then public schooled. How’d you fare in today’s weather?
There was tornado damage just south of us near Elizabethtown, but we just had high winds and heavy rain here. And lots of fun racing to take care of livestock before the lightning reached us!
I’m glad you all came out alright. I was worried about you. And you’re crazy, by the way. Just plain crazy!
Oh, but I love the wild feeling of a storm coming in! I love being out in that, and we laughed at the wind as we hurried about our work and laughed at each other as we ran to the house as the first drops pelted us. This is the stuff good memories are made of!
Granted, but there were tornados everywhere!
They say that tornadoes sound like trains.
So one windy morning, I went out to the barn for something. As I finished up whatever I was doing and closed the door and was just putting in place the rock that holds the door shut, I heard behind me what sounded like a roaring train! I turned around and looked at the house, which seemed so far away, and I thought of my babies all alone in there, scared and probably worried about me. I wondered if I could make it back before the tornado struck or if I should go hide in a stall in the barn and hope the children had sense enough to get to our safe place. Heart pounding, I scanned the sky, looking for the funnel, noticed that the sky was oddly blue for tornado weather. And then I heard, “Whoooo-whoooo,” as the train clattered through the crossing just a mile down the road.
And the moral of this story is that trains sound like trains, too.
Haha!! Love that story!
Haha! Oh, how funny. And yet oh so true.
I’m glad that you’re not fazed by such weather! Brave and Fearless
!
You all seem so happy when you go out. I love the zoo, though unfortunately our zoo is rarely empty and almost always crowded.
I first looked at you picture of brave Ms. Penny and for a split second thought she was sitting on a komodo dragon. They can eat people if they put their minds to it. Scared me for a second. I’m so glad you posted a storm update! Were do you go if you need to? And when do you think one bunker down?
We live in a partial berm house, which basically means one end of the house is underground. Our bedroom and bathroom are almost completely underground, with only a small basement-size window high up in each room. That’s where we go in tornado weather. Usually, I bring in my laptop and let the kids watch a movie on my bed, or if tornado weather is expected overnight, we cover the floor with sleeping bags and have a tornado party. They were really disappointed last night that they were able to sleep in their own beds!