zoo

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Folks, and now it is time for me to ramble about my life at the moment. It’s been beautifully fall like, with the leaves teasing us by not changing colors, as of yet. There are a few, but only a few. I’ve been enjoying my sweatshirts again, and wearing my beanies. Life has been good.

My dad was on vacation last week, and whenever he’s on vacation, we get a break from school, and get to do a lot of fun things. Not only was Dad off work, but my older brother celebrated his birthday, which was a blast.

Since I don’t have a working camera at the moment, I borrowed my dad’s phone, so I apologize if some of the photos didn’t turn out. Now, on to the first stop on our fun week. 😉

The zoo! We always have fun at the zoo. At least, until it becomes lunch time, or I’m done. XD I enjoyed the birds of prey a lot.

We also went to the petting zoo, and I adore those animals. Sadly, (Or maybe not sadly) they’re my favorite animals in the zoo. Rose and Mr. Goat had a good time together. (Aren’t goats SOOOO cute? 😍)

I adore Nubian goats, and this dear goat didn’t mind posing for me. Isn’t she the sweetest looking thing ever?

My younger sister decided she would give up horseback riding, and ride Komodo dragons instead. I think it’s a bit risky, but you never know, she might be good at it.

It was a fun day, and we brought a friend along, who made my little sisters very happy. I had decided to wear my only black boots, which are rather, um, not conducive for long walks? So, my feet were just a tad blistered after walking EVERYWHERE in the zoo. I liked the flowers they had at the zoo.

For lunch, my mom packed her delicious usual of sandwiches, salami, and strawberries.

We saw a lot more animals, but I’m positive y’all don’t want to trail around the zoo with me. XD I also enjoyed seeing the Diamond Back Rattlesnake again, but I think I was the only one.

The day after that was Senior citizens day at Goodwill, so we dragged my dad along, who’s actually that old. XD I had a wonderful time putting Kate’s post into action. I had a pile of books a mile high, but I limited it down to three books for myself, and some for my brother.

I bought “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm”, “Unbroken”, and “The Hiding Place.” I’ve read the first two, and they were both AMAZING. *booklover swoon* Ah, I’ll give you Rebecca’s review later on in this post, but “Unbroken” is now one of my top favorite books. If you’re sensitive, I would not suggest this book. It’s about POWs, and just general awesome nastiness that makes you appreciate Veteran’s Day ten times more. I (soft-hearted me) almost didn’t finish the epilogue because Pete ends up dying, and that made me have a regular crying match hidden away. BUT IT’S SO SWEET, and such a wonderful testimony. I totally recommend it.

The next morning, my dad, brother and I loaded up in the car and drove for an hour. It was a nice car ride, and I read “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.” I’ve actually never read that book before, and it was delicious. A better “Anne of Green Gables,” honestly. Now, it’s not as good as some of the Anne books after the first one, but the first one it surpasses. The beauty of the story was captivating, and made me laugh, and giggle, and oh dear. I’m just going on and on. XD Usual, when it comes to good books.

Some people from our church met up with us at the gun range, and out we walked.

I was the scope-er for most of the day. I got two burns, and goodness! Do those hot cartridges burn! I learned to sit on my hands, and stay out-of-the-way rather fast.

Honestly, the .22 was my favorite. It was modeled after a carbine used in WWII. Sadly, we didn’t shoot the M1 Garand, which I really wanted to shoot. We did shoot the Enfield, though. My brother shot a shotgun, but honestly, I wasn’t interested.

All together, it was a wonderful day, even though I didn’t get lunch and was a monster because of that. XD

On Sunday of that week, I was playing football, like usual, with my brother, when my dad tackled my brother and threw me the ball. I wasn’t ready to catch it, but I tried anyway, and it collided head on with my left ring finger. As soon as I felt it, I knew something had just happened to my finger.

I grabbed some ice, and we scurried into the car, since it was almost church time. When we got to the church, though, my mom told my dad that I needed to go to the ER. We went home, and left my family there while mom took me to the ER. The doctor there was hilarious! He looked like a mad scientist, but he was really cool. They did X-rays, and told me that it wasn’t broken. (The Doctor also told me I was the perfect girl–A writer, musician, and six feet tall! O.o That was a first. XD)

They buddy taped it, and told me that if I wasn’t able to bend it by Tuesday, call a hand specialist, because something might be torn. Tuesday was my brother’s birthday, and he had a ton of fun. I didn’t, probably because I was in pain even when taking pills.

We went to a garden, and it was very green, and there weren’t very many flowers. Besides that, it was pretty nice. Wednesday we called the specialist about my finger, and they told me I would have to wait a week until I could have an appointment.

Thankfully, over that week the swelling began to go down, as did the pain. On Monday, the day before we went to the specialist, my siblings and I went to a Civil war prison. It had the coolest POW museum, and I enjoyed it. I’ve been doing a lot of research for my book for NaNoWriMo, and POWs have been a huge part of that. So, yeah. If you don’t like grossness, things worse than nightmares, and that general stuff, POW research isn’t for you. BUT it makes you appreciate our liberty, freedom, and the cost of that even more.

Anyway, we went to another museum, and outside of it they had those fun things that you can put your face to.

I’ll let you guess which on is me. (Yep, we’re general Rebs. 😉 ) (Man, I didn’t know they had glasses back then. XD) (Our arms are showing, hahahah!)

So, at the specialist, the did another X-ray, and looked all over my hand. I’ve torn my top tendon, and so? I have the most wonderful BRIGHT blue splint that I’ll have to wear for three weeks. But! The good part is that I can still play piano…I just have a club on one finger. XD

That’s what’s been happening in my life. Now, I must stop so I can do the last-minute things before NaNoWriMo begins. Are y’all ready?

~~Amie~~

I have just survived two days without WiFi, which weren’t all that bad, to be honest. Why? Well, look into the cute face of the culprit. *glowers*

Yes, my bunny chewed the internet cords and somehow survived? I’m like, dude, how did you not get shocked?!!?! And do you know what agony I went through because of you?

And yet, as I look into his adorable face, and watch his “bunny-jumps”, I actually have forgiven him. Snowball, you’ve stolen my heart even more than coffee. ❤ 😂

But no, that was not what I was going to talk about. Instead! I was going to tell you about our trip to the zoo. My darling younger sister, Emma, turned a year older, and her wish was to go to the zoo.

Into the car we piled, after having a very early morning, and a very early breakfast. I hadn’t been to the zoo since my ninth birthday, so it was nice to see how it changed.

First stop were the flamingos! To be honest, I don’t understand what people like about them. Look at their heads, they’re just so ugly. And they stink–bad–even in forty degree weather. But, that’s a cow-loving, crazy girl’s opinion. Flamingos do not smell like cows, so they obviously don’t smell good, right?

The elephant. I really like elephants. They just look so good natured, don’t they? You just want to go up and give the big fella a hug, don’t you? He’s actually cute, in a red, wrinkly, old kinda way. But, I like elephants.

The lions! They wouldn’t stop roaring and…Hey! Mr. Lion, you’re blinking in the middle of MY picture. *offended humph* Well, I’ll just remember to blink when you take a picture of me. We’ll call it even, then, okay? Haha….Anyway, I was saying. They wouldn’t stop roaring. We heard them almost all morning. But, that’s the feel of a zoo, right? Wait, how did the word zoo originate anyway? Probably has to do with zoology. Let me look it up.

Ahem, in the 19th century, zoo was actually zoological garden, but since we live in an age of shortening EVERYTHING, we changed it to zoo. Interesting.

Okay, a random picture of a strange bird. Don’t ask me the name. I’m into Anatomy and medicine, not zoology. Especially not zoology

Oh no! The birthday girl all of a sudden became a lion! What will we do? Awe, I’m a partial sister, and I think Emma is one of the cutest little girls on the planet. ❤

And here is a dinosaur I found that hasn’t died yet. Just kidding, it’s actually only an alligator snapping turtle. I’ve seen these in the wild, but not this big. Y’all, this thing was HUGE! And then it started swimming…And it was pretty amazing.

Guys, I really thought that rock up there was a real turtle. Like, no lie. I was looking at the cage next to it that has turtles that look JUST LIKE THAT, and I turned around and saw it. My first reaction? Jump and think in my brain, “The little guy got out!!” Haha, thankfully it turned out to be just stone. (How many people are like me and neglect the rule, ‘do not touch’? I just have to touch all the stone structures just to make sure.)

Look how pretty he is! (Or she?) I was taken away how bright the colors are! I could look at this picture all day. *contented silence*

Awe! This is a cute gorilla! (If gorillas are cute. What nonsense that we are related to them. I refuse to believe a relative of mine ever looked like….that.). The sad thing was that the gorillas started fighting after this picture, and a school group of seven year olds all started yelling “Fight! Fight!” in unison. It was saddening.

Guys! This red panda was even cuter in person! You wanted to pick it up and squeeze it! I want a pet red panda! Anyone with me?

Another cutie! I love animals! Isn’t it adorable? Almost reminds me of the cutest animal on earth–a cow! Haha! Okay, to end with my favorite photo I took. 🙂

So, prepare yourself. Don’t scroll down too quickly. I want you to take a deep breath, and think about Scotland, and maybe a few thoughts of the heather there, and then compare that to Texas? Getting a picture in your mind? And compare North Texas with Southern Arizona. Getting a picture? Compare that with Southern Texas. Ready?

Isn’t he the cutest? Just kidding. Imagine meeting that in real life. I’m liking you in the cage, Mr. Snake, but please do not cross my path in real life. I have some funny stories about these snakes, though, that I could tell.

And now, before I move on, I’m going to compare a picture of me and my mom. People tell me I look like her, so let’s have y’alls opinions. Ready?

What do y’all say? I look like my mom or not? A little? Comment down below!

I was told to watch my younger sisters outside, so what did I do? I decided to have a photoshoot! All right, here we jump in to it!

I don’t know what she’s doing here. She wouldn’t look at the camera! Which was aggravating, but it is what it is. Don’t you love her curls? I think she’s the cutest. ❤

My other sister had to join. She was a help at getting Little Sis to look at the camera. Both are cute, and looking at the picture, they definitely look like sisters. For some reason I don’t feel like I look like them. Am I missing out? Obviously! I want Little Sis’ curls!

This picture makes me want to hug her! She is the sweetest! Haha! I love her curls though. It was so windy! She was actually hiding behind me to block the wind a little after this.

This is what happens when my other sister said to look at the little wiggling fingers. Somehow, the fingers weren’t at camera level, and Little Sis had to show us that she had little wiggling fingers too. But, she’s cute, so she makes up for it.

And this picture sums it up. I love baby feet! And she was going barefoot. Awe! And you’re growing up so fast, Little Sis!

Okay, so I’m not mad at Snowball anymore, and I’m pretty glad to have WiFi back again. Well, life is what it is, isn’t it?

Do I look like my mom? What is your opinion on bagpipes? Do you wish to see Scotland? Do you enjoy sunshine?

~~Amie~~

Amie Anne

a girl chasing the stars

Random Life Update

Zoological Garden (and more)

Do I look like my mom? What is your opinion on bagpipes? Do you wish to see Scotland? Do you enjoy sunshine?