Jammbas Ranch

Out in Cedar Creek, there's a place called Jammbas Ranch.  I've heard about it all my life but I've never been there.  Overall, I'm happy with our decision to go out there.  It was inexpensive, but slightly cheesy in a tourist trap kind of way.  However, Hannah had the best time.  She loved running around feeding the different animals.  She became very protective over her pail of bread.  

Checking out the turtle

She really enjoyed feeding the goats.

Checking out the pig, that turned out to be privately owned.  Apparently, you weren't supposed to feed this one.  

More goats.

Charlie, the loose llama.  

Hannah and her pail of bread.

Feeding the white tail deer.  

Looking at the elk with daddy.

Me and the goats.  

This goat go stuck in the fence.  David couldn't walk away with it's head and stuck and the goat couldn't get unstuck on it's own.  So, David helped, which turned out to be harder than David thought.  

The long, swinging bridge that was more tricky to walk across than we thought.  It was alright to start out, but then it got a little freaky.  

Cheese

Amy decided to feed the buffalo, which proceeded to lick her and really freak her out.  

The bear, I actually felt a little sorry for him.  

Random Hannahness

Just some random photo's of Hannah, her playing and what not.

Elmo's ready to go, thanks to Banana

Playing with her dress up dolls

She wanted to look at this picture, then she went through and pointed out everyone

Hannah and Ethan

Posing in front of a batch beer

The Calm

We added to the zoo....

More fish....like we really needed any more animals! At least it's not another dog or cat.  I think I might start charging an entrance fee.

Check out the new tank we got.  It's small, only 4 gallons but it's supposed to be completely self functional, meaning we should not have to clean it or cycle it.  In a couple days we'll get some bright red and blue tetra's to add to it.  It's called a baby biorb.  You can read more about them here BiOrb.  I'm not going to lie, I already have my eye on another.  I just don't know where I would put it. 

We added 3 Silver Dollar fish to our other tank.  

I've been wanting to do this.  That's a blue Betta fish with a peace lilly on top.  My peace lilly looks a little sad, I hope that it perks up in this atmosphere.  

In other news, Hannah was being so goofy at lunch today.  After leaving PetSmart, we stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings for a late lunch.  Hannah was entertaining us all, I'm sure you can see why.  

She was doing this on purpose.  I watched her push the crown over her eyes, then attempt to eat her french fries.  Ah, the mind of a three year old.  

Hannah's own sleepover

I went in to wake Hannah up earlier this week for preschool and this is what I found.

Notice how neatly the blanket she's laying on is laid out.  No wrinkles.  

When I woke her up, she told me she was having a sleepover.  I love my child.  

8 years and 1 day

Yesterday, David and I celebrated our anniversary.  Eight years together.  Pretty awesome, I think.  We didn't make any big plans, we didn't get each other gifts.  Michelle offered to watch Hannah, if we decided to go out on a date.  We decided to go on a date but couldn't figure out exactly what we were going to do.  So we dropped Hannah off at 430 and headed out.  We ended up at Gander Mountain, looking at John boats.  Then we wandered to Books A Million to get the book for for our Sunday School.  We ended up getting about 5 books in all.  Book stores are always a dangerous place for David and I.  I was in the mood for steak so after some debate we decided to try Morgan's Chop House.  We've been wanting to try it and haven't had a chance yet.  We got there only to discover they were closed.  They are not normally closed on Mondays, so I don't know if it was for the holiday or what.  We decided to head to Chris' Steakhouse.  We've both been there before and we liked it.  Neither one of us had ever been "wowed" by the food though, which is why we didn't go there to begin with.  However, we knew the dining experience would be what we wanted.  It turned out to be great.  We sat outside and had some gin tonic's before we were seated.  They were good, really strong though!  We headed inside and ordered our dinner.  We started out with fried calamari, which was just good.  Nothing spectacular.  And the cocktail sauce tasted a lot like pizza sauce.  For my meal, I got the petit filet mignon and stuffed shrimp.  David got prime rib.  We both like our beef as rare as possible.  My filet was so good!  It was so tender, I didn't even need a knife to cut it!  David loved his prime rib.  I wasn't able to finish the shrimp, there were 3.  But the stuffed shrimp was good.  I was in love with my steak though.  While we were eating, we overheard the waitress talking about their desserts to another couple.  She mentioned creme brulee cheesecake.  I looked at David and said "I will be having one of those."  We wrapped up dinner and ordered our cheesecake.  David got a piece of the creme brulee cheesecake too.  It was so absolutely wonderful.  It was creamy, with small flecks of vanilla bean.  It had this sauce drizzled over it.  Ahhhh.  I don't even know how to fully describe other than oh so yummy!  All in all, we were happy we ended up at Chris', even though we didn't plan to.  I told David last night, I like to think about who I would be if I had never met him.  For example, I had seltzer water with dinner last night.  I prefer seltzer water, I think it's so refreshing.  However, I remember tasting it in high school and thinking it was the most awful thing I'd ever had.  But I've gotten older, and I'm married to a man who encourages me to try new things, so I do.  And I find that, most of the time, I like it.  Thank you David.

Independence Day 2010

I hope everyone had a happy Independence Day.  

Here's what we did:

  

Here's Hannah torturing our new kitten, Pierro.

Rossi, investigating the grill situation.

David, the grill master

Chatting and munching

Casey, Me and Mom

Vivian and Hannah munching

Vivian and the massive sparkler

Hannah and her massive sparkler

More photo's by Hannah

Summer Camp

It's been a quiet 2 weeks.  That's because Hannah has been in the YMCA's preschool for the last two weeks.  I knew she'd enjoy it, and have fun but honestly, I expected her to have some separation anxiety.  I told myself that the morning she woke and told me she didn't want to go, that I wouldn't make her go.  She doesn't have to go, I'm only doing this for her experience and enjoyment.  Only that hasn't happened yet.  When I turn on the street where the Y is, and she can see it, she starts clapping and saying "there it is, there it is!"  She has no problem saying good bye to me, and is always happy to see me.  On the short drive home she excitedly tells me about her day.  She's bringing home homemade items frequently.  I am so happy with my decision to do this for her.  Yesterday they went on a field trip to Festival Park.  Hannah told me that Ms. Pat (one of her teachers) told them to run, run, run.  She also told me about the girl in the red dress who was her friend.  They both sat in the back of the van together on the way to the park.  Every week is themed.  The first week was a disney theme, this week is a 4th of july theme, next week is under the sea themed.  On Thursday, I get a lesson plan for the following week.  Every Tuesday they go on a field trip and every Friday they go swimming.  They've gone to the other YMCA location for a Zumba class.  They did tumbling one day.  They had a dress up parade.  I can't say enough good things about it.  Best of all, I am comforted at the thought of her being there.  I believe her teachers are taking good care of my baby.

The Disney Week Parade.  The class painted the castle.

Belle Hannah, with her friends, Sierra and Samantha, beside her.

Her first "incident"

They called last week to tell us that Hannah fell and hit her head.  Since it was a head injury, they wanted us to come take a look at it.  It was already after 11, and camp is over at 1230, so we decided to just go pick her up.  When we got there, Hannah was sitting in the director's lap with an ice pack so large on her head that you couldn't see her face!  They explained that she had been running and tripped and hit her head on the asphalt.  There was a little boy running behind her, that tripped when she did and fell on her.  They said she was so brave, that she didn't even cry!  My big girl!  

Red, white and blue themed outfit for their field trip this week.

I do see small changes in Hannah since starting summer camp.  She's a little more clingy for me.  Since I've noticed this, I've started to dedicate more one on one time with her.  Also, she's getting a little more bossy; surprise, surprise!  She says things like "Follow me, let's walk in a line!"  She is a product of her mother though.  I can't help but think about my grandma telling me about my time in kindergarten, when I would take over the teacher's desk and ruler when the teacher left the room.