Atlanta Zoo (Part 2)

We went to lunch at a little picnic area near the wetlands. We heard lots of comments throughout the day about our matching shirts. People asked if we'd been to the Tennessee Aquarium (ya think?), and some thought it was neet that we all matched. We took this photo (well actually, someone else did, as you might have guessed) while we were in the picnic area.


Junior was a climbing maniac in the picnic area. Here is a photo of him on another rock. He liked using it as a step stool to the railing beyond him. It was nice to let him run free for a while.

Syndi put her tiger mask on Stephen. I'd like to say he's mimicking a tiger with his claws out and growling, but I believe this was more of a desperate reach for help and a cry of "who turned out the lights?"

Stephen left the mask on for a moment, then quickly removed it. Cutie Pie!

Here is Grandma with three of her favorite things: her grandaughter Syndi, her grandson Junior, and her map of the Atlanta Zoo. Grandma always has to have her map. She is a master navigator. (Did I mention they got lost following us to the zoo?)

Grandpa just hanging out, looking cool, enjoying lunch.

Some of the GRACE homeschool folks joined us for lunch.

After lunch we went to the carousel. There we took a family photo. Syndi likes taking family photos. Junior doesn't. Can you tell?Then we enjoyed a ride on the train, which looped around part of the park. Syndi made friends with some other girls facing rearward on the caboose. Stephen and Junior looked in wonder as we passed different exhibits. They like trains.

Stevie Boy.

June Bug.
Part 3 will have our trip through the African exhibits, but there was some disappointment on our part.

Atlanta Zoo (Part 1)

We had a wonderful trip to the Atlanta Zoo last week. Sylvia organized a group of homeschool families, and Jon took the day off and the six of us (including Julia) headed for downtown Atlanta.
The first exhibit we saw was the flamingo habitat, just inside the entrance. They looked cool, but boy did they stink! Syndi and Junior liked their pink color.
We visited the Panda exhibit, where we saw Yang Yang (above) and Mei Lan (the cub, who was sleeping), and Lun Lun (the mom).
Syndi enjoyed pretending to be various animals throughout the day. Here she posed as a panda.
Junior wasn't the only kid who liked this rock outside the panda exhibit. I've heard of a rocking chair, but is this a rock chair?
Here was saw a joey checking out his momma's pouch. Cute, eh?

Syndi and Sylvia posing as kangaroos while Junior waits for his turn.

They had a petting zoo. The kids enjoyed it. This particular goat decided to go to the bathroom right in front of our family.

Junior hanging out at the petting zoo...literally.

They had a wetlands area, and you can see the turtles camouflaged on the far shore.

Junior and daddy pointing out the turtles. Lunch followed this. We'll have to share more in Part 2.

It's a GIRL!

No, we haven't had the baby yet, but we did have an ultrasound last week. We were all pleased to find out we're having a girl! Either way, it would have been wonderful just knowing, but we'd all been pulling for a girl. Above you can see a great profile of Julia Grace's head and face. Above is another side view of Julia's face. The technician even put her name on the screen.
Syndi wanted a little sister soooo badly. Grandma wanted Syndi to have a sister. Jon and Sylvia wanted another little girl. In fact, everyone in our church wanted us to have a girl! Seems everyone else is having a boy, and people want a girl in the nursery, too. In fact, Pastor Mac announced Sunday morning to our congregation (all 400+) that Jon & Sylvia were having a girl, noting that all the other 7 or so pregnancies are boys.
Above is a 3D image of Julia's face. Pretty ugly if you ask me. In 5-10 years they'll be looking back saying what horrible 3D imagery we had. Well, praise God, Julia is healthy, Sylvia is healthy, everything seems perfect. Glory be to God for His creation, Julia Grace!

Swing Around the Rosie

Syndi, Junior and Stephen enjoyed a fun evening outside recently. The weather here in Georgia has been beautiful! Seems we may have skipped spring and gone straight to summer. Bicycle rides, walks, and playground fun often punctuate our day. Watching the sun set up the street makes it all the more beautiful. Here you'll see Syndi and Junior going toe-to-toe on the slide and standing on their swings. Stephen really enjoyed his ride. Junior (a much bigger risk-taker than Syndi ever was) went backwards down the slide and also enjoyed a push from his big sister. Oh, and CiCi looked on enviously, barking loudly at times. After we went inside, the kids asked to take pictures, so we had Syndi take a picture of Sylvia and Jon together. (Junior's attempts at the same produced some interesting views of shirts, the couch, partial faces, etc.) It was a good end to a fun evening. [Click on a picture to see a larger version of it.]

Smiths & Caruvanas 1

Last Friday night we had the Smith family over and had a wonderful time visiting with them. We ate some brisket for dinner (from a side of beef we recently purchased from the Smiths - Syl always tries the new recipes on guests!), played some games, and did lots of chatting. We had a blast! They have seven kids and we have three (with a fourth on the way, remember). The Smiths are a great family, and we hope to get together with them more. We took a big group picture to remember the occasion.

Your Accent Is...

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Northeast Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The Midland
The South
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

OK, so I (Jon) was born in North Jersey, and lived a little while (as a baby) in Brooklyn, NY. I was raised in Philadelphia (which shows 80% versus my 85% Northeast), but my Mom grew up in North Jersey, and my Dad grew up in Brooklyn. So I'd say they had me pegged. I was pretty impressed with the results, as was the person who sent it to our family. It pegged Sylvia, too. So if you want to know what accent YOU have, go to What American accent do you have?

If Dogs Could...

Last Monday, as I drove to work, I noticed a particular billboard. This billboard has probably been there for a long time, and I drive this route every day, but I had never noticed it before. Why had I never noticed it before? you ask (go ahead...ask). Well, first, it is the second billboard of two, and it is the one farther from the road. So naturally I will notice the closer billboard first. Second, it is mostly obscured by trees until you get very close (as you will see in the first picture above - click on it to see a larger view). So you have to work to see it. Third, it is at a sharp bend in the highway, and personally I think it's more important to pay attention to the cars and road than to the billboard. It's a 55 mph speed limit, and we all know I, Jon, interpret speed limits as the LOWER end of the speed restriction. You will rarely catch me going below 55 mph at that bend. (Remember, Keeper always taught me to ACCELERATE into the curves in Pickle's Cordoba. That has become my driving mantra.) So it is very hard to pay attention to billboards at this bend.
It gets worse. Once you notice the billboard, it is almost impossible to read. You see the top of a lady's head with bubbles coming out of it, and in the largest bubble is something she's presumably thinking. But the print in the bubble is so small, you cannot read it until you're about 100 feet away. (Non-math majors, get out your calculators!) - (55 mph)x(5,280 ft/mi)/(60 min/hr)/(60 sec/min) = 80.667 feet per second. So at 100 feet away, you have about 1.24 seconds to read the words in the bubble! It's not gonna happen. I first spotted the billboard Monday, and was able to read "IF DOGS COULD." Tuesday I made it to "IF DOGS COULD DRIVE." Wednesday I was getting the hang of it (and there was no traffic), and made it all the way to "THERE'D BE MORE CONVERTIBLES." Ha Ha funny, now what does that have to do with SCANA (which I had recognized on the billboard earlier)? Thursday I was able to read the text in the upper right, and realized that they're saying SCANA is so dependable, they supply your gas, and you never have to think about it. So your mind is freed up to ponder things like "What kind of car would a dog drive?" So here is the final billboard in all its glory:

Great job SCANA...you're so "off my mind" that it took me four days to read your billboard, and I had to think hard about it a mile in advance so I would be ready to read really really fast. So this got me thinking. Isn't this kinda how I live my life?
At Sparks-A-Rama last week, one of the things the kids (our "Sparks") had to do was yell answers to these questions:

• Who are we? ... "SPARKS!"
• Who for? ... "JESUS!"
• What to do? ... "LIGHT THE WORLD!"

What a good reminder. We who are believers in Jesus Christ are here to light the world, to spread the light of Jesus Christ, to be that candle on the hill (Matthew 5:13-16). But too often we are that billboard by the side of the road. We don't follow the same paths as the world, but are off to the side a little, and we hope those who don't know Christ will see us and find Jesus because of how we live. Most of us (and this includes me) are the second billboard in, obscured by trees, and our print is too small for anyone to see. Yes, we are just like SCANA Energy..."IN YOUR LIFE. OFF YOUR MIND." This is not what a Christian should be. How can we ever make a difference if we don't intentionally talk to people about Christ? We need to shout it from the rooftops and hilltops. Yes, we must live like believers, but we must also GO into the world (outside our cozy homes, or at least bring them into our homes), PREACH the gospel and DISCIPLE those who come to Christ. Those are a lot of action verbs. I have squashed the Spirit for way too long.