And we are officially a ZOO!

One day on our way home from Lancaster we stopped into a pet store to pick up some lizard supplies. When we walked in there was an animal rescue place there. They were from Alabama. Apparently the shelters there only keep animals for 7 days, and then they are put down, regardless of their temperment. Well this group adopts as many dogs as they can, put them into foster care, and then they travel to places like PA where they go to stores and attempt to adopt them out. I had been joking that I wanted a weiner dog. And guess what they had....

 

 This is "Bandit" he is half Dachshund, half chihuahua. Cheyenne fell in love with him, but at the time we didnt have the $370 to adopt him. So instead my mom adopted him with hopes that he would "settle" her Pug down. She changed his name to Pepper. After a month or so, she decided it wasnt going to work. Her pug got real aggressive towards him. So Pepper came to live with us in November. This is his favorite spot. At my feet.

He has come a long way! He was afraid of the boys and nipped Cameron a few times. He would growl at the boys, and wouldnt let anyone but me take him out. Now he does let Cheyenne take him out some times. and he will allow Cameron to pet him, if Pepper isn't sitting with me. We figure he was abused, but also wonder if the woman he was with was also abused, s he is VERY protective of me and doesn't allow anyone to come near me if I am laying on the couch. He also is coming around and has started playing with toys. All in all he is a good dog!

Here kitty kitty

Cameron's beloved Inky passed away in August 2012. He was VERY upset and cried for quite a while. He had been asking for a new kitty for quite a while, when a friend of ours cat had kittens. She had to get rid of them "or else" so we agreed to take two. When we got there (they were a week old) I fell in love with the little boy, and two became three! Here they are when we brought them home. 

Meatball was a chubby little baby when he was born, (they were calling him Fathead). He is a sweetheart and definitley the snuggliest of them all. He was supposed to be "mine" but Cameron decided he wanted the boy instead. (Even though they are the families, he wanted to have one that was "his" to try to replace Inky)

 Next is Princess. She is the "misunderstood" one of the group. Her sister likes to beat her up. :-(  (They were calling her Diva)

And this is Nala. This is the one Cheyenne chose to be "her's" She is the bully of the bunch. :-(

 They all joined Belle or 5 year old cat. Here she is watching the anoles and toads/frogs. This is her favorite past time. :-)

Lizards toads and frogs OH MY!

So here are some of our other lizards/frogs. This first one is one of two of our Green Tree frogs. (And in the lower left one of the anoles tails)

 This is Zack, he is a green Anole

 One of the two of our fire-belly toads

 This is Rocco, a brown anole. He normally looks more like Zack, only brown, but we took this picture the day after we brought him home. He had made the ridge come out his back and curled his tail. He has since never done it again.

Originally these guys were only the two anoles, but I got mad at hubby, and I was at the pet store and aquariums were on sale, so that's when we added the frogs and toads. So the enclosure had to be bigger. So then I went all out and added soil and a water feature, rocks and live plants. This is right after I put it all in, it has filled in quite a bit with the plants and they all have places to hide now. :-)

This is a close up  of the water part. We added some Lexan (which I found out is what bullet proof glass is made of) I used aquarium sealer to add that to the aquarium. Once it all dried is when I added the soil, plants etc and the water. To that I added a rock and a stick and we threw in some guppies. You can see one of the fire belly toads sitting on top of the filter in the back. It is also nice because all of these pets need a more wet/humid enclosure so the water feature helps quite a bit.

 

Cameron's "Little" buddy

Last March Cameron asked for a Bearded Dragon for his birthday.  We had gotten some Anoles, and fire belly toads and green tree frogs in February, and while they are cool to look at, they aren't really hands-on pets. He really wanted something he could hold, so we did some research and this is what we decided on. Now I have to tell you that Spyro was so awesome, that we ended up getting two more dragons, Cynder (mine) and Flame (Cheyenne's). We also got a number of Leopard Geckos and a Tokay Gecko. I felt bad for the Tokay, in a tiny little container, all alone. So we bought him and then I researched him. Turns out they LOVE to bite...just to bite, and it is VERY painful, so he is also a hands off lizard.
Anyway this is little Spyro at 5 weeks old.

Speaking of Crabs

So I guess that leads to my favorite restaurant...Joe's Crab Shack! They beat out my former favorite, Red Lobster, and they recently built one not too far away. (maybe a little over a year and a half) So I was really excited!! Santa brought Cheyenne and I gift Certificates for Christmas 2012 and 2013. So we were in our glory! These were from 2013. But Cheyenne, Mom and I went this past January for my birthday. Cheyenne couldn't wait to tell them it was my birthday, so they would make me dance!

 This is another favorite of hers, build your own sundae! It is one of the only things Cameron likes on the menu.

MMMM Crabs

Last summer My children and I went camping in New Jersey. It was a lot of fun! We used to go camping all of the time, but when my son was little we stopped going. Mostly because he was a crier, and I just didn't want to disturb others who were camping to enjoy the quiet! Anyway, it was the first time we had gone camping with Grammy (my mom) in about 5 years. We had stayed at and Adventure Bound campground. Now while the name sounds exciting, I found it to be a bit....boring. Sure they had a pool, and there were movies at night at the pool, and there were moon bounces and a giant water slide, but for an adult...there wasn't much to do. One day we did go crabbing, and we did catch a few, but being as though us three girls are crab lovers, it wasn't nearly enough! So one night we bribed Cameron with being able to play his DS while we had all-you-can eat crabs at the Crab House!

MMMM Don't they look delicious????? And they were!!!

Cheyenne ate 24 by herself, and mom and I were tied at 30. She kept a leg from each so she could keep count of how many she ate :-)

I could have eaten more if it weren't for the uncomfortable benches they had. I think that's how they get you to not stay too long!
Now I have one question.....WHEN'S SUMMER?????

Feeding the Giraffes

My daughter, who turned TEN (Sigh) last August, has an OBSESSION with giraffes! She has clothes that are giraffes, pillows, blankets, pictures, key chains and even earrings that are giraffes! So when our local zoo announced that they were bringing in giraffes for the summer, and that you could feed them she was more then just a little excited!!! This was her first visit (of many) that she was able to feed them. There was a crowd of people on the lower platform and she and her brother decided to go to the upper platform to wait to feed them. Well, the smaller of the two giraffes saw her and walked right up to her (which made the people on the lower level upset)! She was a little nervous at first, but after she realized they weren't trying to bite, she was in HEAVEN! She pet their noses, and their necks and had the best time.
And more good news...while the giraffes had to go find a warmer home for the winter, they are coming back in May! :-) Needless to say, we will be there again in the summer!

Hello again!!

2013 went by in such a flash! It had it's ups and downs of course. Work was getting stressful and going every day got worse and worse, to the point of I cried all the way there. So in February 2014 I started a NEW JOB and I LOVE it! It was scary starting over of course, and it was hard to say goodbye to ladies I have seen every day for over 8 years, but it had to be done! And I couldn't be happier! I am still working in a Day Care, but I am now officially the assistant teacher of the Leprechaun Room, which is 3 year olds. There are two other teachers in the room, one of which is my daughter's best friend's mom. She was the one who told me about the school, and in December I went for an interview. In January the position opened up and I was hired! It was a FABULOUS start to 2014!!!


And now that I am not as stressed, I can take more time crafting, and less time being upset!!