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Oh Jeesh!! I’m so sorry. I just realized how long it has been since I’ve posted anything new for you :/ Well, some of you already know – but I am training for a 1/2 marathon. It is taking every bit of free time that I have. I am up to 9 miles and only have to get to 13. I am running most of it – but there is a bit of walking in there. I only gave myself about 14 weeks to train. And I could only run a mile when I started — so, It won’t be perfect – but I’ll find a way to get it done

I ran a small little race with Christian a couple weeks ago. It was in the evening (after I ran 8 miles the day before). It was pretty horrible. My legs were so tired. The only saving grace was it was really really pretty! They had a back road of Hecker, IL lined with tiki torches – hundreds of them! And, most every one of the 1000+ people running had on blinking lights and glow bracelets/necklaces. So Pretty! I tried to take a picture – but of course it was so dark it just turned out to be a blur of color in the pitch black

This is us after the race. YES it was hot, YES we were tired, YES I may have had a beer when it was over

Brooke, Ryan, Jamey, Abby and Hannah all cheered for us while we ran! Many others cheered for us in spirit and couldn’t wait to hear about the race when it was over Christian finished a minute or two before me – however, we don’t really know anyone’s official time. It appears the “official results” aren’t too accurate compared to our clocks. I really like the time they had for me better – but I don’t think it is correct :/

Wow! We have had a busy couple of days! Our friends, Laura, Ian and Leila came to visit! We picked them up from the airport – and took the scenic route to the zoo. You all know how directionally challenged I am :/ The kids are roughly the same ages, so it looks like we have some twins on our hands! We had a blast! The kids really did well and seemed to have tons of fun too!

***Please remember you can click on an image to see it bigger! You can also use the tiny white arrows ON THE RIGHT SIDE of the larger picture to flip through all of the larger images.

It is always exciting trying to get 4 children under 5 to turn and smile for the camera

On our way to the first exhibit they noticed some ducks.

And the tortoise.

The reptile house or Herpetarium was our next stop. The kids were so excited to see the big snakes and lizards. At one point Abby and Hannah were sitting by a huge snake (maybe a constrictor – I can’t remember) and they were pointing. All of a sudden the snake started to follow their finger!!! I tried to get a pic, but Hannah kept moving her head right in the way :/ Laura also noticed someone dangling a shiny bracelet to attract a snake. She came back and told me she would not recommend wearing shiny jewelry in the jungle

Then the primate house. Leila seemed to really love watching them swing around!

Ian and Abby made some pressed pennies just like they did at Sea World!

Time for a train ride. Can you believe our luck?? The BLUE train!!

We didn’t go see the big cats – but we did get to see a tiger by the train stop!

It really was a hot day! As we were walking to grab some lunch indoors and cool off I heard Ian say to Abby, “I’m so tired. This is so far! We’ve never had to walk this far.” Somehow he had forgotten the week at Sea World Well, Okay, it was about 30 degrees cooler — but

The “twins” stopped to look at the prairie dogs.

Finally! Air conditioning!! The kids had peanut butter and jellies and hot dogs. The zoo offers fun sides like: grapes, applesauce, and goldfish crackers! I got the chicken strips! I think they are so yummy! But Laura came back with a huge quesadilla! I may have to try something new on our next outing! It really looked delicious. I think everyone had some pink lemonade!

Laura had great memories of the orangutans. So she picked out next stop – The Fragile Forrest. At first I didn’t see any out Then Laura said, “Wait!” She spotted one! He was HUGE! He was pretty far away and I couldn’t really see what my camera was focusing on. Unfortunately I got a great shot of the branch right in front of him

These guys decided to come out and play while we were watching. Notice the guy in the back does a nice somersault for us!

Looks like it was almost nap time – but she stayed with us

Now the penguin and puffin exhibit! They sure were beautiful! I asked about the water temp. I believe he said 45 degrees! Whew!

Leila fell asleep. Ian and Abby had been asking for some ice cream. Laura found a little stand and Abby had her first bomb pop! I sent a txt to Jamey and he said, “A bomb pop makes everything better!” I think Ian and Hannah both had green sherbert push ups called “frog spit”. Yummy! In case you were wondering, YES it was messy… and YES this jolt of sugar perked Hannah right up! I think she ran the rest of way out of the zoo!

Now we were in the River’s Edge. We hoped to see some elephants, rhinos and hyenas. Unfortunately the rhino wasn’t out – or we just didn’t see him. And silly me! I was thinking the rhinos were in the water!! Nope, that was the hippos! We had a fun moment there.

Hannah found a snake protecting some eggs!

Yay! The elephants were out! We noticed three of them. This big guy! I think this is Raja. I remember when he was born at this zoo.

And this new baby! It looked so tiny compared to the other elephants – but the newest elephant I can find online was born in 2007. I’m not really sure who this is?

We decided it was time to head home. We stopped in the gift shop on our way out. The little girls picked some adorable “zoo related” items. The bigger kids however chose a Clydesdale (Abby) and a railroad crossing gate pen (Ian). Kind of relevant I suppose

If you haven’t been to the zoo in a while they have built a new bridge by the entrance! You can walk right over the traffic now!

The girls and I picked out some zoo stickers for goody bags the day before our friends arrived. All of the kids did some beautiful art when we had a few minutes back at the house!