Friday Getaway

When our tax return money came in, we promised the girls we would take a day trip to Spokane. Jeremy got the day off Friday, so we decided to head to Spokane.

Our first stop was a place called Cat Tales Zoological Training Center. Jeremy had come across their website when we took our day trip to Spokane in October.

Above is the Siberian Tiger, Zeus. He was so beautiful. You see these animals on tv and in pictures and they look beautiful, but they are incredible to see in person.

This is a Bengal tiger and I cannot remember his name. They were all named after gods. They are very impressive.

This is an Asian leopard.

This is the other one's brother.

Now, here is the "king of the beasts". I have seen lions in zoos and this gentleman is definitely the most distinguished fellow I have seen. They were in process of getting him ready to have a root canal and he was taking notice of all the proportions that were going on around him.

Cat Tales is a place that has a one year program for people to become zookeepers, so they have students that will give you a guided tour and tell you about each animal. Our guide's name was Keegan and he was a very pleasant fellow. We enjoyed his presentation very much. He was the one who took this picture for us.

The girls and I thought these signs were hilarious, especially when Sammy saw the lion and immediately started to run toward it.

These are pictures Bailee took. She got some great shots.

Below is a puma or as we all know it, a cougar. If you have never heard the sounds these cats make, go to the San Diego Zoo website. They have sound bytes of different animals. The sound the cougar makes is very disturbing. I know if I were out in the woods and heard one I would be very frightened.

If you want to see more information about, Cat Tales here is there website. You might think it is sad to see these marvelous creatures in these cages, but the stories the guide told us were very disheartening. Humans can be so thoughtless. Many of these animals were rescued from very sad circumstances.

We had a great time seeing a part of nature we do not often get to see.

Playhouse

Mother Leister has been doing some shopping online. She has lived in Kenya for 2 1/2 years now, but just within the last six months has realized she can shop online and have it sent to me. I then can pass it along to her.

One of the things she found online was the above playhouse. She decided to purchase one for our girls so they could test it out for her. She is going to purchase some for their many little ones.

Well, all I can say is, Mom, it's a playhouse and they loved it. It is pictured above in our living room. We have had it a week and it is still in our living room. I have been meaning to rearrange the girls' room so it can be moved upstairs, but it has not happened yet. I am getting there.

Sammy and Makayla inside. Don't they look thrilled.

Even Bailee crawls into.

I think Luken likes it best when his sisters are not in it, but he will join them every now and again.

Sewing with Grandma Brenda

I think I mentioned once before that the girls get sewing lessons from their Grandma Brenda.

We took an extended break around the holidays, but are back at it now. This was last week and the little girls made themselves a pillow with a lovely soft covering.

Luken did not have much to do while we were there and we had to shut him out of the sewing room, because he wanted to get into things, so he was somewhat put out. He had to stay in the other room with mom.

They had to hand sew some of their pillow and it freaked them out. Sam and Makayla were the ones making the pillows and they tried to get me to tell Grandma that they were not allowed to use needles. This was quite entertaining. They did very well. They even sewed on their own buttons.

Bailee was working on a potholder with a butterfly applique she had made. She still loves to have her picture taken.

This would be our five year old acting like our fourteen year old telling me she does not want her picture taken.

I have to admit they are not all that sure that they like their sewing lessons. I know it is a skill that they need though, whether they see it or not, so we will continue on.