The South - Part III - Animals

So we can't go to Paradise Ranch without spending time with all the animals...

These guys actually live at the Chattanooga Aquarium...but I like the way he was giving her the tongue so I took a picture :)

These two are ring tailed Lemurs.  I don't remember they guy above name but below is "Dropsy" Her tongue is permanently hanging out due to an unfortunate dental surgery accident...which makes me think twice about signing any medical releases in the future...

 Gonzo the Parrot thinks he is an eagle and has major attitude...His color photographs really well so I was happy to shoot him but I didn't want to get anywhere near that beak!

 This is Lucy an African Porcupine...she is also grouchy but she was busy munching her apple so I climbed in the cage with her and took some pictures...

Gizmo is a Kinkagew he likes fig newtons and is happt to ham it up for the camera....

Nakena the Siberian Lynx...she is VERY grouchy...the gate is open and I am shooting through a crack that is about 6 inches wide...moments after this shot she decided to get up and try to rip my face off...I was thankful that I had enough clarity to put my camera down and close the gate...

 Tyler talking to Sydney...the one that got a hold of me...

 In all honesty my favorite critters on the farm are the horses...every time I would show up in the field they would mosey over and stick their noses on my camera, knock over my tripod and generally make themselves comfortable with equipment :)

 They are big and gental and their noses are soft and the make lovely noises and I like them so much more than monkeys...

It is VERY difficult to take photos of monkeys....they NEVER hold still!

 So to recap....I prefer horses (even ones with odd blue eyes) to apes!

Golden Retrievers are pretty cool too! Hod me Josh!

This is Muffasa...Tyler loves every animal he meets...

Have a happy day!

Frychik

The South - Part II

When we decided to go to Georgia/Tenn. in August for vacation many people asked WHY? Not just because the were curious but because they are well aware of how UNBELIEVABLY HOT it is in the South in the summer...ESPECIALLY IN AUGUST!

Of course having lived there we were well aware of how HOT it would be...

The simple answer is UNBELIEVABLE FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!

We love them so much and they only rarely venture out this way and we hadn't been back for many years so we decided to be brave pack our swim suits and head south...

This is Tina, Connie and I...we have fun! Last time Tina and I saw each other we were mothers of toddlers...

It was so great to get the kids back together again! They played hours and hours together when they were too small to remember so they were a bit shy at first but eventually warmed up to each other... 

 

Darrel and Connie hosted us in their lovely home for 6 days! The provided amazing meals, comfy accommodations and the warmest most loving friendship you can imagine...Yes, I love them!

We fell into a lovely group of 5 couples when we lived in Georgia...We are missing one in this picture they have moved away as well....It was great to reunite hug old friends and meet new ones....

If I have one complaint about Connie she spoils my kids ROTTEN! They know she will do ANYTHING for them...making adjusting back to reality a bit of a challenge! ;)

Darrel is Jeff's best buddy! They crack each other up, which amuses Connie and I to no end...

It looks like Connie and I are snuggling in this picture, the truth is sometimes shes not real cooperative about having her picture taken...I am forcing her to pose :) And isn't it a GREAT picture! Your welcome Connie!



Once we got up to Nashville I spent more time photographing animals and didn't really get any pictures of our family! The only shot of Uncle Brent I have is when he kicked me out of the gator to stand in the copperhead infested creek so he could drive like a maniac towards me while I took pictures...

And this is Aunt Sharolyn....she will never read this because computers are foreign to her and she spends entirely too much time scooping poop and feeding animals to read such things...But I love her and her energy is amazing and inspiring!


So in conclusion...yes it was HOT but the people made it TOTALLY worth it!


Frychik

PS - I will not be going back in August! 
PSS - EVER!

The South - Part 1

It always happens...vacations end...and I am left with pictures and memories...

We had a fabulous time with our friends!

We love them so much and it was fantastic to spend some quality unhurried time together...but I will save that for another post.

Today its about what I learned or was reminded of in my trip back South...

 This is Waffle House...it is a truly Southern experience! The waitresses are lovely and have the most pronounced Southern drawls and every other word is "Baby" as in "want some syrup with that baby?" or in my case when I committed a major fopa (how do you spell that?) by ordering pancakes..."how 'bout a waffle baby?" Who knew you could only order waffles at the waffle house...

Yes, I made everyone go out of their way and drive to "the Pig" so I could take this picture it still makes me laugh that they have a grocery store with this name!
History lesson - Safeway and Piggly Wiggly were the first grocery store chains in American!

 Our Golden is not the only needy Golden! This is AddieMae and there was some thunder and she needed some comforting...

 My first classroom! It was fun to go back I haven't been in that room since 1995 when we left Calhoun...it seemed smaller but I had good memories there!

It rains in Georgia (and Tenn) in the summer!  Several of my friends made comments about the rain out where I live...I'm telling you I will take our rain over that HORRENDOUS HEAT any day of the week! More on that later...

 One advantage to the heat...you can grow these babies! We had a pool party and were served fresh from the garden watermelon! Fantastic!

 You can't see this well but the South has the longest escalators ever...this picture reminds me of two things...1. Don't let you son ride backwards up an escalator unless you don't value the toenail of your big toe...2. I collected several small but painful injuries on this vacation...

My first injury was on a hike our first morning.  I fell...don't know why... I was going down hill it was sudden, I was on the ground before I knew I was in any danger (perhaps I was too focused on looking for snakes)...I received a significant bruise on my knee but more concerning was the small cut on my knee...my first thought "I'm gonna get that flesh eating disease they get in Georgia..." 

I believe that if I had a pool while living in the South I would have been much happier! We had several pool parties while there (everyone has one!) The boys spent countless hours chasing the torpedo under water, jumping off diving boards and just having fun.  Water is the only way to survive outside....

 


Final lesson - dont get too close to monkeys...So besides the fall and the toenail incident I also had a much too close encounter with "Sydney" I was asked to photography Sydney and wanting to establish myself as a fearless photographer I said yes...
But to be clear monkeys scare the baggesies out of me! ~ even more so now....

This is what happens when you get too close...you can't see the full extent... on the other side of my arm is more bruising...she reached out and got a hold of my arm...it hurt so bad I was sure it was her teeth and I was trying not to freak out, which would make things worse... I turned my face away (the always go for the face) and just pulled my arm...fortunately she was on a leash and between the two of us we were able to get her away from me without too much damage but it was terrifying! 

So between my injuries and sweating to death...we managed to have a great time! Stay tuned for part 2!

Frychik

Georgia on my mind...

So tomorrow morning we take off for vacation...
I'm excited because we get to spend some quality time with some of the most amazing people we have been blessed to know...

It will be fun to return to Calhoun...We lived there for 4 years  It is where I ~

• formed amazing friendships

• I began my teaching career
• Bought my second Jeep

• Got my first Golden Retriever (Cassie)

• Had our first child

While it was NO secret that I wanted to move back to the NW ASAP while living there God blessed us with amazing friendships, an awesome church family and many fun opportunities.

The boys have not been back to Calhoun for 12 years! (Ty -2 Josh- 5!)

Awwww - look how little they were!

 Jeff and I went back for one of our dear friends funerals in 2004 so it has been a long time since we have gone back to just enjoy...and yes...I'm utterly aware that it will be HOT...

Last night Jeff was telling me that he was going to pack jeans and did he need to bring a jacket in case of rain...I just looked at him as if he had lost his mind...then he laughed and said "maybe its like childbirth...you forget the pain!" 

So we are off to "hotlanta" and we will be taking a trip up to Music City Nashville to see the relatives and show Ty the music scene.

Happy Summer!

Frychik

Summers here and I'm ready...

Last week it FINALLY felt like summer!

We had two pool trips and after a scare with the boat not starting...(my husband was a mechanical wizard and fixed it!) we FINALLY got out on the lake!

Josh was gone to camp for the week so Ty enjoyed being an only child and we had his friend around to keep him entertained...

We got the boat out Wed night and put in at around 8pm (traffic has been awful for Jeff :() The water was flat...the air was warm and I began wondering if I should try to ski...But first you need to know some of the back story...

Almost exactly a year ago we went to Priest Lake, Idaho for our family vacation. It was a fabulous, cabin, lake, vacation! However, while there I tried to ski and it was a disaster! I was an all time high weight wise so I was thankful that we didn't know anybody else in Idaho as my attire was decidedly not covering my larger than they should be "assets"

I love to ski and planned on skiing every day of our vacation...I hated putting on the wetsuit, it was a long process of pulling and tugging and squishing and squashing...it was exhausting and humiliating...this was difficult not because the wetsuit was small...it was PLENTY big...I was just BIGGER.

After getting suited up I was in the water ready to go and for the first time since learning to ski I could not get up...to put it bluntly my arms were not strong enough to pull my fat ass out of the water! I was in tears...it was an all time low and that evening Jeff and I sat on the dock and made a commitment to a healthier lifestyle...

I didn't ski anymore that summer and now a year later I was wondering how much tugging would be needed to get the wetsuit on in front of 4 teenage boys...and if I would be able to get up on my ski...

Jeff had already skied...he popped up and stayed up longer than ever, having that silly grin on his face...the boys had tubed....the sun was gone...if I was going to do it I had to do it NOW!

I grabbed the wetsuit and pulled it on EFFORTLESSLY!!!!  and then eased my way into the refreshing waters of Yale Lake...

My first attempt up involved drinking a lot of lake water and doing my best imitation of a seal cough but the second time I was up and I felt strong. My legs were much stronger thanks to all the biking and it felt amazing.  It felt amazing to see in such a clear way the difference a year of hard work could make.

When I let go of the rope and sank down into the water I was so excited!
It was so worth it!
Having a healthy body is such a gift one I appreciate more and more as I get older and worry about what I may not be able to do...

Frychik

I think I can...

Several weeks back my bro-in-law called and proposed a bike ride...
He is a HARD CORE biker!
He has ridden up Mt. Rainer and averages 100 miles a week...

Needless to say I was INTIMIDATED!

But he is a nice guy and he knew who he was inviting so "we" (Jeff) said yes.

The proposed route was to ride West from The Dalles to Hood River - which sounded pretty flat...

We decided to have a mini getaway and after ditching the kids on Sat. we headed to the Gorge. After many stops along the way we eventually ended up on the road we would be biking...I had decided to ease my fears it would be best if I saw the road we would be riding before we actually did it...then I wondered if that was a mistake?!

It was decidedly NOT flat! This is a picture of what would be our first climb out of The Dalles...2.3 miles of switchbacks. I have NEVER done any climbing like this...

There would be another 3 mile climb and many other "shorter" climbs in the 43 miles we would be riding. But my brain settled on this first climb...7 miles into the ride I would have to tackle this hill...I began concocting excuses reasons why I should stay behind and send the boys on the ride without me

1. It would be good brother bonding time

2. I would just slow them down they would have more fun

3. Somebody really should have a car in case of a flat or some other "emergency"

4. What if you run out of water? Its super hot and I could make sure you had water

5. My tummy hurts...

We headed to our hotel and jumped into the pool and I tried to put the hills out of my mind...

Side note: Why do men without Michael Phelps type bodies feel compelled to wear speedos and bend over in public pools where I am swimming??????????

We met up with bro-in-law and drove up to the look out to check out the views and show him some of what we would be riding.

This picture was taken the night before...Please notice the road way down by the river...that is where we would begin...I am putting on a brave face as I was working on my reasons why I would not be riding in the morning...

We shared a hotel and after a night of nerves (I could not get the hill out of my head) TWO snoring Fry guys and a miserable excuse for a pillow it was 5:30 am and we began getting up...

Because the forecast was for 100 that day we had decided to start early...

I had resolved to just do it... or die trying...

It took my the 7 miles to settle down and stop panicking...It helped me tremendously to know it was 2.3 miles long. It helped me know how much longer I needed to hang on until the top...a mile in I knew I would make it and I just kept peddling...If I could climb this hill I could do the rest of the ride I told myself...I've told you about my head games before...

While I didn't pose at the top this is what I was doing in my head when I got there but there wasn't much time for celebrating because we still had over 30 miles to go...

We got off the road and hit a really cool trail that took us through tunnels with amazing views. It was UPHILL the whole way! Every time I went down a hill it was hard to enjoy because I knew I would have to come UP the hill very soon...I began concocting reasons why I would only make this a one way trip...but then I thought about how badly I wanted to ride DOWN that huge hill at the beginning...I had earned it and darn it I wanted to ride down it!

In the tunnel there is an amazing view behind us...take my word for it :)

My bike enjoying the view...It is about 8 am and it is getting HOT already...

Cary did the big hill at the beginning twice...show off! ;)

I rallied and decided to ride back even though there was another HUGE LONGER hill to climb and it was HOTTER!  I started to worry a bit when I was hot but I was feeling chilled and had goose bumps all over me...But I did it! I survived! and I'm so very glad I did!

It was AMAZING to go down the hill at the end...mostly because I knew I had done it! I knew I had accomplished something new and big for me and it felt amazing! As I whizzed by those climbing the hill I was so grateful that was behind me and I was enjoying the reward!

This last year I have had to push through several walls of fear...it is teaching me perseverance.  This is a good thing...

Frychik