Hide and Seek

More random zoo pictures

Bray saw someone with one of these suckers as we were looking at the last exhibit...he had to have one...it was the only thing he had requested all day and he had been so good even with the heat...we had to back track back up to the top of the hill to find a place that was selling them. We couldn't have gotten him anything else that would have made him happier.

The standard on the turtle pic, which my son of course would not sit normally for. He laid on his belly backwards on it, he pretended to be sliding off one side and then another...finally, I just had to snap one.

I just thought this was a cute picture of my little man.

Of all the exhibits, this gold fish pond is the only thing that made him cry when we had to leave. Notice he had made a make-shift fishing pole out of a weed. MaMaw and PaPaw bought him a real fishing pole and we are going to try it out in MaMaw Bug's creek this weekend.

Bray was so tired, he fell asleep within three minutes of getting into the car. He woke up requesting to have his sucker back. He was such a mess!

The Zoo

Let me start by saying that I HATE driving through Pittsburgh...actually, I'm not a big fan of the city in general, nor was Braylon (for college sports rivalry reasons, which he sums up by pointing his thumb down, making an obnoxious noise and then stating "down with Pittsburgh"). But our trip to the zoo sure did change Braylon's mind. By the end of the day he was saying "I like the Zoo-Pittsburgh, but not that other Pittsburgh." Braylon was very excited about getting to see lions and bears initially, but I think he actually enjoyed the aquarium the most.

Bray and his folks!

A few disappointments:

Braylon: No snakes and the lions and most of the bears were sleeping.

Me: No orangutans or chimpanzees or hippos and the glass on the exhibits was very dirty (fingerprints) making it difficult to get a good look at a lot of the animals and even harder to get a good picture.

Drew: Not too impressed with the number/variety of animals in general compared to other zoos he has been to.

But some really cool things (besides the fact that it is so close):

Braylon got to pet a kangaroo and a deer. The lady monitoring the exhibit said the deer was 17 years old...no wonder it just laid there and let the kids pet it.

This one sea lion loved to show off and would smile and blow Braylon a kiss every time it swam past him. Look close you can see its fin up to its mouth for Bray's kiss.

We got to see a brand new baby elephant...just one week old. She looked so tiny next to her mama, but next to one of the zoo employees she was about the size of a pony.

We got to see a one-armed monkey. She was very interested in all the humans staring at her and was probably more aware of us than any other animal we saw.

The penguins were very cool. Some of them loved swimming around as close to us as they could get. It was hard to get good pictures because of the glare from the glass, the fingerprints, and the dim lighting, but I thought this one turned out pretty cool. Notice Bray's reflection in the glass.

Some other penguin pics for Paula. I loved Grandpa penguin...the white one...this penguin could hardly move and looked like he could fall over dead at any time. The other ones knew to leave him alone...I bet he is grouchy in his old age.

Skivy Dipping

We kicked off my vacation by going camping near Canaan Valley. We had a blast. It was so nice to just relax and hang out together as a family. Our favorite part was a hike we took at the base of Dolly Sods along Red Creek. We waded and played in the water for a while and then the boys finally couldn't resist and stripped down to their underwear and went swimming. Braylon loved it. And so did Drew. Drew spent a lot of time in the Dolly Sods area when he was younger (his family had a camp there) so it brought back a lot of good memories for him and he loved sharing something he always enjoyed with Braylon.

The road to the base of Dolly Sods

My boys on the trail.

Rocks in Red Creek

Bray and Drew sitting in a small water fall.

Aren't they so cute!

Bray the Builder

Braylon talked to his MaMaw and PaPaw on the phone on Tuesday night and asked in his sweetest voice if they would "come over and play farm" with him. Wednesday morning I got a call from mom asking if we had any plans for later in the week. They came up for a short visit before we head out for vacation. Dad and Braylon built a bee box. Notice that dad is using the pliers to hold the nail while Bray did the pounding.

Playing in the Rain

Toward the end of the Hanshaw reunion, it started pouring the rain. Braylon, JoLee, and I astonished the rest of the family by playing in the rain in spite of the very serious risk of "getting a cold" and the fact that we were "getting all wet".

Although we were apparently risking our health, we had a blast.

Braylon had some hops!

Braylon and JoLee trying to catch rain drops on their tongues.

Braylon won the wet T-shirt contest.

By the end, they were exhausted, cold, and soaked...but we had a very good time!

As we were leaving, out popped this beautiful rainbow.

PaPaw Otto's Reunion

We all had a lot of fun at the PaPaw's Reunion this year. Here is Braylon's Great-Grandpa Otto and Great-Grandma Edith. This other picture is just PaPaw's branch of the family tree...missing my Uncle Dale and Aunt Kandy and their families.

Dad and D.J. and Drew and Braylon, pitching horseshoes.


JoLee and Braylon and PaPaw's grandkids Christine and Joshua and great-grandkids JoLee and Braylon.