Weekend Snapshots

Our pumpkin carving ceremony was Wednesday night.

Sister soon lost interest in pumpkin, she found a stray lamp shade and walked around with it on her head.  Nothing short of hilarious.

Thursday was Hubby's b-day.  Choosing his special dessert was agonizing.  Finally he landed on a pumpkin roll.  It was yumma-lish if I do say so myself.

Watch out bad guys: this babe is packing heat.

Saturday - we drove about an hour west/north to Perryville to Heifer Ranch's 40th birthday party.  Heifer's International headquarters is in downtown Little Rock. 

First animal we touched was a llama.  But walking from the car, we passed a bunch pack herd(?) of lambs.  Sister chuckled aloud as if to say, "Oh, I know why you guys brought me here!" then she began making her sound for a dog (woof woof).  She was beyond excited to see so many dogs (except they weren't dogs.)  The girl has some crazy liking to dogs.  She loves them like nothing else.

She's at the stage where she loves to imitate the sounds of animals.

We saw a demonstration for milking goats.  Brother had the opportunity but didn't want to participate.

These turkeys were especially LOUD.  They were free-ranging all over the ranch.

Below, Mr. Intensity is standing in front of the water buffalo.  We both had to stop and sing the water buffalo song...hence the silly look on his face.

We listened to a bee keeping and honey demonstration.

And about the differences between incandescent and florescent lights, which was interesting.  However, after talking with the demonstrators it was clear that they were talking the party line (buy the energy efficient florescent bulbs) and had not done their own research.  I've not done much research other than to know there is controversy surrounding the use of florescent bulbs, which are known to have toxins like mercury in them.

What's not to love about a camel?

The boys could have stayed here all day, cleaning out the fence rows, feeding the camel named Abu.

Not only are there animals at the Ranch, there is a Global Village which is used to teach about different cultures.

First stop was Guatamala, where he made a tortilla.

Sister spied a rabbit (which says BOP BOP for hop hop) in the "rabbit tractor" which can be moved around the yard.

We also saw how bricks are made.

The next village was in Thailand.  There, was a demonstration for bio-gas and how they repurpose  manure (into methane).  I didn't get a picture because I was trying to multi-task...watching a toddler up the steps and steal candy while talking to a volunteer.

Said toddler with sucker in one hand and percussion in the other.  She's now in Africa.

The boys found the drums.

Here's a step pump used to water the garden as well as animals.

The boys pose in a shack that represent a great majority of the world's population that live in the slums.

Sister was on the outside looking in.

The last stop in the global village was a demonstration about terrace gardening.  The volunteer below shows a simple level.

On the left is a hillside being destroyed by erosion while the village on the right has used terracing.  It was very convincing.

We ate lunch picnic style in the parking lot / pasture just before heading home.  

{picture idyllic picnic}

Once home we grabbed tickets to the Children's Theatre (ok, I forgot them actually.)  We saw Cinderella, A Rockin' New Musical in 3D.  Very super fun for kids and adults.  He made the mask before the show.

I came home with a migraine and slept 12 hours.  This also happened the last time we went to the theatre, which causes me to wonder if there is something in that place that I'm allergic to??

Sunday - The guys went to Barnes and Noble, their favorite Sunday afternoon activity.  Sister and I walked down to our community garden to check on the progress.  She's sitting in Randy's lap.  He's the mastermind behind our garden and the architect on our street who is really into developing community.

That was our weekend.  I'm ready for another!