Just Us Girls

Saturday night, one of my closest friends and I decided that we both deserved a Girls' Night Out -- no hubbys, no kiddos, just she and I. It's been YEARS since she and I had a night out together...let's see, maybe 10 years? Yeah, tell me about it! Life gets crazy and you get married, have kids, and tend to forget that you need to get out once in a while! The last time was Ybor City in Tampa, in 1998? Yikes! We see each other often enough and talk on the phone nearly every day, but we just never get the chance to get away!

So, what did we do on our night out? We hit TGI Fridays for a drink or two and some appetizers then ventured over to the AMC 24 to watch Sex In the City! What a great movie especially if you watched the tv series at all! Lots of laughs and tears! Have you ever been to a movie where at certain parts of the movie, nearly everyone in the theater sighs, "Awwwww..."? It was definitely a first for me.

And since the previews for the new upcoming movies looked so great, we made a promise to each other to do it again very soon!

So, ladies, if you are thinking about going to see Sex In the City, call your girlfriends and make a great night of it, because YOU DESERVE IT!

Our Morning Adventure

Today I took the day off from the studio to spend some time with my kiddos. This morning, my little man, Ean, and I decided to embark on the birding adventure (see next post down) at the Tillie K Fowler Regional Park. What fun it was!

There were about 20 little ones from ages 1 to 7 who came to learn a little about birds and enjoy a beautiful morning! First activity, after passing around a few feathers, was a fun Cat in the Hat story, Fine Feathered Friends: All about Birds that was read to everyone. Afterwards, each child was given a pair of "binoculars" (okay, really two toilet paper tubes taped together) to decorate with the many markers that were available. The parents then tied string to allow the binoculars to hang around the neck. We were all given an important tip on how to correctly use binoculars! What is it? Use your eyes FIRST to find the bird, and then lift your binoculars to your eyes! Makes a lot of sense rather than scanning the sky with your binoculars and not being able to see anything! We also listened to different bird sounds from those cute little stuffed birds you can find at the zoo gift store and even JoAnn's.

After we had our little lessons, we headed outside to look for birds! So, how do you make sure you can find birds when you have a whole handful of little ones? Well, you strategically hang photos of birds along the trail and then the kids can discover them as they walk along! And, the birds don't fly away as the group moves in closer! Very cool! Aside from the photos of birds, we did see a live hummingbird and a woodpecker as we walked the trail.

When we made it back to the Nature Center, we all spent some time discovering some of the amazing little creatures in there -- live snakes, mice, frogs, lizards, and many fossils, bones, skins and some taxidermy animals, too! Then, a quick peek outside through the window revealed a live raccoon walking through the garden area!

What a great morning and here are some snapshots to share! If you have the opportunity to attend this event in the future, I would highly recommend it for the kids!