Camel Attack!

Last month, Julia and I attended a tumbling camp in Huntsville, Alabama. In our spare time, we visited Harmony Safari Park about 15 miles outside of town. It's a drive-thru "zoo" with llamas, reindeer, antelope, buffalo, a zebra (Julia's favorite animal), various tiny types of deer, rams with big horns, and a CRAZY camel. The owner tells you before you enter that the animals are not pets, they might bite, don't roll your windows down more than 8 inches, etc., etc. So, we buy a cup of food to give to the animals and head into the park in our rented car and we're really enjoying the cute animals and birds. But, we notice that the camel seems to be stalking us, so we keep the windows up for safety. The camel seems to really like our little car and starts rubbing his nose and mouth on the windows and the mirror and then stands in front of the car so that we can't move. But then, here comes the beautiful zebra! We manage to get away from the camel for a little while so that the zebra can visit. Of course, Julia rolls the window down to pet the sweet zebra, who sticks his head in to grab a bite of food from the cup which is sitting in the console. His neck wasn't quite long enough to reach the food, but he was really sweet and didn't seem to be aggressive, so we let him keep his head in the car. But suddenly--the crazy camel sees that the window is down and takes over! We did manage to finally get away from him, but he continued to keep his eye on us throughout our drive!

October!

Wow, where has the year gone? I can't believe that October is here already, and my Julia will be 14 in just a few days! We had an incredible summer traveling and visiting with friends. Now, we're all getting excited about going to N. Carolina in a couple of weeks. Many moons ago, after we were first married, Joey took me to the mountains in October. I had never been outside of Florida during the fall and I was in awe of the beauty that God painted in those mountains. Over the years, the month of October has found us in those same mountains many, many times. We had a few years, when the girls were very young, or when we didn't have enough money to buy gas, that we weren't able to make the trip. And, we've taken trips to other places in October that were wonderful, but we always have that "itch" to head to the mountains when September starts winding down. One of our favorite activities while there is hiking the trails along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We've hiked some of them so many times, that they seem like old friends. We like to stop at a roadside stand and get some mountain apples; visit the Ashe County Cheese Factory in West Jefferson and get some of their wonderful cheese; find some fresh apple cider and maybe some country ham. A perfect day would include a hike and a picnic with those apples and cheese and a chilly mountain breeze blowing. I think I'll go start packing!!

Off We Go (again!)

I did say that we enjoy traveling! The girls and I are on our way to Georgia for a week. They will be attending a Worldview Academy Leadership camp at Berry College in Rome, Ga. These camps are for young adults, age 13 and up and their focus is helping them think and live according to a Biblical worldview. They will be comparing the Christian view of origins, sociology, human nature, etc. with the views of other religions and cults. Also, they will discuss the Biblical roots of order; law, church and state issues and economics; Christianity and the arts, evangelism, etc......They've been preparing for camp by reading a couple of books: "The Greatest Among You" by Randy Sims, and "The Deadliest Monster" which is on my bookshelf. They are excited and looking forward to the experience.
While the girls are at the camp, I'll be staying at a lovely Bed & Breakfast in a nearby town. I figured that it would probably cost about the same to just stay up there rather than drive back and forth to Georgia and I didn't really want to do all of that driving, anyway!
Then, 12 hours after we get home from Georgia, we leave with my mom for the beach!!