Caution! Wild Animals!

Beware of the boxed wild Amanda! On Tuesday, Stephen and I took advantage of the cloudy, cool day and headed out to the zoo. I couldn't resist climbing into this crate and pretending to be an animal, I just couldn't stop laughing long enough to actually imitate an animal!

We had a great time roaming the grounds and observing all the great animals and the construction going on. There was one disappointment though...I thought the polar bear exhibit would be up and ready...it wasn't :( So I guess I have to wait a little bit longer to see my lovely polar bears.

Anyway we had a great time watching all the other animals...

The hippo!

The monkey/orangutan/ape/some kind of primate!

The penguins!

A sculpture by Bob Lockhart!

The elephants!

The Stephen!

All in all, Stephen and I had a great time at the zoo observing all the animals. We just don't get out there enough! Hope everyone else is enjoying the week so far.

Come Ride with Me...

Stephen and I've spent the last week with his family on St Simon's Island off the coast of Georgia. A few days ago we rented bicycles and spent the entire afternoon exploring the island together. It's been forever since I've ridden a bicycle and recently a few of my physical therapy school friends have taken up biking and I can see why, it's so much fun! More than once it felt like the wind from the ocean was against us and we had to peddle hard! Our quads were burning! I took some pics along the way.

Early in the morning we walked just up the street to Ocean Motion where we picked out our bikes, got a basket and our locks and headed off!

Our first stop was to East Beach where we took this pic of us on the wooden walkway to the beach.

We then stopped at the Maritime Center and had a look around.

We continued riding toward town and came across this beautiful park full of live oaks and spanish moss. There were also tons of historic markers throughout the island and we made sure to read them whenever we came across them.

We decided to take a short break right at the marsh. The background in the pic above is the marsh.

We came across this secluded, wooded beach access area on our way back to the condo for a break. The view was too gorgeous to pass up.

Overall we had a great time finding a new way (at least for me) to explore everything the island had to offer with the freedom warranted by the bicycles. It was a great day!

Come Fly with Me!

OH MY GOODNESS...

I went PARASAILING (you know, the beach activity where you're strapped to a huge parachute and let off the back of a boat with up to 1200 feet of rope flying hundreds of feet in the air) yesterday afternoon and it was amazing!!!! Soooo scary but so beautiful and also...very different than what I was expecting to experience. Once they let out that rope and you're hundreds of feet in the air, there is no sound, the wind is barely noticible if at all and as far as the eye can see is ocean. We were initially worried about losing our sunglasses so I went first because mine were tighter, and I found out there was no reason to worry at all.

I'm not trying to read more into the experience but when I was up that high, it was magical! I felt like the only person in the world up there in silence-amazing! I love experiencing new things and this was great. I recommend it for everyone.

p.s. don't look down if you're afraid of heights lol (although you will miss some awesome marine life)

What Happens at the Winery...Stays at the Winery

Today I took my last final of graduate school and have completed all didactic course work (bring on graduation in December!) and to celebrate a great group of us girls went out to a local winery for the afternoon, and had a blast.

We started with some wine tasting in the loft.

We wandered around the market and the grounds to the lake and fed the Koi ducks who completely trumped the Koi

 We had some fun on the dock!

We were then attacked by the ducks, Sarah tried to shake her booty to throw them off...didn't work

To top off our afternoon we visited one of our professors who, believe it or not, has goats...lots of goats. We had wine and cheese at her house and enjoyed her great views and the goats. At one point one hopped up on the table to try and get some crackers.

All in all an amazing afternoon with some great girls and a lovely way to top of the semester!

Reunited....and it feels SO good

This post is uber late, but had to share. Last Saturday, April 17, was the infamous Thunder Over Louisville, to kick of all the Derby festivities. I hadn't been to "Thunder" since I was a kid and had no plans of attending this one, that is until one of my most favorite people invited me to go with her and her brother and his wife and some of their friends. So, of course, I jumped at the opportunity because I rarely ever get to see her and probably won't see her again until the fall (darn schedule conflicts and busy lives).

KB and I enjoying the great weather, yummy food and good company!

Luckily for us, KB and her crew got there early in the morning to claim a spot and set up shop! We had a great view of the great lawn and there were TONS of people. It's always fun to people watch and make games out of it.

Just a glimpse of the crowd and the bridge!

So despite some mishaps with finding the chow wagon (definition: a fenced corral with lots of good carnival food and booze), how we missed it, I'll never know, and the crowds, we had a great time and it was so good to catch up.

Love these goofballs!

...Had me a Blast

Ok, so it's not really summer, but "spring lovin" doesn't have the same vibe, regardless, Stephen and I had a blast outside with the beautiful weather. We spent Saturday afternoon in Cherokee park enjoying the oodles of people and families out.

All the people walking dogs brough up the ever-long conversation we have been having about the kinds of dogs we are going to get--that is, when we get to that point in our life. We're definitely thinking two dogs (so they won't be lonely) and right now our top picks are

• Chocolate Lab
• Australian Shepherd
• Siberian Husky 

Any suggestions?