fun o the day

(pictures forthcoming when i'm in jersey with a better internet connection, i took at least 150 pics today :-P)

today was a fun day going around town to places i hadn't been in a bit.

i met dad at noon at the botanic garden, and he showed me around briefly before taking me out to lunch. we went to patrick's (a random plate lunch restaurant (southern equivalent of a diner?) on park, that used to be near the colonial post office) -- it was good... i had a stuffed pepper with pickled green tomatoes and yams for lunch :-)

after dad toting me around the offices and introducing me to all the botanic garden higher ups that i didn't already know, i wandered around the gardens for an hour and a half taking pictures... the iris garden was nice, but a week or two past its prime; the rose garden was the most amazing i'd ever seen it (and note that i spend almost every afternoon of my sophomore year of high school wandering around the gardens waiting for dad to get off work and take me home), so tons of pictures of roses... high of only 80 today, so it was a gorgeous day to be out and about.

after 15 minutes at home to recharge my camera and refill my water bottle, i met mom at her school at 3:30 and drug her off to the zoo... first i ran into alice (my kindergarten teacher's daughter... she was my favorite daycare teacher when i was little), mrs. k. (my 5th grade teacher), several of the other teachers there who either i had for my own teachers, or know well anyhow, and ashley -- ashley was in 2nd grade my senior year of HS... her mom died when she was 4 and she kinda latched on to me for a couple years while i worked daycare as a female role model of sorts... (e.g. for 1st and 2nd grade, when her class made "happy mother's day" cards for art class, and her teachers would tell her she could make a special card for whoever she wanted, she made me "happy mother's day" cards instead :-) ) she wrote me for a bit after i moved to college too... i hadn't seen her since at least partway through valpo, and she's now finishing up 8th grade! that was a blast from the past and it was really good to see her doing so well :-)

anyhow, mom and i made it to the zoo around 4, and had until 6 to wander around... we saw probably 75-80% of the place in that two hours... a lot of the plants have overgrown their areas but the animals looked good. there were several families that just weren't controlling their kids, so loud rude kids plowing through things, scaring animals, and knocking into people got on my nerves, but when we managed to be near families where the kids weren't being crazy, it was a nice day to be there :-P hard to believe it's been 8 years since i've worked there! (my first job was helping with zoocamp at the zoo the summers before 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th grade (i guess that's 94, 95, 96, 97).

after the zoo, i'm back home putting pictures from my camera on the family computer where my family can see them :-P... brother's "girl friend" (purposely 2 words for now) tina stopped by the house half an hour ago... mom's at a meeting, but it was the first time dad or i had met her... she seems really nice, and it was good to put a face with her name finally :-P... i'd talked w/ her on the phone once before... i think so far she does have sister approval :-P

pictures posted in a week :-P

happy tuesday?