Gimme S'mores

The Shaw's have a new fire pit and we were fortunate to be there for the first fire.  Of course the first matter of business was s'mores!

We kept Baily at a distance!

We had a discussion about "slow" roasters versus "nuke em" roasters.  Frank is from the "slow" roaster school...Macy is from the "nuke em" school.

Delaney wasn't quite sure how to attack it. (Heather had fun at bath time getting marshmallow out of hair)

Beckett is a s'more pro!

Visitors

Delaney, Beckett, and Heather spent a few days visiting the still snowy north.

Even though we had temps in the 60's we had plenty of snow to dress for and play in.

Grandma organized an Easter treasure hunt.

Best buds!

It Ain't Over Til It's Over

Wednesday night / Thursday morning we had about 15" more of snow.  We broke the snowfall total record for both dates, the month of April, and the season.  We're now at 107.7".  It was already the coldest winter on record.

It's supposed to be 65 on Sunday.

A nice hair brushing seemed like a better way to spend the day.

We Be Home

Home after 40 days on the road, it was good to get back, but the time went fast, and we had a great time.  The Friday before we got home Lac du Flambeau had 12" of snow.  Things are melting, but we definitely traded endless white sands for endless white snow.  Ice fisherman out on the lake today with his snowmobile.  As the picture show below Baily settled in real fast.

Baily was quite comfortable as king of the mountain with his football afoot.

Be it ever so humble!

Arlington Dog Park

We once again visited the Arlington Dog Park after Renee and Scott played softball.  Hundreds of dogs, and B-Man was right in the center of the action.

The park is long, about a half of mile or so and follows a stream.

When you first enter the park the dogs are all full of energy and there's lots of action.  You can see who's right in the center of it.

The drinking fountain is at about the half way point and by this time the dogs are slowing down...most dogs!

The stream is fenced in, we didn't let Baily jump in.

National Zoo

We've been fortunate to be able to make frequent visits to the National Zoo over the past 15 years.  During this period the Smithsonian has aggressively transitioned the zoo from an early 20th century bars and buildings zoo to one that is both animal and visitor friendly.  Today was the first visit for Lucas.

Lucas had a great time, he especially enjoyed all the great places to walk on and explore

Both the lion and tiger areas had very playful young.

and mellow adults.

The zoo has built a very unique Elephant walk.  Over a half mile long, the Elephants are free to roam.

Everyone comes to the National Zoo to see the Pandas.  This is the new cub.

Everywhere you walk in the zoo the predominant vegetation is bamboo.  For good reason,  Pandas spend 16 hours per day eating, and about the only thing they eat is bamboo stalks.  The zoo tries to stay self sufficient since bamboo is not a real popular US food crop.

Snack time!

Maybe other zoos have this but we haven't seen it before.  It's an Orangutan walk.  A high group of wires the Orangutans can use to traverse good portions of the zoo from one of their pens to another.  There are electrified wires that keep them from dropping down into the crowd to say "hey".

This guy worked very hard to go visit his "woman" pictured in the next shot.

A Smithsonian tradition...the Merry Go Round.

Heading home after a fun day.

And We're Off - Last Morning On Cape San Blas

Last morning of Neighborhood Watch duty for Baily

One last beach walk

Our neighbors Jenny and Logan came out to say good-bye

Lucas, Renee, and Scott...here we come!