Cristo Rey Ranch, Wild Kingdom and Cardinal Skippers

Thought I better do this now before all the fun that's planned for Saturday.

Cristo Rey Ranch
Eli had off of school today and a mom of a kid in his class arranged a field trip for the kids to Cristo Rey Ranch in Mount Calvary.  Eli, Kate, Nate and I went.  What a very fun little field trip!  I think there were about 25 other kids with parents there, which was a great turnout.  The weather was chilly, but could have been much worse.  The took us on a hayride and did some explaining about their grounds and then talked about some of the smaller animals after that.  These animals are on the grounds of the Villa Loretto Nursing Home.  Seems like a very neat place... so much for the residents to look at and enjoy.

Here are some pictures I took of the fun.

[Nate on his first hayride... too bad he didn't even know it!]

[Eli with his friend Thomas]

[Eli riding a pony... first time he's really been excited to do it]

[looking at the fish in the pond]

The Wild Kingdom... that is what our backyard was like today.  There were so many birds... it was so fun to watch.  Mike took most of these pictures - thanks Mike!

[the Orioles are back - yippee!!!!]

There were so many neat and colorful birds.  We also had blue jays, but didn't get any pictures of them.  Eli, Kate and I sat outside for a little bit and tried to be really still and quiet.  We did have a few birds land on feeders pretty close to us - we had fun. : )

Cardinal Skippers

Tonight I took Rachel and Eli to the Cardinal Skippers Community Night performance at the Goodrich Little Theatre.  It was so much fun!!!!  These kids are amazing... I'm even more amazed each time I watch them.  I could go on, but love this group for so many reasons.  They are always smiling and seem to have a great time and lots of fun, they can do amazing tricks, they don't miss a beat even if they mess up (they just keep right on going as if nothing happened~I think that's my favorite part about it.)  They are kids of all ages ranging from 1st to about 9th grade I think.  They just seem to have very special friendships.  At least that's what I gather from watching them perform and after seeing the video they put together for the show tonight.  Just an all around good program.  I want to join, but I think I'm too old!!! ; )

Here are a couple videos (not good quality - sorry) that I took.  Just wanted to give you an idea of what they do.  It's so much fun to watch!

Have a great weekend!!

Keep smiling...