Ridenour Ranch: 8-8-10

Yesterday was my niece Ashtyn's 2nd birthday! All of her family met at the Henry Dooley Zoo. We had a picnic, opened presents, and then checked out the animals. It was great fun! Did I mention it was 93 degrees with 245% humidity? Oh, ok, it was! Soooooo miserable, yet still fun. Oh, did I mention Jude had a day with NO nap until 4:30 pm? Nope? Well he didn't. And it was STILL fun! Wow!

I think I also forgot to mention that on our way home the ominous dark clouds to the north got ever increasingly more ominous...until we were inside of them. We turned off of Highway 20 to Highway 9 at 6:30 and it was pitch black/green. We started getting hammered with rain falling sideways because of the strong winds. Almost zero visibility. Scary!!! We managed to make it to my grandma's house in town where I became drenched opening the garage door. We took refuge there for about 45 min and decided it would be okay to head home. We saw water running like a river through fields and had to move a branch off the road to make it home. When we finally arrived the rain had stopped and the sun was actually trying to shine again. That was the good news. The bad news was that our flowers were fallen, a giant tree in the grove toppled (luckily just back into the grove), and ALL of our patio furniture was OFF of the porch. The rocking chair was to the north, the wicker chairs were strewn all the way to the barn...and the glass patio table was shattered on the ground...sad news, but it could be worse. I was just so happy to finally be safe and sound at home. Anyone know where I can get a new or slightly used patio table?!? Happy Birthday Ashtyn!!!

In addition, it should be stated that we lost one of Jude's Crocs somewhere in the zoo. We noticed it right after coming out of the "Creatures of the Night" exhibit and figured it had been lost in the darkness. I was pretty bummed because even though I paid hardly anything for them, getting them second-hand, he wore them all the time and there was no way I was going to buy a new pair (maybe a knock-off). I ran into Brett with his friends Rachel and Joe shortly after we noticed the loss and I mentioned for them to look for it if they went to the Desert Dome. I figured I'd call the zoo in a few days and ask to see if it was in the lost and found. I really wanted it back! Later that night I got a text from Brett. Unbelievably, Rachel had found the Croc!!! I'm pretty pumped about that:) Would you pick up a lost child's shoe in the zoo or leave it there for the owners to come back and find or the maintenance to rescue? I think I would just leave it there actually, and apparently probably hundreds of others would do the same because there it still was! Now for some pics of the day: