An Afternoon at the Zoo on a {mostly} Wordless Wednesday . . .

A couple of weeks ago, Megan and I met friends in New Jersey and spent the day at Van Saun Park.  I hadn't been there since the boys were very young.  I'm not a fan of zoos, truth be told.  Most of the animals at the park were once injured and wouldn't be able to survive in the wild.  The weather was beautiful and the kids had a wonderful time and I took a ton of photos so, all in all, it was a great day.  

I think it was probably most difficult for me to see the mountain lion and these incredibly beautiful eagles in captivity. 

We took a little train ride around the park to see the larger exhibits and, afterwards, had some lunch and visited the huge playground for a while.  We're hoping to take a few more day trips before the summer ends.  There are only two weeks left of summer camp which will take us into August already.  All of our local shopping places have had their back-to-school supplies out for a few weeks and our local crafting stores have their fall things on display.  Before you know it, they will be sneaking in Christmas too!!  The wonderful world of retail waits for no one!!  : )

I took a bunch of non-animal photos at the zoo also.  I'll share some of those next time.  Now it's off to enjoy this beautiful, sunny and cool day we've been blessed with.  We've been toying with the idea of taking the kids fishing tonight.  I'll keep you posted.  : )

Hope you're all having a wonderful day ~ Wendy  xo

An Afternoon on the Hudson River on a {mostly} Wordless Wednesday . . .

On Sunday afternoon, we boarded our little boat that we inherited when my dad passed away and tooled up and down the Hudson River for a few hours.  We are so blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the country and seeing it from the water just reinforces this for me.  : )
 

There are so many beautiful homes that overlook the Hudson. 

A perfect spot for fishing!!

The flag is at half staff for the Marines that perished in a helicopter accident two weeks ago.  Several of them were from our area.  So incredibly sad.

A short but sweet reprieve from the sun.

You can keep all of those big houses overlooking the river.  I'll take this one!!  : )

This tour boat was heading to a place called Bannerman Island.  It's a tiny island in the middle of the Hudson that has an old castle on it.  Parts of it have been restored for people to visit.  They even have movie nights where you can go and watch on outdoor movie under the stars.  : )

Bannerman Island.

Kayakers.

Our little town offers kayaking lessons on the weekends during the summer.  Apparently, business is booming!! 

The Captain of "The Rip Tide" (aka my honey).  We named the boat after my dad whose nickname was "Rippy."

The first mate looking for land.

Land ho!!!

Hopefully the first of many boating excursions this summer.  We haven't been out on the water for two years.  Last summer, Jim worked so much overtime due to his company being shorthanded and the summer before that we were getting our old house in order to put it on the market.  We swore we'd be on the boat this summer though and, wouldn't you know it, we saw a butterfly when we arrived back on shore.  A butterfly is one of my dad's signs to let us know he's still around. 

Amazing grace!!  xoxo