Animal Ark Wildlife Sanctuary

I have lived in Reno for 8 years-ish. When I first moved here I heard that there was a zoo and I took my kids out there. It was, um, well it was bad. The poor animals looked sad in little dinky squares with not much natural shade, plants etc. The kids didn't like it and we never went back. Not long after that I heard that there is also a wildlife sanctuary here but after my zoo experience I never went out there to have a look around. That was a mistake! We took all of the kids out to Animal Ark on Saturday and it was wonderful.

The viewing areas had a nice view of most of the animals and this big boy came right close up to see us.



The animals have nice big spaces to move around in, the big ones are rotated often so they aren't out all day and there is a lot of natural shade and interest in their homes.



We were there around the time that they were changing the bears around and the kids really enjoyed watching it. They placed fruits all around for Yogi (yes, the bear) to find and we were able to have the pleasure of watching it.





I tried to get a bears-eye view but Glenn caught me.



But after the bear was done I did round them all up for a silly face shot. Everyone tried something except I think K2 thought I told him to pick his nose...



And then they all ran away from me, haha. If you live in the Reno area and have thought about going to the Animal Ark I would certainly recommend it. We'll take the kids there again.



On Sunday we took the kids to my mom's house and just played around.









What did you do over the weekend?

10-10-10 = 42 and Happily Ever After

This Sunday, I was a 10-10-10 bride. A little over a year ago we were deciding on dates when hubby, being a computer geek, noticed that the date was all 1s and 0s and could be a binary number. Since he was sitting at the computer anyway he converted it to decimal and behold, it was 42, the answer to life, the universe and everything At least, it is according to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but maybe there is something to it because it sure felt like a great day to me.



Our ceremony was in a casino since I do live in Reno after all. And I must say if you are getting married in Reno, the Atlantis really was beautiful. We looked at several of the chapels here and considered the possibility of an outdoor wedding. Unfortunately, the weather in mid October is a little too unpredictable to guarantee good outdoor weather (though it did turn out to be a beautiful day) and all of the chapels we saw looked like they might have been decorated in the 80's and then forgotten. I wanted something a little prettier and the Atlantis certainly delivered. They partition off ballrooms and bring in an arch just for the weddings and it's quite pretty.

I didn't want to spend thousands of dollars on a wedding since, as lovely as it was, it's only one day and we have the rest of our lives to be married. Luckily my family and friends are fantastic and honestly, I don't know how anyone pulls off a wedding without the help of friends and family.

All of my photos were taken by family members and friends. Luckily, someone got a nice shot of the Atlantis for me.



Selena made my cake and cupcakes and did a beautiful job. I feel that I am seriously indebted to her for this. The cake stand (cupcake tower) I made with what lumber I already had in the garage and I think it turned out pretty. My nieces Brianna and Julia helped make and place little 42s on every cupcake, too.





Since this wasn't my first wedding and we both came in to this marriage with children we decided that the kids would be our bridesmaids and groomsmen. My children walked me in and gave me away.



Technically Keith was a groomsman but he was 100% sure that he was our miniature Master of Ceremonies.



Family vows were also added to include the children as they are a very necessary component of this life and relationship.





Groomsmen


Bridesmaids


Our first family photo. I told Eric that we should come up with more reasons for him to wear a tux because he looks fantastic in one.



We actually managed to get all 11 grandkids in one place at the same time.



Though very soon we will need a new picture so we can have all 12... These are my sisters, without whom (along with Selena and Mom) I would have never pulled off a wedding so well.



Not at all hard to tell what the kids are thinking about.




Erin was glad to finally get her hands on some chocolate. Yum!



It was impossible to catch all of the family in any one shot so we took lots. The man on the left of the second shot is Eric's best friend and also our Pianist. I owe so many thanks to him as well.




All of the children had fun blowing bubbles everywhere. So did many of the adults.



All in all, quite a lovely day.

Going to the birds

We went to check out the fowl today.



They are NOT afraid of you. Actually they are pretty demanding because they assume you have food.



This poor fellow looks like he needs direction through the masses.



And apparently someone was crazy enough to go out on the ice. Since there are areas of this not so big lake that are completely melted I'll stay on the nice firm ground, thanks.



But it sure was beautiful!

2010

We brought in the new year downtown. It's the first time I've gone downtown for this in the 7 years I've lived here. And mostly what I can say about that is "wow". It's pretty cool to be among that many people as the last seconds of the decade are counted off.

Today I am also kicking off my very first 365. I've joined up with two groups for this here and here. Since I have a new camera I need to learn its ins and outs so that I may live up to the potential. Wish me luck! Unfortunately, I didn't take the shiny camera downtown knowing that it would be somewhat of a body press so I'm starting off the 365 with my Canon P&S.



They shot the fireworks from 3 different casinos this year (these are off the top of Harrah's). As we watched the display we had quite a few bats also flying overhead which were, I'm guessing, a little flabbergasted as to what was going on.



This is what downtown looked like, in every direction, about 10 minutes to midnight and it just kept getting more packed. Very cool.

A frost in Reno

Sometimes in the winter we get a pretty heavy fog here, which is unusual for a desert. Unlike regular fog, though, this is an ice fog (called pogonip, meaning cloud) and everything gets covered in little ice crystals. With our temperatures reaching an uncommon -10 in some areas this week it's hung around for a couple of days. I'm told pogonip is terrible on your lungs (ice crystals can scratch up the lung and throat linings) but, despite that, it is rather pretty.

Looking towards the sky the fog looks more like it's a snow of teeny tiny glitter. The ice crystals sparkle and catch the light and they are so fine and tiny that all of the air around you seems to shimmer. So cover your mouth with a scarf and drive carefully but take a moment and look around, too, because it'd be a shame to miss the view.

This was the scene at the elementary school yesterday morning about 10 minutes before most of the kids started arriving. Don't you just want to climb that?

Reno Air Races

Eric has been wanting to see the Blue Angels since he was very small, as young as my boys are now. The last time they came to the Reno Air Races he was living in Georgia and he missed them (again). But this year they're back. We took the kids out there yesterday, paid the exorbitant entry fees ($17 for an 8 year old!?! This isn't Disneyland you know), and enjoyed the stunts and our lemonade. Oh, and the sunshine. I must remember to soak that in for the next few weeks as tomorrow is the Autumnal Equinox and the lovely warm days only have about a month left.



Sorry it's a little blurry. Blue Angels are very fast and hard to photograph. ;)

Bummer

I guess some people didn't have a good time at the Rib Cook-Off. And this was only at lunch time!