Lucas's Pre-K Graduation

Lucas graduated from his pre-K program on Friday, May 25.  His school threw a full celebration, complete with cake:

and decorations:

and a balloon arch!

These are Lucas's two girlfriends, his BFF Sydney and new girlfriend Ava:

Lucas makes his entrance during "Pomp and Circumstance":

The graduates showed off some of the things they had learned in pre-K, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and singing some letter and number songs:

Then each graduate received his or her awards, for Job Performance, Helping Hands, Good Conduct, and Star Student:

Then they were called up a second time to receive their diplomas! 

We are very proud of our graduate!

Josh was especially proud!  I love the look on both of their faces! 

(It was field day at Josh's school and he had just finished his water slide time when I picked him up for Lucas's graduation, thus the bathing suit.)

Here is Lucas and his teacher, Ms. Levette:

Lucas and Ava:

Lucas and Sydney:

Congratulations Lucas! 

Lone Star Mystery

As zoo members, we were invited to the "sneak-preview" of the zoo's new animal show, Lone Star Mystery.  The show features various zoo animals, and one part called for six volunteers (though the volunteers' job was not yet announced).  Both Josh and Lucas were selected, and once the six kids were all lined up, out came a BIG surprise:  Bertha the snake! 

Pretty cool! 

Dinosaur Valley State Park

There is a riverbed in Glen Rose, Texas, which still has ancient dinosaur tracks embedded in it.  The area is preserved as a state park now, and there are a couple of areas where you can walk alongside (or into) the river and stand on the dinosaur footprints.  It's a pretty remarkable experience. 

While my parents were here, we visited the park (on a hot day) and the boys got to touch the same ground where dinosaurs once trekked.  Here is Josh standing in one (three-toed) dinosaur footprint:

A close-up view of that footprint:

Some other prints:

Josh touching a footprint in the second area:

Back behind him, by the creek's edge, you can see two large round black circles, which are sauropod footprints. 

This was a totally awesome experience, and we will be back again sometime!

Fossil Rim Wildlife Center

My parents are here for a visit, so we ventured down to Glen Rose, TX, to see the dinosaur footprints in the riverbed at Dinosaur Valley State Park and to feed some animals in the drive-through safari at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. 

We fed many deer by hand and had some close encounters with other animals, but the best experience by far was feeding the giraffe.




(click above to play video)

Their heads are much bigger up close than they seem from far away.

This giraffe would slide his head right inside the open window and eat from the boys' hands.  It was so exciting. 

Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, cont'd

Here is a sampling of some of the animals we saw or interacted with during our safari:

There were ostriches and emus.  This one is an emu, which you can tell by the shorter neck.  Also, the ostriches were way more aggressive.  My dad tried to feed one and it bit his finger, much to Lucas's amusement!  But we had to roll up the window even with this emu, to get it to move on away from us. 

Josh spotted this deer as we drove by; no one else even noticed it.  We were joking that Josh has a great future as a hunter (although let's hope he doesn't!).  He was really good at finding the animals. 

And he was really good at coaxing them to the car.  A handful of treats didn't hurt.  (They were wildlife center-approved treats.)



Fossil Rim -- Children's Animal Center

The wildlife center also had a children's animal center (i.e., petting zoo), and we all enjoyed petting the goats, seeing the pigs and tortoises, and exchanging calls with the macaws.