Happy Birthday, Vj

This is after the fact, but VJ is now 5 years old. It's amazing how much he has grown!

Recent family news:

Dad, Noah and a friend went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4 this afternoon. Mom, VJ, and I stayed home...the older two happy that 2/3rds of the boys could FINALLY see the movie that Noah has been talking about for ages.

11 more days...

..until VJ turns 5!

Here are some baby pictures of him...the first is from 2006, the 2nd and 3rd are from when we took him home, and the last two are when we are home and holding and feeding him:

The only times Noah and I could feed
VJ a bottle was on Christmas Eve and
Christmas Day.

On his actual birthday, in about 11 days, I will post his "growing -up" pictures, from the top of this post's picture, to his birthday picture now...

Russell Cave picture

The left part is the part we COULDN'T go into

the right part, the one with the bridge, is the part we COULD

and that is where are those pictures on the last post

were from.

I can't remember where my notebook is, and I really don't want to do a fact post right now, since we may not have another OK-day for a while, or for tomorrow. Plus, my 20 minute computer time is almost done, and I want to get outside!

I may be able to do it during the week, or I'll do it next weekend.

Russell Cave

Noah and the sign to Russell Cave.

These are FAKE snakes.




Do you notice at all that I wasn't tall enough

to take a good picture, and held the camera above my head?

The same for this one, although it didn't

turn out as good as the other one.

We could only go in the non-watery part of the cave

and these clay people met us.

Noah liked this one.

L to R:

Mom, Monica,Frider, and Dad.

This is the part of the cave we couldn't go into.

I will post another picture of the one we could go into

later.

Nana's sister and brother-in-law came from Germany two weeks after the tornadoes came through AL. Nana brought them up to us from Birmingham, and we went to Russell Cave. Noah got Russell Cave to do his project on in school, and we went there for more info, to see the cave, and get more info. If he will let me, I'll take some pictures of the project when it is finished, and post them.

Here are some facts ( from Google, since I don't have my notebook right now):

It is the 3rd largest mapped cave in Alabama. It is ranked 90th on the U.S's longest cave list, and is currently 314 on the World's Long Cave list. Has a mapped length of 7.2 miles. A natural spring flows into the cave and travels 1.5 miles underground, before joining Widow's Creek and the TN river.

I might be able to put some more tomorrow.

On- the -way-to -Athens storm pictures

I'm quite suprised that this

picture turned out well, since

I had to zoom in too much.

That poor family...:(

Nashville during AL power outage

Nashville Zoo sign.

About to get out and walk around the zoo!

Birds..I forgot what kind.



Meerkat.

On the Historical Farm part of the zoo,

there was a plantation. The plantation house,

and cooking house, and herb garden and farm

animals were there. Above is the slave quarters.

You could look in the windows, but when I got

up there, this man told me there was a snake...

a copperhead snake...right above me. Believe me,

I got off there as quick as I could, told Mom and

Noah and Stephanie and VJ, and we got away.

Donkey, in the petting area.

This isn't a very good picture, but see the cross on

the back? We think that Jesus may have ridden

on one like this on His way into Jerusalem.

Rinoceros Iguana.

Bactrian Camel

did you know that they made the sound

for Chewbacca for the Star Wars movies?

and that they store fat in those humps,

which can be converted to water and enegry

when food isn't avaible?

I'll post storm damage pictures that we got on our way to Athens, on our way to TN, next.

Nashville during AL power outage #2

the science museum.

Tytus was amazed at the air and

ball flying!

VJ loved the ambulance!




Up against the sky line. You could


go up even further ( to the "3rd floor")


and see even more, but it was hard to get a picture


because of all the netting to keep you in.





Dinosaurs.






Interesting, huh?



T-Bone thought it VERY funny...and put it on FB( FaceBook).

On Friday, Mom and Stephanie ( my aunt) took me, Noah, VJ, and Tytus up to Nashville. T-Bone followed, but Dad stayed home to guard the house. We only had half a tank for gas, but made it up past Ardmore, TN, and to Exit 22 and got gas. T-Bone, however, only had a quarter of a tank of gas. We miscalculated the distance, and said it was about 40-something miles to Exit 22 from Madison. T-Bone said it was 62 miles. I learned a important maps lesson, there! Especially if your gas light is on for the last 8 miles, like T-Bone's was!

Above, are some of the pictures of the Adventure Science Museum, like the first pictures says. It was great, and Tytus, who wouldn't take a nap that day, had a wonderful experience crawling around in a place other than his home, our house, and the hotel's hall and room.

The next post will contain some of our zoo pictures.

A few storm damage pictures.

broken off branch

big uprooted tree.

a huge branch that fell in our yard.

Those tornadoes that road throughout Alabama, and other states left plenty of damage. The first two pictures above are from a bike ride that Dad and I took the day after the storm,( we rode down to the Kroger's on Hughes Rd (Madison AL)...4 miles down and 4 miles back ( 8 total). The third is a branch that fell in our yard.

Mom and Aunt Stephanie took Noah, VJ, Tytus ( our cousin), and I to Nashville, TN on Friday morning. Dad stayed home, as did Uncle T-Bone. We had half a tank of gas, but we made it past Athens and,I believe Ardmore, and got gas at Exit 22, wherever that is. Well, we went to the zoo, and T-Bone called and said he was coming up because he didn't have to work. He made it...on a quarter of a tank of gas to Exit 22. We also visited the Adventure Science Center, on Saturday. I took pictures, and Mom did too, at both places. I will post some of them later, when I get them loaded on the computer.

We stayed at the Comfort Hotel in TN..near Nashville somewhere, but I rate the Hampton Inn 100% more that the Comfort Hotel. It was okay,...and it did the trick....still Hampton Inn is better, in my opinion.

On our way to Athens, we saw a couple of houses leveled, trailers tipped on their sides, power lines on the street and down, etc.. I got some pictures and I will post those also, later on.

We have survived!

" The fear of a man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe." Proverbs 29:25