Lazy 5 Ranch

When we moved to Mooresville last year we heard about this wonderful wild animal reserve--the Lazy 5 Ranch.  In the back of my mind I knew we'd go to visit it sometime but since we were going to live here for years and years I was in no rush.  When we decided to move I wanted to make sure we got a visit in before Rich left.  We had a limited number of weekends left so we decided to go the weekend after the Fourth.

We weren't really sure what to expect from the entire experience.  First we took a look around and watched the prairie dogs for a bit. 

And played on their cool playground.

 Next we headed over to the "walking" portion of the ranch.  There was a little island of lemurs hopping around and fighting one another. These guys were so fascinating to watch!

 This peacock wandered around and even flew up into a tree.  The boys said it was a "ninja bird" because it was so sneaky up in the branches.

 And this little guy was having a great conversation with the lemurs.

Finally it was time for our wagon ride.  You have the option of driving through in your own car or on a horse-drawn wagon with a guide.  I'm glad we opted for the wagon ride.  Our driver was great at telling us about all the animals and the park.  Plus we got to be a little more up close and personal with all the animals.

We got the chance to feed all kinds of animals.  I was surprised at how brave William and Alexander were from the beginning.  James took a little bit of convincing but he joined in as well.  Back when William was little we were given an old VHS tape of Jack Hannah's animal bloopers.  We must have watched that video 100s of times in the past 8 years.  Every line is ingrained in our memories.  Rich had a great time pulling out all his favorite lines as we encountered different animals.  He even pulled a line from Napoleon Dynamite when we fed the llamas.

First we saw emu and ostrich.

 Then some kind of sheep.

Next, on to the llamas.  Llamas and I have a long history--when I was a little girl one tried to eat my hair because I was sitting on a haystack in the petting zoo.

 When we got to the water buffalo (where we started singing "Everyone has a water buffalo"... thank you VeggieTales) James finally got brave enough to feed.  I think it helped that you just poured the feed into their open mouths.

 We fed the bison the same way... but they had some crazy tongues!

 We weren't allowed to feed those guys in the back (because they'll get their huge horns stuck in the wagon rails) but the cebu wasn't shy at all.  (And we started singing another VeggieTales silly song all about the cebu. It's really too bad that no one else could appreciate all our awesome references about the animals.)

 We finally got to the giraffes!  I even got up there to pet them.  Very cool.

 When our ride was done we took another stroll around the walking area to check out the kangaroos.

And one last look at the lemurs... where I realized that there were two little babies being snuggled in there!  They were so so tiny and sweet! (It's really hard to see them but you can see one tiny head on the left.)

I'm glad that we got a chance to discover this little gem before we left our town... and we're excited to discover the new gems awaiting us in Nevada!

Independence Day

I've noticed a funny thing around here.  The big fireworks show is the day before the Fourth of July.  Weird.  We decided to watch the show from the Target parking lot... so we grabbed some treats beforehand (and some poppers) and settled in.

It started raining but the show went on.

We had a patriotic dinner on the Fourth and since the boys were up so late watching fireworks the night before we did our Fourth of July sparklers before it was too dark.  The boys had so much fun...

Especially Henry.

I was especially grateful for the patriotic family home evening program put on by our bishop's family that week to remind us of the great country that we live in and the real reason we celebrate our independence.

House

So for those of you who haven't heard... we are moving.  Again.  This time to Las Vegas.

We really thought we'd be here in North Carolina for years.  We loved it here.  It is beautiful, we have a wonderful ward, awesome neighborhood, and great schools.

It was a really hard decision to make and it's been a whirlwind ever since!  We made the final decision on Thursday (June 27th.)  We called a realtor on Friday and got our house up for sale.  We have had two houses for sale in the past and it's my least favorite thing--keeping it looking good (while trying to pack) and coordinating showings.  It's so stressful for me.  So Saturday morning (8:45am) we were cleaning up after a wonderful crepe breakfast and taking it easy.  And the phone rings.  There is a showing at 9:00!  We raced around the house trying to get it looking good enough to show.  It wasn't great but we got it acceptable looking.  While we were gone we got another call saying that we'd have a showing at 10:00.  We raced home to grab our swim suits so we could play at the pool while we waited for people to come and go.

By noon we received 2 offers.  It was crazy fast.  Rich will start work in one week and the boys and I will finish packing and will drive out on the 31st.

One of the sad things about leaving here is having to move from this house.  We took it from a smokey-smelling, ugly painted, filthy place to someplace that we love.  I don't know that I ever posted pictures of our home here.  So for those who care... here is our house. (Some of these are pictures I took for the listing... but we never got a chance to put them up.  I took the rest after we had sold but they aren't picture perfect... forgive our mess!)

Downstairs:
 

Left of entry way: piano room (aka formal dining room)

Right of entry: Living room

Guest room/Craft room

Family Room

 Kitchen

Upstairs:

William and Alexander's room

 

James and Henry's room

Boys Bathroom

Loft/Reading nook... this is probably my favorite little spot.  You can't see well but those pictures on the wall are illustrations from children's books.  Each one represents one of my boys' names.

 Playroom

 Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

We really have loved it here.  And we'll miss so much about it.  But we are excited to move on to our next adventure as well!  Wish us luck!