Gulf Fritillary

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As we were leaving the Aquarium on Thursday, I spotted this gorgeous butterfly which turned out to be a Gulf Fritillary.  I was delighted to be able to get a few captures before he moved on!

Last year this time of year, I got a side view of the same type of butterfly about a mile away from the location of this year's shot.  I guess they thrive in that area of the state at least at this time of year.  I've never seen this type of butterfly in Raleigh.

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It was a real joy to be outside yesterday.  The temps were lower and the humidity was lower.  I could walk around and not get a mosquito bite.  The mosquitoes have been horrible since Hurricane Irene went by.  The boys and I ended up at Yates Mill and enjoyed a walk around the millpond trail.  Johnny is just so cute playing robot all the time with sticks and other things on the trail.  There are hints of the glory of fall color to come, but mostly things are not turning yet.  It was quite windy, though, and you could feel fall rushing in.

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Milkweed seed shell:

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Not Just a Day at the Beach

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Whenever the boys track out from their year round school schedule, we try to make at least one day trip to the beach.  Often, our destination is either Wrightsville Beach or over to Carolina/Kure Beach and Fort Fisher where one of the NC Aquariums is.  Yesterday we made such a trip winding our way on NC 132 through Wilmington and over to the aquarium.  Typically, we eat lunch, enjoy a casual stroll through the aquarium, and then go to either the Fort Fisher recreation area or one of the other public access spots nearby.  This way we aren't out in the sun during the hottest part of the day.  Being October, and the weather turned out great but was questionable at the start of the day, nothing was crowded.  We enjoyed the aquarium and recreation area with a handful of other people.  I took about 600 pictures and cleaned it out to around 300 putting together a collage of favorite aquarium and beach shots.  I chose to post the aquarium collage because it has so many nice colors and varying shots, but I really like the beach collage too.

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The lower right picture shows Joey's hand holding a piece of a sand dollar.  He was delighted to be finding such good luck on the beach.  I tried to help him find a whole one, but we weren't that lucky.  I have found one or two on this stretch of beach before.  I'm a shell girl.  Each trip I bring back one or two gallon Ziploc bags of shells for crafts or to put on display in the yard or in a bowl to remind me of my happy trips to the beach.  I was very happy that Joey showed such an interest yesterday in shell collecting with me.  We found a sea urchin, saw a tiny crab, got a few crab 'shells', and found some other unusual sea creatures...things we don't find back over at Wrightsville Beach where they've had to pump in so much sand for beach replenishment.  Fort Fisher always has a nice variety.

Johnny crashed and crashed and crash in the waves.  I'm so proud of how both boys handle the ocean water. I was much more afraid at their age.

Although the water was 73 and the air temp around 80, we were all in it 4 times frolicking in the sun.  The wind gave a bit of a chill, but we were able to enjoy the water anyway.

Apparently the movie Arthur Newman, Golf Pro was being filmed just up the beach from us!  I don't know if Emily Blunt or Colin Firth were there, but they were filming some sort of police scene.

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Saving this shot of the aquarium wall for a possible future collage background:-)

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Really like this picture of  my boys...

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I'm saving butterfly, turtle, and gull shots just in case I need something to post tomorrow or over the weekend:-)   Hope you enjoyed a quick view of our trip to the beach...

Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park

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I'm not sure how many times we've been to Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park in Scotland Neck, NC, but quite a few, and each time we go we have a blast.  Yesterday was no exception.  The rain held off, the sun peaked through, and we were delighted in the Australia exhibit by the Victoria Crowned Pigeons (VCP) and Matilda the Cape Barren Goose.  I've always longed for a shot of a VCP like I got yesterday.  Seriously, I took 200 pics of those birds because hey were such good posers and so animated with the boys.  They chased us, pecked on our Crocs Jibbitz, strutted their stuff, pleaded at us with their eyes, and were most cooperative models for my shots.  Besides the daily shot which I chose as the best of the best, here's a collage showing a few of my other favorites:

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http://fotomom.smugmug.com/SylvanHeightsWaterfowlParkScot/Sylvan-Heights-101211/19506679_tdbKst#1527342668_TnMqWRr

And here's the video.  I have never heard a bird carry on like this while dancing of all things.  They did this 'act' several times.  So humorous!

So as not to leave park favorite Matilda out:

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http://fotomom.smugmug.com/SylvanHeightsWaterfowlParkScot/Sylvan-Heights-101211/19506679_tdbKst#1527341787_s3QT4Hf

My boys:

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http://fotomom.smugmug.com/SylvanHeightsWaterfowlParkScot/Sylvan-Heights-101211/19506679_tdbKst#1527338844_7Rhf6PW

A very cool spider shot taken through a window in the beaver blind:

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http://fotomom.smugmug.com/SylvanHeightsWaterfowlParkScot/Sylvan-Heights-101211/19506679_tdbKst#1527338262_2jGg2nc

And a beautiful flower shot:

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http://fotomom.smugmug.com/SylvanHeightsWaterfowlParkScot/Sylvan-Heights-101211/19506679_tdbKst#1527337078_PkWKsVr

We're planning a day trip to the beach today.

My cold is finally better although I refuse to ever let one slow me down if I can at all help it.  Tests continue to be performed, results reviewed, and research done.  No huge stumbling blocks.  No real decisions made yet on treatment, but that's coming soon.  Thanks for your continued support...

Summer's Last Glory

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We saw these beautiful yellow flowers everywhere at the zoo. Quite tall clumps at 3' tall were impressive. We saw a grounds keeper and asked about them, and she said they are a type of sunflower.

I put together a collage of the best gorilla pics here:

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The females were the ones near the window with the male mostly keeping to himself. He walked by once and the girls cleared his path quick! Johnny was just all giggles through the window, and the one female really seemed to enjoy the human interaction of putting on a show for her fan club.

I'm off to the Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park in Scotland Neck with the boys today although it's cloudy and drippy out there. Just trying to make the best of our time together despite the yucky weather.

Lion at the NC Zoo

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After my MRI yesterday, the procedure went fine but I don't have results yet, we took off to the NC Zoo.  I'm off this week doing activities with the boys during their fall year round school track out time.  Unfortunately, we're having an atypical October rain pattern-(  Thankfully, it was only cloudy at the zoo and not actually raining.  Today we have light rain, though.

Each time we go to the zoo, we're always delighted by a few of the animals and disappointed by some of the others.  Yesterday the polar bear was off exhibit and the river otters were sleeping.  Both of those things we disappointing.  But, the lion, gorillas, and chimps were all active and very enjoyable.  I can still hear Johnny giggling over his interaction at the glass with the gorilla and Joey shouting, "Mom!  Mom!  The lion is roaring!"

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I decided to show you a tonemapped picture of the lion today.  Maybe tomorrow will be the gorillas or some of the pretty flower pictures I took.  A pretty yellow sunflower variety was out all over the zoo.

Here's a collage of some of the most heartwarming pics to me of us enjoying the zoo:

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More than a Pumpkin Farm

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I told you yesterday that I might share a pretty landscape scene from The Vollmer Farm this week, and I decided today was a good day to do just that.

Here are a few more:

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Lego Kids Fest at the Raleigh Convention Center was busy for a Sunday morning and a ton of fun.  the kids got to see quite a few lifesize Lego character structures.  You know I was ready with the camera!  They also got to build an 8X8 square to contribute to a very large USA 'map'.  The idea was basically to build a skyscraper or something else you'd see in the landscape.  Even mom got in on that one.  The kids also participated in a 6 person team to build the tallest tower in 3 minutes.  They did good even though they didn't win.  And, of course, there was lots of building areas including 3 monochrome builds (pink, green, and orange) which we enjoyed.  Joey thanks everyone for their birthday wishes and said he had a great time.

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Marbles Kids Museum is close-by to the Convention Center, and you'll see that the kids continued to build over there too:-)

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The Vollmer Farm

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Sunday tends to be a family oriented post, and today is no exception.

The kids and I made our annual trip to The Vollmer Farm in Bunn, NC yesterday.  That's about a 45 minute ride from our house and well worth it.  This was our 5th year going although some how Madi's first trip, and we'll be going back again next year I'm sure.

Besides the  pictures in the collage, there were a few other cute pictures that I just could not squeeze in.

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There were awesome landscape vistas at the farm too.  Maybe one day this week I'll do another daily and post showing them.

Today is Joey's 9th birthday, and we are out of here ASAP to go to Lego Kids Fest at the Raleigh Convention Center.