Saturday, March 31, 2007

Big News!

Ok Well, around my house anyway... They Graduated!!! Yeah!!! (cue the balloons and confetti)
All week they have tested, prepared, discussed, read, re-read, cleaned, shot, and discussed some more, but NOW Brock and Duner have officially become certified HUNTERS! Yikes.

Please warn everyone you know. Huntin' Season may never be the same again.
Just kidding, of course.

(Hmmm. I better go check my life ins policy though.)

Friday, March 30, 2007

The Showdown

Tonight we ate at a local pizza shop and then went to a local Jr High for a Magic Show.
It was very entertaining. The boys loved it. Any free time was spent discussing an upcoming quiz for Hunters Safety. Brock will become an official hunter tomorrow if he passes the exam.
On Wednesday he did very well on the shooting portion. He got to shoot a .22 'bolt action' gun.
That is probably the best part he would say.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Police Cruiser

So, I am driving in a borrowed car, while ours gets the brakes fixed. Zeb was amazed with it. He thought it was so neat. It was a Chevy Malibu.
Just as we get near our house, he says "Mom, This car is so fast! The cops won't be able to get catch you in this car!".
Hmmmm. I really don't know where he learned that one.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Dental Day

With the nice weather on Monday I managed to get distracted and forgot about a dentist appt for the boys. I had to reschdule and so the boys were happy to find out they got out of school early for the dental appt today.
Brock had to leave somewhat quickly so he could make it to Hunter's Safety with his dad. It was an internet program that he had to finish in 2 sessions. It was a lot more work online than Duner had thought. The program consisted of 14 quiz's. Randomly placed pop quiz's and MANY more pages of information to learn. It took about 4 hours on Sunday and 3 hours on Tuesday. (Nothing like waiting till the last minute.) I had to help him go thru it on Tuesday since Duner had to work at his part-time job. I didn't want to learn about hunting but I had to suddenly read the directions to cut open a deer. I don't think Brock got anything out of it. It is just not the same reading about it. He enjoyed the laughing at the pictures.
All the boys recieved a sparkling report from the dentist. No cavities. Brock may not need braces after all. It sounds like his teeth are making their way on their own. Yeah!
I am sure we impressed the Dental Hygenist by having the boys show up with gum in their mouths. Brock's theory was it would make his teeth more clean by chewing the gum.
Suuuurrrre Brock! I don't know how well that theory would fly with the Dentist.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Let the sunshine in!

Some days it is so hard to stay indoors.
Today was one of those days.
I am lucky enough as it is to work part-time. But with weather in the 70's, and sunny like it was today, I can't but to take it all in. I had all the windows open in the house from 7am this morning. I cleaned up the house while I waited for the floor guy to come and fix some warrenty work we had done. I was just loving the sunshine. I couldn't sit down. Zeb was torn. He wanted to play on the PS2, but he wanted to be outside. He told me about 6 times that he was going to run around the house. He just threw on his winter boots and ran out the back door.
He let us go to Lowes to pick up some stones and seeds, for various outdoor projects. We came home and I was able to hose out the garage. The frost had come out of the garage this weekend and it made out floor very slippery. Zeb was in and out of the house the entire time. I had promised him that we could go for a walk. When it was time for the walk he opted for the scooters. So both of us jumped on a scooter and walked thru the neighborhood. I found myself in a hurry, but Zebbie was a speed demon. I tried to slow down, it was so nice there was no reason to rush. I did want to make cookies or bars when we got home and we talked about what to make on our walk.
When we got home he placed his arm on the wall above his head and said "Mom, you can't go to the store, you have no money. You didn't go to the bank. (sigh) I'm tired! I don't want to go."
Not even treats could get him to go to the store!

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Friday Brock had a Birthday 'Play'. He was invited to a party which each person was a 'part' in a story. Brock was set to be King Howard. He was to be the King of Salusia. He was about to be overthrown and things were not going well.
He spent much time on Thursday night trying to figure out what he was going wear. They asked that each person dressed the part. I told him he should wear camoflauge since his character was almost in hiding. He laughed but declined. I told him to dig out the Halloween costume bin and see what we could find. My mom had made a biblical costume for a Halloween party at church party, I tried to tell him that would work fine. He didn't want to until we went online and looked up Midevil Kings clothing. It said "Short dresslike tops with tights".
"No Way am I wearing tights!" He quickly says.
He decided the costume I suggested wasn't so bad. We also thought of trying to get a Burger king crown for the costume too.

Friday was the party. It started at 5 pm, I thought it was 6:30pm. Duner called me at 4pm and told me that it was actually at 5pm. We didn't have a gift yet either. So Duner had to get him ready and to the party in 45 min.
He brought his costume in a bag, just incase other didn't show up with theirs on. They quickly ran to Walmart and bought a card and gift card. After asking me at work to look online and find the location of the house, they set off to find it. They managed to find it, but Brocks stomach was acting up. They drove past a few times to make sure that they had the right house. Duner said they saw some girls going in all decked out and then they knew they were at the right house. After that Brock started getting a bad case of the nerves and decided to go back home.
So he came home and watched movies with us.

Today Brock Invited a friend from school over. His name is Jacob. He reminds me of what my Dad probably looked like at 12. He is really in to racing and has a Brother in law that works for a Nascar driver, making engines. He was a very nice kid. I am glad that Brock is getting more friends. Earlier this week I pushed him to go play with the neighbor kids in the backyard. Believe it or not I had to have him stop his homework so he could play. I don't know many parents that have that problem.

Monday, March 19, 2007

In Recovery

I am currently sitting at the O'hare International airport waiting for our plane. It is suppose to take off in one hour. We got on our flight last night at 1am cst. I couldn't sleep right away. I think I fell asleep about 2am and slept until 4:45am, when they made the announcement about the flight preparing to land. It was nice since it went so quickly. We watched the episode of Grey's Anatomy on our laptop while we waited for the play but now it is quiet and we are getting very sleepy. I am looking forward to taking a nap today at home.

Last night we had to do some reconfiguring of our bags, since you can only take 50lbs per bag. We ended up transferring 4.5 lbs from one bag to the other. They both just BARLEY made the 50 lbs and under mark. One was right on and the other was .5 under.

It was funny 'cause a couple next to us was trying to figure out how to lighten her bag from 16 lbs over. She asked her companion what should she remove, but he said that there was no way she was going to transfer 16 lbs to her carry on. They had to pay 50 bucks to leave it in.

Well we just found out our gate changed so we had to move to a new location.
Travel is always changing.

San Fran Pictures.

The clouds made our trip to the ocean overcast but in the city it was Beautiful. Quiet a few surfers out today.
This is how far the stairs is from the water, but check this out.
The ocean claimed the sand from the steps...
Really Fresh sea food for sale. They are still alive, just upside down.
You can see Golden Gate in the distance, but you can not see the top it due to the clouds.
Yummmy! Free Chocolate samples in every chocolate shop. We made it in two of them!

Pictures from Lake Tahoe

Align Center
The bright blue water of the pure lake.
(You can see the shadow of the boat)
Beautiful Lake Tahoe from the M.S. Dixie...

Emerald Bay (the green water, Not from weeds!!)


Duner and the Mountains around Lake Tahoe

Sunday, March 18, 2007

More on Lake Tahoe

While Shopping at Lake Tahoe we got sucked in to a Time share talk in order to get a free trip on the M.S. Dixie. It was your typical 'good guy, bad guy' sales pitch. You too for only $15,000.00 plus 600 dollars anually can vacation freely every year til you die with Trendwest Vacations!

Great, Let me just check my bank account. Hmmm. Nope not an extra 15,000 sitting around.
Oh Well.
Don't get me wrong, the place was nice. But I just paid off a vehicle, I don't need another bill right now.
" All you need is 10% down and you can do 90 days same as cash!"
No Thanks.
After many NO's and creative ways to get out of it, we got 40 bucks of 'Crusin' Cash and hopped on the MS Dixie. It was nice and interesting but I am glad I didn't pay for it. I didn't know lake Tahoe was over 1500 ft deep. Also it is 99% pure, rain/snow runoff water. It was beautiful blue, except when you enter Emerald Bay where it turns a bright Green color. (Hence the name.) There was also an island that has a Tea House (or the ruins of them) on the top. Some rich lady had it built to entertain her guests. Over a hundred years ago she paid 250,000 for the island and some land on shore to built her castle called Vikingsholm Castle.
We used the 40 dollars worth of crusin' cash to buy lunch and some souvenir mugs. The tour took about 3 hrs and we apparently sat next to someone famous, because a women came up to the lady and said 'Hi I am leslie, I saw your picture ....(I couldn't hear where without being obvious?) I wanted to introduce myself.' Then another lady came and took her picture. They left our area shortly after that. I didn't know her so it didn't matter to me.
We wanted to ride a gondola up a mountain, but by the time we got there they were closing. That will have to wait til next time, with the kids.
There were all kinds of people in ski boots, carrying snowboards or ski's everywhere.
They also have a skate rink that they open up and light at night, very postcard like. I didn't have my camera when we saw it the first time but I did get a shot during the day, but it lose's it's charm when it is covered with tarps.
We were able to take lots of pictures but I will have to load them later. We have to check out of our hotel in 2 hrs, then we will be homeless till we get home, tomorrow at 9am. We have an overnight flight from San Fran to Chicago.
Duner wants to watch the Badger basketball game somewhere, I would like to go down to fishermans wharf and Ghiradelli Square. There is a fifty's style diner there.
I am really looking forward to going home. The weather has been nice but it is always nice to return.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Beautiful Lake Tahoe

I got back to the room by 8:30am to find out that Duner was awake since 6:30am, and he couldn’t do anything. I had the car and my cell phone will not charge for some reason. Grrr. I don’t know why. It just keeps flashing at us when it is on the charger. Grrr.

We went to ,what I like to call, the boardwalk. It is a cluster of 4 or 5 hotels combined by a series of walkways over city streets. You don’t even know you are over the streets because there is no windows. Shops, Resturants, Buffets, Cafes all over the place. As if the Casinos weren’t enough for you to spend money they add all of that to it. Let me say they spared little when it come to lavishness. The European feel extends throughout. Unless you are in Circus Circus. Then it is like a giant tent, complete with game show vendors and a net for acrobats. That part is really geared toward kids. We could tell when we were getting close to them because we began to see more kids.

We ate breakfast at a hotel on the boardwalk called Eldorados. It was much better than last nights buffet at our hotel. It had Fruit, fruit salad, veggie salads, ham, sausages (3 kinds), bacon, pancakes, waffles, muffins, baked egg dishes, rolls, omelets, fried potatoes, oatmeal, cereals and even desserts!

I wanted to take a picture but I had left my camera in my room. It went on forever!

We had to hurry back, shower and ck out of our room. Duner had to bowl at 11:30am. 6 games. He didn't do to well. He struggled, but he isn't on a league this year, so he hasn't had the practice.

We left there about 2 pm just intime to go to a casino and catch the end of the Badger win. They had a sports bar theme set up for the NCAA tournaments. Hot and Chili dogs, Nachos and various other fare. Beverages were free since we were in a Casino. Our server had about 15 beverages on a tray and someone hit her and they went all over her and the floor. She was soaked.
We stayed there a few more minutes talking with some of the guys, signing up for New Mexico for next year, then we had to go on to our next Location. South Lake Tahoe, CA.

BEAUTIFUL! We saw about 4 bear crossing signs! I wanted to get a picture of one but we were always going up hill or down zipping past them. At one point on a downhill slide we drove past a bicycle. A pedal biker... YIKES! He was just flying and he was still pedaling! I could only hope he was training for the Tour de France.
This is just like Door County or Minocqua but with more large pine trees. We are going to go on a gondola ride today. It is supposed to be 65 degrees here. 79 in Reno. We saw alot of people that looked like they were skiiing today. Bright red faces and arms except where their goggles were.
Our room had a whirlpool tub in it last night, it was a neat hotel. Not as nice as our first one but that did set the bar pretty high. They have a Holiday Inn Express here that we thought of staying here an additional night and cancelling our room in San Fran, but they are double the price that we paid.
We would love to come here again. The one down part is there is lots of rich people here. You can tell this is a playground for the rich. We saw someone from a french speaking place and either Japanese or Chinese speaking place.
I can see why they come from so far to stay here. It still has snow on the mountains. just outside the back from our hotel there is a snow covered mountain. This morning we had frost on our car and I left my coat in Wisconsin! Brrr. At least there low is probably 30 degrees today. Not 10, like Wisconsin.
Well, I better go, I don't have much internet time left till we get to our next Hotel.
More Later...

Friday, March 16, 2007

Reno to Lake Tahoe.

Today I woke up and drove to find cheap beverages (Pepsi and Water) and internet. Our hotel didn't have internet. They were in the process of getting it.
Duner did ok on bowling yesterday. I don't think any of the current leaders have anything to worry about at all. The 3rd place current winner is from Madison, WI. This tournament goes on thru May so plenty of time for things to change for them. Pollen is very high here and my sinuses were telling me weather channel.com was right. I got an allergy med from a wife of another bowler and it made me tired so I laid down in the hotel for an hour or so. Duner came and we headed to the Buffet at the hotel.
It is amazing the amount of food they waste in display. I had watermelon, pineapple, a oil salad with mushrooms, green and red pepers, and onions. Crab legs, shrimp cocktail, fried shrimp, Potatoe and Leek soup, cabbage, BBQ ribs and cheese cake. I put more of the fruits and veggies than the other stuff on my plate. I didn't want to eat too much of the high calorie things. I have limited internet time so I can do my calorie counting website much in this town. I am at a local Starbucks using the internet right now.
Well I have to go my battery is getting low. More later..

Day to San Fran to Reno


Our Hotel was a Holiday Inn Express. It was right off Hwy 1 in California. We were 4 blocks from the Pacific Ocean and a State Beach. As we checked in to the hotel a guest was asking if people around here always drive so slow for no reason and then speed back up. We had to agree. No stop signs, no cars pulling over, no school buses stopping.

Our room had two double beds. WONDERFUL BEDS! They were just like sleeping on clouds. The pillows were Excellent! I slept great. We joked about how we can now do anything since we stayed at a “Holiday Inn Express”.
The toilet was great for a 4 year old, but when you would flush it the noise was heart stopping! It sounded like jet airplane suction power. It scared us to each the first time we used it. Zeb would have been terrified.

We decide to beat the early am traffic and left at 6:15 or so on Thursday to head for Reno.
It was dark. We had googled for directions before with left. I had the print out and we were set. I also had a bunch of maps from the airport. We were doing Great Hwy 1 to 280. 280 to 101. 101 to Interstate 80 didn’t go so well. Our google directions said “Slight right onto Bay Bridge/Oakland/7th Street.” We exited. We were NOT supposed to. SAN FRANCISCO IS NOT A CITY YOU WANT TO MAKE A WRONG TURN IN!! It is one way EVERYthing!!! We got stuck on a road that we couldn’t turn left or right on. It was a mess. Then we finally get on to I-80. It took us 45 minutes to get 2 miles on to the interstate. It was 7:45am. Not when you want to be driving around in the city.
We just passed IKEA By Sacramento! Mental Note, we must stop on our way back!

The rest of the ride was greatfully uneventful. Best scenery around as always. I am glad I didn’t have to drive I would have not had much of a chance to watch all the colorful mountains change with every curve of the road. This drive seems to go so fast because it is very scenic.
Around Donner Pass there was still snow on the mountains. At one point the snow at the edge of the road was 5 FT HIGH. That is not because it is piled up from the road. It looks like they have a GIANT snowblower that comes in and cuts it and throws it some where. You can actually see the different layers of snow, newest ones were cleaner than the older ones. At one exit a sedan took it and it wasn’t long before the car was not seen due to the amount on either side of the road.

We got to Reno and learned there in No Doubles partner for Duner to bowl with tomorrow. His partner, I will call him S., cancelled but didn’t tell Duner. Great Guy!
Luckily they happened to have an extra player for the team version today. In 15 minutes Duner will be starting his bowling. I am just hanging out in our hotel room relaxing. I would like to get a beverage but water was 2 bucks for 16 oz bottle. Duner doesn’t like coke but he has had to suffer with it for the last two days.Our Hotel for Day two is 2 blocks from the Bowling Center. This is Duner standing in our hotel room (#1313- Lucky?). Hmmmm... You can see the Bowling Center in the background with th giant globe on top. Our hotel is Vinatge 1960. It looks like they upgraded the rooms in 1981, but I can't complain. It was a cheap one. The first 2 floors are casino and the 3rd is resturant and buffet. We only eat 2 times a day while we are here since there is so much food and not much exercise. I am going to go to a grocery store and buy some bottled water and pepsi.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Boring Flight= LONG post...

This am Auntie Sara took Zebbie and one of the Dogs for a walk while we left. I think I gave her all the info that I possibly could. There are so many things that you don’t think of normally because they are so routine.
We are currently flying from Chicago to San Fran. It has been about an hour now.
The boys would be happy on this flight. They played Happy Feet. They have already seen the movie but they liked it.
We got to the Appleton Airport and checked in. We had to remove one of Duners 3 bowling balls. Apparently that has been the rule for a long time but they haven’t enforced it. Our check in clerk told us after she left, “Anyone else but her, would have let it go.”
We ran into our my cousin’s husband who was dropping off his brother at the airport. I stood up with his brother in my cousin’s wedding. His brother is a left handed pitcher in a farm league for baseball. Basically he is good enough for a career, but not good enough for the major leagues. He is on contract with the Minnesota Twins, but on a farm team from Rodchester. He is a free agent next year. He just had a baby girl. He said he won’t be home till September. He is going to spring training in Florida. His wife is a school teacher in Greenville.
I had to surrender my carmex, lip gloss, and hand sanitizer in Appleton. I think the rules that they have are lame. I was able to keep it if I went to the gift shop to buy a a quart size Ziploc baggie to put them in.
I knew there was supposed to be no liquids but I didn’t realize carmex qualified as ‘liquied’.
We were able to pick our seats on the first flight but not on this one. We both are in the same row, but we didn’t get seats right next to each other. Both middle seats.
We had 10 minutes to wait before we boarded our flight from Appleton, so I was able to try out a laptop that I am using from my sister. She should me how to get online. It WORKED! I just was able to log on, but then we had to board the plane.
We sat in front of a old lady that kept complaining about things. People not saying Thank you or wishing them a good trip. One person didn’t even stop to say goodbye. It was funny to hear her say ‘Screw him”.
When we landed we were told our next gate wasn’t far. I would say she was wrong. We landed at about 10 after noon in Chicago, and it took us 20 minutes to get there from where we landed. We didn’t have the time to grab some decent food. We had to settle for sandwhiches (one each) and one drink that cost 21 bucks! I hate cold sandwhiches, but by the time we land it will be almost supper and I didn’t want to pig out just because I hadn’t eaten all day. I only had coffee for breakfast.
Update: After 4 hrs Not talking to either girl next to me on the flight we finally landed. At hour 4 the girl on the end got up to use the bathroom and I quickly took the opportunity to get off my BUTT! We got a rental car and headed to Half Moon Bay. It was a really nice drive in spots, large trees and beautiful Ocean! I miss Mexico! We ate at Round table pizza for supper at 8pm Wisconsin time, 6 pm CA time. It was pretty good. My sister used to work at one when she lived in California but I don't know if it is this one, but it was some good pizza.
Tomorrow we get up bright and early to drive 4 hrs to Reno Neveda. Yeah!

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Birthday Boy!

Today is Brock's 12th Birthday!~
Yippeee!
(cue the confetti and balloons)

I already bought him a gift last week and he went shopping with Grandpa yesterday (along with Reece, calling himself 'The Recommendor') They picked out a game called Strong hold. He really likes it but Reece got to play on it more than Brock. Go figure. I am making German Chocolate Cake per request and we got candles and letters to place on the cake later.

Normally I let them pick where we eat but he got that early too! We ate at Old Country Buffet on Thursday. We were going up to the cabin today so we decided to do it early. I don't know if we really are going up to the cabin today (Dad was the only one that wanted to go today), since we have yet to finish our drywall project in the garage.

Well, I have to go make the frosting for the cake!

Friday, March 09, 2007

Get 'er done!

Yet again it is one of those weeks where every second I have I cannot blog, since either my kids are on the computer or my husband is sleeping and can't stand the sound of typing.
*sigh*
I only have a minute, so this will be short.
We are in the process of getting ready for a trip to California. We leave next week Wednesday and will be gone until Monday at 9am. We have an overnight flight on Sunday, which will be strange. I haven't had that since I went to England. But that flight was due to the fact that they are 6 hrs a head of us. I left Chicago at 8pm, which was 2am for them. I couldn't sleep really well, since I was so excited.

The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend so we are going to finish a project of drywalling the garage. Saturday is Brock's 12th Birthday, so I will be having to make a German Chocolate cake tonight. He already had a Birthday treat meal, and a present, the safari hunting game. I am fairly certain the cake will only last till maybe Saturday night...

Well, Times up!

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Jump!!

We went up to the cabin to clear about 2 ft of snow from the driveway on Sunday.
We brought the kids for the extra man power. Luckily I had the foresight to say "Let's bring the snowblower up with us." If I hadn't we would have been there till monday morning shoveling.

After the driveway we tackled the roof. That took almost an hour. The kids couldn't wait till we finished so they could jump off into a HUGE snowbank that we had made.

After they did it about 3 times the begged us to jump. I wasn't ready to break any bones but after getting coerced from Duner and the boys, I managed to jump.
Right up to my thighs in snow.

I just have to say, how much FUN that was!!

I am so glad I did, I highly recommend it!

Yesterday, Last night and Today

Yesterday morning I was trying to get Zeb out of the door for school, he was busy trying to quickly put together a lego 'creation' as he said, but we were low on time so I started to count.
Ooooone.
He quickly says "Mom, Don't say that! Say A,B,C,D,E,F,G..!"
I managed not to laugh but I thought that was so cute.

Last night He was not getting off the computer after I warned him it was time to get off. So I began to count again.
Ooooone.
"Mom, 1,2,3 your outta here!" he scoffed at me.
I really, really tried hard not to laugh but that was so funny. It is in my room. It was almost bedtime. I won't be leaving my own room because he said so.

How can you not laugh at that!

Today while Dad tries to sleep Zeb was on the computer telling me all about it. I asked him to quiet down so Daddy can sleep and he said "It's already down" (meaning the volume on the computer)
I told him that wasn't what I meant.

"Oh, You mean my mouth?" he replied.
Yep. That would be the one.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Lets do something...

So I said "How about going to Cabela's?"
Cabelas is a store that is a hunter's paradise. It opened about 1 hour and a half south of here and Duner has wanted to go since September when it opened. So Saturday we loaded up the kids and took off to Richfield WI.

Duner was hoping to play in a cribbage tournament but his partner couldn't make it. He was bummed out and didn't want to stay home all day and think about how he was missing the tournament.

We left around lunch time so we stopped at a KFC on the way, loaded up on snackers and potatoe wedges. We got to Cabela's around 2:30 and had to park way out in the back 40 of the parking lot! Just about by the horse corral and dog kennels. (Yes they actually have a place for you to put your horses and dogs while you shop!)

We headed in and first checked out the HUGE real lake fish aquarium. The boys got to see perch, sturgeon, large mouth, musky, northern and huge rock bass. The musky kept watching us like he was mad. You could see a large white patch on his mouth possibly from ramming it against the glass over and over again.

Then we headed past the clothing and fishing areas to the stuffed animals (real ones). The boys got to see beavers, elk, cougars, mountain lions, foxes, mule and regular dear, and bears. in the water at the bottom they had trout (real ones) swimming in the water.

We walked up the stairs to a shooting gallery. All the boys got a chance to electronically hit all kinds of targets like tin cans, deer, snakes, shunks, windows, pans and buckets. Zeb of course was always the first to run out of ammo. Reece was the last. He took his time trying to hit his targets. While Brock was waiting we found a birthday present for him. It was a safari hunting game.

We checked out the home store (my favorite part), bargin cave, shoes, camping, and archery. The had a neat exhibit of different mule deer and whitetail deer. All different types of throphy deer and some elk too. Duner is going to Colorado to do some Elk hunting in October, so he kept saying 'That's what Dad's going to get!" or 'That's what I am going hunting for soon!'.

Duner just found out that before he can purchase the tag he needs to have completed hunter's safety. He is registered to do that with Brock at the end of March, and he better pass because he has to get signed up by April 3rd for his tag!

We stopped by another shotting area, that was more like a really large Playstation with guns. That got jammed just before we were going to have the boys play. We used our car keys and got out 2 tokens from each of the two slots. Then we didn't have to use them because we were given free credits for waiting.

Finally we checked out the Safari Animals exhibit and headed for home with some very happy boys...