Favorite Friday... School's Finally Done and the Zoo

*Caution - This post may contain material that is not appropriate for those who have not had some version of 'The Birds & the Bees'  talk already. ;-)

We are done!! We are finally finished! I can hardly believe we made it a year together. Homeschooling has been such a challenge for me. I don't mean that in a negative way. Rather, I feel like I was really stretched out of my comfort zone and it was the best thing I could have done for myself. I feel so blessed to have spent so much time with my kids this year. And let me say what how grateful I am to see that both E and Sis are happy and have accomplished so much. We did our "end-of-year" testing this week and both kids did amazingly well. (To be honest, I was more than a little worried that I had failed to teach them enough or that they had not retained anything.) The two things I was most worried about ended up being just fine. Esther came through her L. Arts with a +95% average. Et got in the high 80's in science and 90's in Math. Why do I worry so much?!? Worrying is such a monumental waste of time and energy.

This has been such a great week. It has still had its share of bumps and stresses, but they are so small in comparison to all the goodness we've had. Our goals for the summer are simple. We want to have fun exploring and imagining and learn something in the process.  Moving on...

*Being Friday, today was zoo day. It was hot, hitting 90 by noon. It was crowded. It seems every school, daycare and youth group schedules their zoo trip for the last three weeks in May. No worries. It was still great. The animals don't to anything terribly exciting in this kind of heat, but there is still so much to see and learn. So the one exception to the animals not doing anything was at the Polar Bear Watch. LOL! 

All spring they have kept Magnet, the male, and Anoki, the female separated. We have spent so many Fridays watching Magnet moan and cry and pace and pace until he is frothing at the mouth and the ground is worn away because he could see and smell Anoki but he could not get to her. (She was on the other side of the enclosure, separated by a fence while she healed from a leg wound.) Today when we got there we discovered they had drained the tank, visible to the public, on one side and put the two back together. And finally Magnet got his girl. It was too funny. We were there for AWHILE and they looked pretty much the same the whole time. Sis had so many questions. I had to try so hard to keep a straight face. She was mortified. I wish I could have gotten a picture. E wasn't too interested in watching and the other kids around him were terrible. It was one of those times that I appreciated not having him hang around so many other 11-yr. old boys. We finally left because of the things they were saying and the language they were using. Anyway, it was interesting to say the least. 

I am certain the zoo keepers were thrilled with their behavior as they have been trying to breed Magnet with either of the females at the zoo. Magnet is the second most "eligible" bachelor in the country for his genes and Anoki the female is the most sought after female, so successful breeding with them would be amazing. (E tells me I have it backward, that Magnet is the top dog and Anoki is #2, but who knows. It really doesn't matter much.)

This was the highlight of E's day. Right off the trail near the elephant enclosure we spotted a Black Rat Snake. This just happens to be E's favorite snake in the reptiles area. It was nearly as long as E is tall and very nervous. All said, a great - albeit hot and crowded - day at the zoo.