Aloha! That means goodbye, also

Aloha! By Aloha, I mean goodbye. Goodbye, cold Provo. Aloha, Hawaii! (meaning hello!) Yeah, that's right, we'll be gone for a week come Thursday so if you need to contact us...don't.

Giraffe Feeding!

(this is also posted on my photography blog, Julie D Photography)

warning: photo-heavy post! I just couldn't decide - I loved ALL the photos we took this day. And believe me, this is even narrowing it down a lot!
This is a combination of photos I took, photos Dylan took, and photos the Giraffe's keeper took while we fed the giraffes at Hogle Zoo last month.
Let me tell you, this was probably the coolest thing I've done, since I went to Africa. But, I didn't see any giraffes in Africa, so this has it beat on that count.
First we went up on a platform, so we could feed them while they were in their pens. We fed them specially-formulated crackers, and carrots. Then we got to go outside and feed them branches and more carrots and crackers. This was such a great way to do it, because you got to be at their eye level, and then you also got to be in a place where they really had to show off and bend all the way down to reach you. 

Me, ecstatic to be standing so close to a giraffe!

The Zookeeper said "Make him reach for it!" So I did

"You are so CUTE!"

This is Pogo in the foreground (she's pregnant, due next September I think), and Riley in the background (the only boy of the 4 giraffes)

And here is Kip. A shy one - she wouldn't eat the food from us outside, but she's gorgeous

Dylan, meet Daphne.

Daphne is the oldest, and probably only has a couple of years left in her. She was also SUPER tall, and just really sweet.

What is the giraffe probably thinking? "Man, I just ripped this branch out of that crazy dude's hand, and MMMM it tastes SO GOOD!"

They eat these branches in such a crazy way! They just wrap their tongue around it, and then their tongue is strong enough to just rip the leaves off the branch as they slide it up.

This is Riley - who I named my stuffed giraffe that we bought that day after

Apparently, giraffes don't like to be touched much (go figure - a bunch of random people wanting to pet you, and you don't like it? weird :) ) BUT, if you petted their face while feeding them something, they allowed it - momentarily. Their skin is pretty oily, but the zookeeper said that they rarely ever brush them. They just don't get that dirty, and their skin just takes care of itself. Pretty awesome.

My FAVORITE picture of the day - OK, not really, but it's pretty hysterical. We got caught in a moment where we both looked disgusted - pretty much the opposite of how we felt that day

Hello, gorgeous

With the zookeeper - she was fabulous. Nicest lady ever. We were the only two people that had signed up for that day, so we got a lot of time with the giraffes. And she even let us keep feeding them longer than usual - we got an hour and a half, when it's usually just half an hour.  Rock it!

Another great one of me

Their tongues are RIDICULOUSLY long. Not that I think it's cool to be able to pick your nose with your tongue or anything.....OK, just a little...

And there you have it! Our giraffe feeding experience! We love those giraffes (Riley, Pogo, Kip, Daphne). And it was awesome to notice how every giraffe has slightly different patterning. Kip and Riley, for instance, had REALLY different shades of brown, and Riley's spots were pretty close together, while Kip's were more spaced out, lighter, and had more speckling in them.

Aren't giraffes so gorgeous?

Who Ya Gonna Call?

Doesn't Julie look great as Cleopatra? I'm balding and chunky, so I was Bill Murray from Ghostbusters.

When I was growing up, Halloween was a great time. My Mom used to get so excited for the holiday; she would get dressed up, decorate the entire house and just made the season fun. Every year, my Dad would help us carve out pumpkins. Then, Halloween night, we could go trick or treating. As Jerry Seinfeld points out, to a child Halloween is the greatest thing ever devised by humankind: you get as much candy as you can stand for no apparent reason! Finally, my brothers and I would all come home and enjoy passing our candy around (the old people always gave us nasty Good and Plenty which we would look to pawn off on each other, our parents or our dogs) while watching Ghostbusters with Mom and Dad. Then, we all started to get older. Trick or treating was no longer cool. With no trick or treating, we didn't dress up or get loads of candy for nothing, anymore. In other words, Halloween died for us.

   It died for me until this year. I married a beautiful woman who loves the holidays just as much as my Mom does. She went to all sorts of thrift stores to buy fun decoration for our house. We carved up pumpkins and put them on our front porch. We bought boatloads of candy. We even dressed up! She was stunning as Cleopatra and I got to fulfill a lifelong dream of being a Ghostbuster. My cousin and his wife, Danny and Becca, allowed us to take their kids out trick or treating with them. It brought back all sorts of memories of how much fun Halloween is and we had a blast with them. It was pouring rain outside so Danny drove us from door to door as we ran to the doorsteps to get our loot. It was wet, cold, and hilarious. In other words, Halloween is back. Maybe next year, I will be a Ninja Turtle or a Yankees baseball player. If I am either of those, my life just may be complete.

Walk like an Egyptian! Or whatever Julie is doing.

Carrying Peter in the rain as Danny sits in the dry car.

Peter, as Bob the Builder, acting crazy!

My girls here in Provo! Julie decided it would be fun to dress up as Brian Wilson (she didn't want to dress as Cleopatra in the rain). Fear the beard!