Let's see if I can blow Blogger's mind

I knew I took lots of pictures today at the zoo, but when I sat down to edit them, I saw the full scale of my shutterbugness.

(Shutterbugness? Is that even a word? Guess it is now. Somebody call Webster's - I have an addition to their next dictionary!)

(Also - why did no one, including my shutterbug of a sister, tell me that when you upload photos to Flickr, they put them in reverse order of how you uploaded them? Very annoying.)

Yes, after a several-month hiatus, I have once again uploaded my photos to my Flickr account. Mainly because I needed to upload lots of pictures, and I didn't want to have to wrestle with Blogger.

You might want to take a potty break and grab a glass of tea. This could take awhile.

Oh what fun we had today! There were enough chaparones that I only had to be responsible for Anna Marie. Plus, everyone was on their own, free to roam the zoo until the appointed meet-up time. I had checked Anna Marie out before we left the school, so she got to ride home with me.

Amanda said she wished she'd been there, because it sounded "delightful." And it was! It was sunny, but there was a surprising amount of shade around. We had our lunches, so we got to stop whenever we wanted and eat. Thankfully I also had some cash, because we also needed other refreshments during our three-hour tour.

(A three-hour tour!)



The front entrance. I haven't actually been to the zoo (I think) since my cousin Shawn had his birthday party there, when he was like, five, and he's going to be 26 this summer. That's a long time, y'all!



There are all these really cool animal statues at the front entrance.



We procured a map (from a guy who tried to charge us $10!) and Anna Marie quickly became a Map Nazi. And yes, that's a random piece of yarn around her hand. She got off the bus with it, and I have no idea where it came from. She took it off soon thereafter.



Tigers! That water looked so cool and inviting, I wanted to brave the big cats and jump in. Obviously, I didn't.



I don't remember if they had meerkats before The Lion King and Meerkat Manor came along or not.



The snake house. Of course, the interior did not lend itself to photography, but rest assured that the future herpatologist that shares my last name was EXTREMELY excited to get here.



I suppose that in order to get two pandas, Memphis had to promise to make a big tribute to China. That's the only way I could think they could justify the scale of this exhibit. There was this bell . . .



And this statue (which Anna Marie thought was the dog with its baby, but I'm not so sure this is a loving pose), and, finally . . .



The pandas. They were in separate enclosures, each having lunch. There were lots and lots of other things in the panda's pavilion, but I didn't want to go, you know, overboard with the pictures.



I need a sign like this hung around my head at all times.

(Hey! We're halfway done!)



There was a baby giraffe. I wish I'd have gotten a picture of what happened next - a giant door opened and the giraffes walked through. Guess they must've been hungry, which got us hungry, so we headed to a pavilion to eat.



Anna Marie had a sack lunch from the school. I was going to be all "hip" and bring my beloved couscous and vegetables, but I ran out of time. So when I ran to get gas this morning, I picked up an apple and a banana and threw them into my tote bag.

(Well, I paid for them first. The point is, that's what I had for lunch. I was STARVING when we got finished, but thankfully this was an auction day so we swung by for something from the cafeteria. We got there just as the line was being taken down!)

Anyway. Back to the zoo.

Anna Marie was also excited about the monkeys. Unfortunately, the orangutans couldn't be bothered.



How rude! The penguins were much more obliging.



This is the original zoo entrance, from when I was a kid. Also, probably from when my parents were kids. I'd actually forgotten about it until today.



It was starting to get hot by this point, but fortunately there was a concession stand nearby where Anna Marie could get a fudge pop and I could get a bottle of water.







(We're in the home stretch now!)



The Egyptian theme continues throughout the park. You know, since Memphis is named after an Egyptian city and all. Very original.



She even talked me into putting a penny (and two quarters!) into the penny-squishing machine.



And then she had the gall to be upset that it was bent! When I was a kid, there was this machine that dispensed animals (plastic? wax? I don't remember) for a small fee. I didn't see any of those, which disappointed me. I also didn't see the peacocks that used to roam freely. I guess they attacked one too many visitors.

She fell asleep on the way to the auction, and then woke up enough to eat something and help wipe down a couple of tables. We went to Gordman's on the way home where I picked up a couple of nice tank tops to layer under shirts. I'd also promised her a trip to a "real" bookstore, so we went across the parking lot to Books-a-Million where she got a chocolate milk and a book on snakes, and I got a skim milk latte.

Tomorrow is the last day of school, y'all! And not a moment too soon - Anna Marie's doctor is setting her up with a specialist so we can get to the bottom of these respiratory problems that keep cropping up. It'll be nice not to have to worry about missing school for a while.

She's still coughing some, but not nearly as much. She's taking about four different medicines, but tomorrow is the last day for the Prednisone. The hives are still cropping up here and there, but she's still taking Benadryl and I'm using hydrocortisone creme when it itches. I have read, though that it's common for hives to do that after a severe allergic reaction.

Thanks so much for all of your prayers and good thoughts during this time - and please keep remembering us! I'm just exhausted with all this, but I'm also thankful because I know there are some much sicker kids out there whose parents have to go through much, much more.

I need to get off here and let Blogger cool down get to bed. In addition to being off today, we're on a short deadline because of Memorial Day, and I have to get her from school tomorrow!