Well, There Goes The Neighborhood

While Mike was out dropping Sebastian off at a friend’s house tonight, Sophia was hanging out in the living room near the front window.  I was busy looking through the mail when I heard Sophia say, “Mom, I think I just saw a bear walk behind the neighbor’s car”.  I was quite skeptical since I haven’t seen a bear in this neighborhood in more than 10 years.  Plus, Sophia isn’t always the best eye-witness.  I brushed it off and said that it was probably just a black lab or some other dog.  She was insistent that I come and take a look.  I didn’t see anything at first, then saw a big, fat black bear lumbering towards our neighbor’s open garage.  After the initial surprise wore off, I realized that  I should probably call our neighbor to alert them of the huge bear now hanging out in their garage.  By the time I grabbed the phone and tracked down their number, the bear had made its way out.  I saw the garage door close immediately following the bear’s departure so was confident that they had seen their unwelcome guest.  The bear was now sauntering down the sidewalk, Daphne was barking, Sophia was near tears and I was trying to get my camera bag from the closet.  I did pause to reassure Sophia that it was okay and that the bear was probably just out for a walk.  I was losing my opportunity to have proof to show Mike that we really did have a bear walk in front of our house.  I had to switch lenses from my 50mm to my zoom lens, but forgot to change my camera settings during the chaos.  The photos aren’t my best work, but Sophia and I had proof of our new neighbor.  Here are the pictures I took before the bear made its way to the other side of the house next door to ours.

New Neighbor
Out For A Walk
You Lookin' At Me?
Look Who's At The Door

Spring Break, Part II

The next part of our spring break was spent in the Twin Cities.  Mike still had hotel points from back in his travel days, so we used some of them to stay at a hotel in St. Paul on Friday and Saturday night.  We left Daphne behind – our neighbor took care of her – packed up the car and made our way to the hotel.  The kids loved the atrium in the lobby.  It was filled with trees, plants, a pond and ducks.  Sophia sneaked up on one and was able to pet its feathery head.   The kids checked out the pool and were happy to see that there was also a hot tub.  Our room was spacious and had a fridge, microwave and separate sleeping and living areas.  We had dinner at the hotel restaurant and swam afterwards.

Saturday was spent at the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory.  We looked at the plants and flowers at the conservatory first.  I wasn’t sure if the kids would like it, but they enjoyed it as much as Mike and I did.  I don’t know the names of half the flowers I photographed, so I will post these without descriptions.

On to the zoo…

Unique and beautiful plants, cool animals and souvenirs from the gift shop.  What could be better?  To be continued…