Ingram the Conqueror: Monday October 8th, The Zoo Then The Boo!

After not going to bed until after 11pm, two out of the three kids slept till close to 10am! I was so excited because I laid in bed (or rather the couch) until after 8am and it was great. Lindsey was so quiet when she got up and didn't try to wake up the others, but I could tell she was ready for them to get up so we could "get our move on!" Finally they made their appearance and from then on it was non-stop fun all day and night long!

First up, we took a trip to the Memphis Zoo! We've been there a thousand times but it just never gets old. We even ran into friends from Craig office and followed each other around "Cat Country" where all the lions, tigers, and other cat creatures call their home. We ended up out before them but found them again outside of the Reptile house; it's funny because only one of them went inside the reptile house and the same thing happens with our crew. I won't tell who it was for the Etz family, but Craig is the scaredy cat in our house when it comes to snakes and won't even set foot inside the doors!

While we were at the zoo, we got an amazing opportunity when we were at the "Keeper Chat" with the elephants. The keeper asked if anyone had any questions and of course Ingram does; I think he takes after his sisters in asking lots and lots of questions. The keeper came a little closer and then Ingram says..."My mom and me and my girls like the elephants. We came to see them." We're still waiting for his question when he says he's done and everyone starts laughing. We told him he had a comment instead of a question and he said "Yea I know." The rest of us start talking to him about the elephants and he caught a glimpse of the CONQUER shirt and came even closer. He asked about it and so we promptly told him about the shirt, the design, and of course our very own Ingram the Conqueror. After talking for a few minutes, he asked if Ingram the Conqueror would like to come inside and meet the elephants and feed them. Before Ingram could say anything, Madison said yes at least 10 times!

Okay so the elephants look huge from the fence at the zoo, but standing face to trunk with them is unbelievable!! At first, we were all a little nervous, but after a few minutes, even Ingram was petting them and getting closer to them! They were huge and hairy; their trunks have pointy hair that's spread out all over the place and their skin is just as rough as it looks. They're loud and their trunks move so fast. I don't think any of us were expecting for them to be using their trunks to feel our feet and legs and everything in between. We had so much fun getting to pet them, talk to them, and feed them. And by the way, we didn't feed them peanuts; they ate carrots, apples, oranges, and straw. It was an experience that we're not going to forget! Ingram and the girls have been talking about it all day and night and keep saying how much fun it was to get to go "behind the scenes" at our local zoo.

After that, we stopped by Lindsey's orthodontist to get her wire put back on and Madison's teeth were drawing the attention of Dr. Sandusky. It had been over a year since her first set of pictures but her teeth had changed so much that he wanted to do another round of pictures for comparison. You know what's coming...she's getting braces Wednesday right before they head to Virginia to talk to the Tri-Delts at WVA and JMU. The funny thing about Lindsey and Madison and braces is that Lindsey doesn't complain much, but we're already dreading all the complaining Madison is going to do with getting braces because it has already started!!

Tonight was also our night to go to Tom's Farm in Rossville for a hayride to the pumpkin patch and to go running around the corn maze. Yes, I did say night and it was dark and cold and even scary! Normally it wouldn't have been scary, but we had our three and also let the girls each take a friend and they were all set on scaring each other in the maze...and Craig was the ring leader! We all had a ton of fun and got some great pumpkins too. We may have to go back again in the daytime though to play on the playgrounds, the huge tractor tires, and on all the other stuff. Maybe even we will have to take take a picnic and friends to do a bonfire and make S'mores!

The Elephants Trunk Can Reach A Long Way And It Just Blindly Searches For Whatever It Can Find!
At Least This Time, She Found The Apple!!
She Kept Trying To Eat Our Shoes For Some Reason Too!