A day hanging out together

We really, really needed to just hang out. It has been a good, but very busy, last few weeks. And yesterday was our 27th anniversary. So we went to the Muscatatuck wildlife refuge with Abby and spent hours hiking, looking at birds, flowers, checking to see if we could spot any river otters...(but we didn't). But it was VERY GOOD not to have anything more important to do than look for river otters. I've posted some photos below from our relaxed day...and we decided that we have to X out days on our calendar way ahead of time, so that we can spend more time like that, just being. And being together.

At the little gift shop, Abby and I discovered Jabebo earrings and I highly recommend you check out their website, which is nearly as delightful as the earrings themselves! They are earrings with nature or science themes, made from cereal box cardboard. They are for sale at many nature center giftshops, or you can buy them from the website itself. The earrings are different, but complementary.

For instance, check out the daisy earrings I bought -- one has a little bee on it!




Abby got the hummingbirds earrings.




We should have gotten the great blue heron earrings, becuase we saw lots of those...








They even have earrings of elements from the periodic table, like these of neon.









And paramecium and amoeba! And bats! And dragonflies! And butterfies! And owls! Very unique and fun! And only $10! I want more!

Watching the Olympics

Hard to believe that Randal and Adam have both finished IU. Randal took time off from packing and cleaning to come over and hang out for a while and watch the Olympics with Jordie and Abby and me on his last night in Bloomington. I tried not to get too sentimental; only a little of the "You can come back and stay with us anytime!" kind of talk. Pictured are Jordie and our dog, Sadie, and then Randal and Abby. (Note: that is not a bandage on Abby's nose — it's a nose strip, for cosmetic purposes only!)

Emergency Urban Outfitters day-before-school run

Got home from work at 6:15, and Abby really wanted to go and buy a certain blouse downtown. Of course, an emergency Urban Outfitters run on the day before school! So we stopped by Adam's work downtown so she could borrow some cash from her brother...then she went into Urban Outfitters while I sat and read the NY Times across the street at the new Dunkin Donuts and drank coffee...thinking of how good my life is. Then, a stop at Bloomingfoods and stop at my mom's to say hi...then home to a good dinner on the back porch with Jordie.